By Dave Rizzardo
Our March 2026 MWCC Lean Facility tour took place at Parker Plastics in Hagerstown, Maryland, one of four Parker Plastics facilities. They are a custom plastic bottle and container manufacturer that utilizes various blow-molding processing methods. Many of you would recognize one of Parker Plastics’ products—the little plastic honey bear bottle! One of which left with each of the attendees, with honey included…a sweet giveaway. (Sorry, that was too easy.)
After a company overview (fun fact – when Mr. Parker bought the company, it already was named Parker Plastics), we learned about the impressive people-centered culture from Mike Genevro and his team. The developed culture can not only be life-altering for the employees, but great company performance automatically follows…a clear win-win, and of course the third win for the customers. We heard about their inspirational “Second Chance Hiring” commitment and how they live the “Respect for People” Lean principle every day. Also, ongoing employee development is critical to their success. Mike mentioned that their factory is like a university. That is a great way to envision a learning and growing organization that continuously improves. How can you possibly compete against a company like that!
Other presentation topics included their energy and sustainability efforts, and their spare parts room improvements. An impactful practice that stood out to me as somewhat unique to Parker Plastics was how they do a great job of partnering with various outside organizations to pull in the help that they need. Their approach to business and the supporting partnerships are practices that all organizations should emulate.
We started the tour in the cafeteria. You can learn a whole lot about a company from their cafeteria. Theirs exuded respect and trust not only due to the cafeteria’s appearance but also their food vending approach, which indicated the developed trust. This is also the location of their daily meetings, where someone can get a pulse on what is going on by viewing the big whiteboard. (In spite of all our technological advancements, I believe the big old whiteboard is still one of the most impactful continuous improvement tools.) We also noticed a prize wheel for a monthly drawing of a small prize—a simple, but effective, recognition method to say “thank you” and highlight desired behaviors.
We received a great overview of their 3D printing capabilities. This was one example of how they blend this culture with technology leadership. Since they rely heavily on overseas machine suppliers, parts were not only expensive, but lead times were naturally long, which could result in downtime and subsequent customer delivery issues. Their use of 3D printing to address this challenge was impressive, and they continue to expand this capability.
While viewing the processing equipment, we saw how they automated some of the repetitive portions of the blow-molding and packaging process. When a repetitive manual operation is automated, the operator is moved to another area where their skills and creativity can be better utilized. This is the “appropriate” use of technology—to enable people to add more value, solve problems, and initiate creative improvements. That is what we humans do best!
Another stop on the tour was the spare parts room. The improved workplace organization and their new material management system ensure that parts can be quickly located, and that they are replenished when needed due to proper min/max levels. When considering the number of spare parts and hardware required in an organization like Parker Plastics, these improvements eliminate significant downtime and delays. Excess and obsolete inventory can also be identified and eliminated, resulting in reduced costs.
Another initiative is their utilization of kanban systems for replenishing supplies, and as with everything else, it is a Lean learning process—start small, experiment, and grow.
In summary, the Parker Plastics tour showed how a strong culture can also lead the way in utilizing technology to eliminate wasteful, non-value-adding activities. Thanks so much to Mike Genevro, Mariela Gonzalez, Jenna Huckle, Christopher Gay, and the rest of the Parker Plastics team for an informative and inspirational Lean morning!