Nixa company lands $4M contract with Honda

Diversified Plastics Corp. has landed a $4 million annual contract to make foam pieces for floorboards of next-generation Honda Accords, which will debut late this year. The foam is meant to increase safety and lessen road noise in the cabin.

The contract is DPC’s first job for Honda, though the 38-year-old company at 120 W. Mount Vernon St. in Nixa has manufactured components for Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.

“I think anytime you can get a component in a flagship vehicle for a company, the volume alone is a huge benefit,” said Skip Austin, DPC’s materials manager, automotive program manager and one of two men most responsible for landing the deal in November.

Last year, Honda sold 354,441 Accords, bested only by Toyota Camry sales, according to Honda spokesman Chris Martin.

With 2008 models bringing a redesign, Martin expects Accord sales to surge.

“It’s going to be a really dramatic improvement in the car,” Martin said.

Stellar sales would obviously benefit DPC, which will produce about 6 million foam pieces annually for 600,000 Accords, according to Shane Bostian, DPC’s director of quality, purchasing manager and head of tooling design.

Bostian, who teamed with Austin to secure the deal, said production would run through the lifespan of the new Accord, which should be five years. Production will begin this summer.

The contract should boost DPC’s $12 million annual revenues at its Nixa plant by about 50 percent.

“In building volume, we generally have to take baby steps,” Bostian said. “This was one big step.”

DPC “is a custom molder of all types of plastics, from expandable foam co-polymers to injection grade plastics,” according to its Web site, www.diversifiedplastics.com. Bostian said it does most of its work for the automotive, packaging and construction industries.

The company is owned by Kenney Magers, Scott Schaefer, Marvin Carnahan and Garnett Carnahan and has about 250 employees in its Nixa and Centralia facilities.

About 200 people work in Nixa at its 80,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and 140,000-square-foot warehouse and tool shop.

The Honda contract is through Tinley Park, Ill.-based UGN Inc. UGN, which has facilities in Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan and Indiana, specializes in manufacturing automotive components.

DPC will ship the foam pieces to UGN, which will attach carpet to them and ship them to Honda plants for Accord assembly.