Sound-Rite Plastics Ltd., parent company for Coeur d’Alene-based Accurate Molded Plastics Inc. and Mold-Rite Inc., of Woodinville, Wash., says it has hired a new president and is accelerating efforts to add more robots to its processes due to difficulties finding qualified workers.

The company has hired industry veteran Charles O’Bosky as its president, and he will take over that position on Monday, Aug. 7, says Sound-Rite co-owner Dale Meyer. The position has been vacant since about the end of last year.

O’Bosky will oversee the Coeur d’Alene plant, taking over duties that Meyer has been handling recently, and also will take over sales and tooling management for the combined businesses of Accurate Molded Plastics and Mold-Rite, Meyer says.

“Charlie brings over 25 years of sales and manufacturing experience mainly in the injection molding industry,” he says. “We’re thrilled to have Charlie as part of our team as we continue to expand AMP and Mold-Rite.”

O’Bosky formerly was with R&D Plastics, a custom injection molder based in Beaverton, Ore., where he served as president and general manager for 10 years. Before that, he worked as vice president of operations for Delkin Devices, a manufacturer and distributor of industrial custom products, and as operations manager of Jabil Circuit, in Tijuana, Mexico. He started his career at Grant & Roth Plastics after graduating with an engineering degree from California Polytechnic State University.

Meyer, CEO of Sound-Rite, and his wife, Janeanne Upp, a CPA who now is chief financial officer for both plants, have owned Accurate Molded Plastics since 2003. Last year, they bought competitor Mold-Rite for an undisclosed sum through the Sound-Rite parent company they’d created.

Together, the two companies employ 230 people, including about 130 in Coeur d’Alene and 100 at the West Side plant. 

Meyer told the Journal last August, shortly after the Mold-Rite purchase, that both companies were looking to hire more employees.

He says now, though, that finding additional qualified applicants has been “almost impossible,” due partly to the strong economy and low unemployment rate, so Sound-Rite is turning its focus to increasing automated capabilities at its plants.

“We need to automate to continue to grow our business,” Meyer says, adding that the company expects to do that partly by acquiring robotics that fit onto its injection molding machines. 

 Also, as part of that automation effort, he says, it plans to install this fall at its Woodinville plant a 550-ton “two-shot” Arburg Press that essentially combines two molding functions into one machine, allowing for layer-over-layer “overmolding.”

A shot, in this context, refers to the volume of material used to fill a mold cavity. With a two-shot mold, two separate materials can be incorporated into one part, such as to create a product with multiple colors and different performance characteristics.