What we do

At PDI we take your idea, whether it is a photo of a sketch on a napkin or a full 3-D model and work closely with you the customer, to turn it into a well designed part that meets your functional and aesthetic requirements with tooling and a manufacturing process that produces consistent, cost effective parts.

Once the part is proven out we will continue to work with you to ensure timely availability of parts, inventorying raw material and/or finished parts as appropriate for the demand.

History

PDI Plastics started out in 1978 as Polyhedron Designs in Helotes, Texas near San Antonio. The original business specialized in designing and manufacturing displays for retail optical stores. This included thermoforming trays and display components, as well as furniture manufacturing.

In the mid 1990’s the company started to focus on making custom plastic components for other manufacturers. The design and manufacture of optical store furniture was discontinued circa 2002.

In 2009 the company was acquired by Christopher Manufacturing LLC and renamed PDI Plastics. At the end of 2009 the company was relocated from Helotes to a new, purpose built building in Mount Pleasant, Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas on Interstate 30. Since then we have been growing both with existing customers and adding new customers. We have been  steadily improving our design and manufacturing capabilities. Lean manufacturing techniques have been applied and employee training is a key focus.

Capabilities

Finished parts minimum size 1” x 1”, maximum size 84” x 36” with maximum depth of 12”

Full in-house 3-D design of parts, molds and trim fixtures.

90% of molds are produced in-house using CNC machining. Only large cast aluminum molds are sent out.

Single cavity and multi-cavity molds, dependent on part size and likely demand.

Trim fixtures are 100% produced in-house using 3 and 5 axis CNC machining.

Thermoforming, vacuum forming and pressure forming of plastic parts.

3 and 5 axis CNC trimming of parts, cutting to finished dimensions, adding holes, slots and other machined features.

Die cutting of parts to finished dimensions.

Fabrication of various flat and bent parts using CNC machining, cutting, heat bending and various adhesives.

Additional processes include printing on parts, shrink wrapping and custom labeling including bar coding.

Inventory management programs.

Experience with

• A wide range of materials including ABS, Polystyrene (HIPS), PETG, PVC, HDPE.
• With ESD materials for electronic components
• Kydex® and Boltaron® for fire resistant applications.

Kydex is a trademark of SEKISUI Polymer Innovations, LLC.  Boltaron is a trademark of Boltaron Inc.

Sustainability

There is a lot of nonsense and ‘green-washing’ written about sustainability. We are in the plastics business and have no control over how our customers and their customers dispose of or recycle the products we make, once they are no longer needed. However we do what we can to minimize waste:

• We use plastics that contain recycled plastics when it is practical and acceptable to our customers.
• 99% of the plastic trimmed from the parts we make, including machining chips, is recycled.
• We use recycled packaging materials especially pallets wherever possible.
• Most paper and cardboard waste is recycled.
• Steel and aluminum scrap from mold making is recycled.
• As a result we do not have a dumpster and only use a single curbside trash can.
• Our plant was built with LED’s as the primary lighting.
• Our plant has triple insulation (9” instead of 3”) in the walls and roof and never needs heating.