03/20/2015 (press release: Agile) // Holyoke, MA, United States // Pia Kumar
Jay Kumar, owner of thermoforming companies Mayfield Plastics and Universal Plastics, was recently featured in an article in Plastics News and an accompanied video series titled “What Keeps You Up at Night”.
Publisher Brennan Lafferty interviewed Kumar at the offices at Universal Plastics and discussed his transition from a New York City Wall Street trader to operating two thermoforming plants and residing in Western Massachusetts. “I was on Wall Street,” said Kumar, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University in 2001. “It was a relatively ivory tower-style job. Reading research reports you think you’re better than everyone else. You think you know the companies better than the CEOs themselves because you read the research report on it or whatever. But [my Dad’s] the one who showed me there’s a lot more to manufacturing than what people think.”
As to the transition from trader to heading two manufacturing facilities Kumar said “I can feel a tangibleness to what we do here and I can see us solving real-world problems and providing real-world value to people around us. That’s something that I didn’t really see in my previous career. It makes me feel good to see that.”
In the video interview Kumar tells what keeps him up at night. “The thing we focus on as a company is that we are an integral part of our customers’ success … and we are never ever a hindrance to our customers’ ability to succeed. What keeps me up at night is the fear that we might be doing that to a customer.”
The full interview and video may be found here.
About Mayfield Plastics:
Mayfield (www.mayfieldplastics.com) is a leading manufacturer of custom pressure, vacuum formed and thermoformed parts and components specializing in thermoformed medical devices and components, but also serving a variety of additional industries including aerospace, telecom, electronics, computer, hospital, chromatography, machine-tool and transportation. In 2013, Mayfield Plastics was purchased by Jay Kumar, who also owns Universal Plastics, a custom thermoformer based in Holyoke MA with the intent of growing the thermoforming business locally through the combined strength and synergies of both companies. Together, Mayfield & Universal Plastics represent the largest thermoformer in New England and are proud to offer a manufacturing service which is state of the art. Equally, as a family-run business, Mayfield Plastics takes special pride in upholding a strong commitment to its customers and employees. For more information about Mayfield Plastics, please visit www.mayfieldplastics.com.
About Universal Plastics
Universal Plastics is a custom thermoformer based in Holyoke MA with strong legacy of expertise in manufacturing thermoformed plastic parts of the highest quality with a distinct focus on customer satisfaction. Universal has been in business for over 50 years with a world class management team and currently serves customers in a variety of industries including aerospace, medical device manufacturers, transportation, consumer products, food packaging and electronic companies.
As a custom manufacturer, Universal has made kayaks, air ducts for the Space Shuttle, all of the bus stop signs currently used in New York City and the bow of the submarines used by the Navy Seals. In 2008 they added a 30,000 square foot addition to their Whiting Farms Road building for a total of 100,000 square feet of production and office space. The company is ISO 9001 certified. For more information visit www.universalplastics.com.
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