Metals & Plastics

Overview

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The Metals sector starts with the location and extraction of metal and mineral ore through the mining process. The metal ore is then transformed into a usable bulk form (such as rolled steel) for further processing at stamping, fabrication, or specialty machine shops eventually leading to the metal components or products found in everyday life. Given the usage of metals in industrial production, downstream demand from manufacturers and construction companies is a significant driver for the metals industry. Additionally, commodity prices impact players in this space from both a revenue and cost perspective – consider zinc as a key component in steel manufacturing.

Plastics manufacturing functions similar to the metals space, beginning with oil extraction, refining and subsequent polymerization producing bulk plastic products. From there, the raw plastic material is molded into the plastic components and products desired. While there are many molding methodologies available, the most common include injection molding, thermoforming, and rotational molding (rotomolding). One significant risk to this market is the decreasing demand from end consumers concerned with the impact that plastics have on the environment.

Similar to metal, plastic is a key component, heavily used in automobile, electrical, construction and other downstream industries, making it heavily dependent on these sectors for growth. Lastly, in recent history, international competition particularly in emerging markets have hampered the growth of domestic plastics manufacturing in the U.S., but that may not be a long term trend.

In the Metals and Plastics industries, MorrisAnderson has successfully worked on cases in the roles of Financial Advisor, Refinancing, Debt Restructuring, and Interim Management. A more detailed list of specific industries is as follows:

Sub-Industries

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