Steve Maguire, Prolific
Innovator and Founder
of Maguire Products, is
Elected to the Plastics
Hall of Fame
Steve Maguire, the founder of Maguire
Products, Inc. whose many inventions have
benefited plastics processors around the world,
has been elected to the Plastics Hall of Fame.
His induction will take place at a ceremony
held this May in Orlando, FL during NPE2018.
After entering the plastics industry in the
early 1970s as an engineer with an injection
molding company, Mr. Maguire started Maguire
Products in 1977. Using the attic of his house,
he produced and marketed his first invention, a
peristaltic pump for dispensing liquid colors.
Since then, as the company’s owner, president, and
chief designer, he has generated a steady stream of
innovations, including the first gravimetric weigh
scale blender, the first use of microprocessor control
for plastics auxiliary equipment, the first vacuum resin
dryer for plastics processors, and many others. Thus
far he is the holder of 41 patents, and another 37 are
applied for or pending. Based in Aston, PA, U.S.A., his
company now supplies plastics processors around
the world and has subsidiary headquarters in Canada,
Singapore, China, the United Kingdom, and the
United Arab Emirates.
Among the best known innovations of Steve Maguire
is the Maguire® Weigh Scale Blender, introduced
in 1989 as the first affordable and easy to operate
system for precisely controlling the composition of
a raw material blend. In 2017, Maguire Products
shipped its 50,000th blender. “Steve Maguire
has transformed plastics raw material handling
technology and revolutionized the way processors
control the preparation and consumption of molding
and extrusion compounds,” said Frank Kavanagh,
vice president of sales and marketing. “As a self-
Steve Maguire
reliant entrepreneur in the classic American vein, he
has drawn on his own early experience as a plastics
processor to devise systems that address the practical
needs and preferences of processors, with an emphasis
on simplicity, reliability, and ease of use. More often
than not, this has required completely re-thinking the
way a particular processing system might operate.”
Some years ago, Mr. Maguire cited his early experience
as a plastics processor in a letter to customers: “Before
I got started in this business, I worked in both
extrusion and injection molding operations. I worked
on the floor, not in the office. It was my job to keep
everything running, not just while I was there, but
through the second and third shifts as well. Simplicity,
reliability, serviceability, and ease of operation became
the qualities most important to me. What I learned
back then is apparent in all our designs today.”
At age 74, Steve Maguire continues to work on
developing new auxiliary equipment systems. His
latest major invention, a new type of vacuum resin
dryer for use by plastics processors, promises to have
an effect on the industry as revolutionary as that of
the Weigh Scale Blender. His three sons have all joined
him in his business: Stephen Maguire, vice president
of manufacturing; Eric Maguire, operations manager;
and Paul Maguire, president of Maguire affiliate
Riverdale Global.
.
www.maguire.com
WIRE NEWS February 2018 9