Redwood Plastics And Rubber Celebrates 50 Years In Business

Redwood Plastics and Rubber has announced that 2021 will be its 50th year in business. A huge milestone for the firm, which began serving customers in 1971, they have achieved strong, sustained growth over five decades and established a worldwide standing, introducing many new and innovative products for industry. Over the last 50 years, Redwood’s mission continues to focus on solutions for client needs, no matter what it takes.

“Reaching this remarkable moment is a testimony to the diligence and professionalism of our people, who devote their working lives to a company with a ‘family culture,’” says Graeme Fraser, CEO and President of Redwood Plastics and Rubber. “Our staff is treated with respect and is highly valued for the skills they bring to our team. Our employees are recognized and given the opportunity to grow with the company, adding to the excellence of its products and services. This dedication to quality has brought Redwood Plastics and Rubber international notoriety.” The company culture is based on giving back to its employees and their communities.

Redwood’s manufacturing and fabrication facilities are available to help with any other need that arises within its global communities for the forestry, transportation, construction and ports, among others. The company has multiple locations in Canada and the U.S.

Redwood offers unique opportunities to reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle and is committed to 100% customer satisfaction. The product line comprises UHMW, Polyurethane, Rubber, Nylon, Acrylic, Polycarbonate, Acetal, FRP and many others.

With the ability to supply many grades and types of plastics in different forms including sheet, rod, tube and stocked shapes, as well as custom molded and fabricated parts, 2020 has brought Redwood Plastics and Rubber to the forefront in serving many more customers, even saving lives by adapting innovative forms of optimal protective plastics to help the world continue the business of the day.

The company got its start when two brothers, Duncan Fraser and Graeme Fraser, ages 23 and 18 respectively, decided to follow in their father’s footsteps, William Fraser, and open a plastics manufacturing business. With a $2,500 loan and a space in their parents’ garage, Redwood Plastics on Redwood Street in North Vancouver, B.C. was born.

In its inaugural year, total revenues were under $30,000. By 1983, that figure had grown to millions in revenue. The same year, the company built the world’s first 48 in. wide UHMW extruder for thin gauge sheets. Redwood has also been active in mergers and acquisitions over the years, buying the assets of Cleveland-based American Nylons in 1993, Excel Engineering in 1996 and BC Rubber in 2006, among other deals. The Excel acquisition took Redwood into the steel fabricating business and the acquisition of BC Rubber expanded their product offering with sheet and molded rubber. In 2017, Redwood had a transformative year, amalgamating with Epic Polymers increasing their urethane and rubber manufacturing capabilities.