Founder and former CEO of Husky breaks ground on $40-M Vaughan expansion

YorkRegion.com
July 24, 2014
Adam Martin-Robbins

Plastics industry pioneer Robert Schad is 85-years-old and a wealthy man, but he’s not even entertaining the idea of settling down into a rocking chair to enjoy his golden years in quiet contemplation.

In fact, his latest venture, Athena Automation, which manufactures machinery for the plastics industry, is just getting ready to ramp up production.

And to make that happen the Vaughan company recently broke ground on a $40-million expansion.

“I don’t want to retire, my wife would hate it,” Schad said laughing, then added that if he did, he’d just start tinkering with things in their north Toronto home.

Athena’s expansion will rise up directly behind the company’s current 40,000-sq.-ft. headquarters on Zenway Boulevard, just west of Hwy. 427

Schad started Athena in 2008, about three years after stepping down as CEO of Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. and a year after selling his controlling shares in the company he founded in 1953 and grew into a global player in the plastics industry.

After handing over the reins at Husky, Schad briefly took the helm at Earth Rangers — the non-profit environmental organization he co-founded in Vaughan with Peter Kendall, to teach children about the importance of protecting animals and their habitats.

“I tried to run Earth Rangers, I made a mess out of it,” he said. “Peter Kendall took over and is doing a fantastic job. … I liked the purpose, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy it.”

Lights-out technology

At about the same time, Schad built the plant that houses Athena to manufacture airboats, a hobby that didn’t take off, and to develop lights-out automation technology to help factories run through the night, unattended.

Schad said new ideas kept popping up in his mind, so he returned to doing what he knows best — building machinery for the plastics industry.

He also continued plowing ahead with the lights-out automation technology, which he sees as key to future success in his industry.

The next four years were spent designing and developing energy-efficient hybrid injection molding machinery that uses both hydraulic and electric power.

Currently, the company produces two sizes of machines, 150 metric tons and 300 metric tons.

The machines boast features that set them apart from their competitors, Schad said, such as faster cycles, a smaller footprint and lower power consumption, but above all else they are designed for customization. 

“We looked at the market and we developed a product that is leapfrogging the market, something the industry does not have and it really addresses all the markets in the injection molding industry … except the large tonnage,” he said. “And customer interest grew and grew and grew.”

The expansion, expected to be completed in about two years, will allow Athena to increase production and expand its offerings to three or four models, Schad said.

It will also enable the company to produce a wider variety of products.

“We build a platform, like a Meccano set, and we have many different options,” Schad said.  “Provided we are right in what we are doing, we should do very well.”

While production will move to the new building, the original will continue to serve as a research and development facility and lab.

At Husky, Schad was renowned for incorporating environmentally sustainable practices and various healthy employee initiatives into his business. 

He’s carried through with that at Athena and built upon it even further.

“We’re doing it here even more because I learned some of the things at Husky and I think we can do it better,” Schad said.

The current facility is clean and bright with natural light streaming in through skylights on the roof, on the back of which are mounted 456 solar panels, generating 82 kilowatts of power, connected to the provincial power grid. It is heated and cooled using a geothermal system and earth tubes, and boasts motion-activated LED lighting while the grounds around it feature low-maintenance landscaping.

The expansion will feature even more solar power — about 500 kilowatts —and a larger geothermal system.

On top of that, Athena’s employees have access to a gym and a cafeteria with an on-site chef.

“It’s one of the great perks of working here,” Aron Szasz Gabor, manager of sales support, said. “Every day there’s something different; healthy and really tasty.”

Once the expansion is complete, Schad said the company will likely increase the number of employees from about 70, but that will happen gradually.

“Our plan is to work this almost like an automotive company, with just-in-time (processes), so we have our materials, all our parts come in, just-in-time (for production)… and we have very little inventory so we can produce a lot in a very small space,” he said.

While he plans on growing the business, Schad has no intention of taking the firm public, as he did with Husky.

“Really, the goal is to make this as a family company and have some employee shareholders,” Schad said. “The public market is geared toward short-term and our business is not short-term, it’s long-term. And you’ll find the most successful companies in our industry, that are emerging now, and growing faster are the ones that are privately owned.”