What Profile Plastics does

Profile Plastics, Inc. is a privately held heavy-gauge thermoforming manufacturer founded in 1960 and headquartered in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The company operates a 170,000 sq ft production facility running three shifts with 130+ employees, executing vacuum forming, pressure forming, and twin-sheet thermoforming processes supported by CNC trimming and custom tooling. It holds ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification and serves five end-markets: healthcare/medical, transportation, food service, industrial, and recreation.

The company's technical differentiation rests on heavy-gauge (as opposed to thin-gauge/ packaging) thermoforming — a capital-intensive process suited to large structural enclosures such as medical device housings, truck and tractor components, commercial juice dispenser parts, and industrial equipment covers. Custom tooling and design-for-manufacturing assistance are integral to each program, and the firm documents 43 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Parts Competition Awards and three Thermoformer of the Year honors across its staff, including a 2025 SPE People's Choice Pressure Forming Silver Award for a medical device enclosure. Production is governed by a proprietary ERP system used for job tracking, scheduling, and quoting.

Profile Plastics sells directly to OEM customers via a quote-based, project-by-project model rather than through distribution or catalog channels. Programs are typically custom, tooled engagements with multi-year production life once a part is qualified, which is consistent with the regulated nature of its medical and transportation customers. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and appears to be negotiated per program; no revenue figures, funding history, M&A activity, or partnership announcements are publicly available.

Name

Profile Plastics

Legal name

Profile Plastics, Inc.

Website

https://thermoform.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Profile Plastics is a privately held heavy-gauge thermoforming manufacturer in Lake Bluff, Illinois, founded in 1960, serving medical, transportation, food service, industrial, and recreation OEMs with custom vacuum, pressure, and twin-sheet formed parts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plastic Thermoforming / Contract Manufacturing

NAICS

Plastics Product Manufacturing (3261), All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing (326199)

SIC

Miscellaneous Plastics Products (3080), Plastics Products, Nec (3089)

akta.pro primary industry

Thermoformed Electronics & Appliance Components (IMANAHAG)

Keywords

• Heavy-gauge thermoforming
• Pressure forming services
• Vacuum forming services
• Twin-sheet thermoforming
• Plastic part manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Lake Bluff

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Thermoforming Manufacturing Services: Profile Plastics generates revenue through heavy-gauge thermoforming manufacturing services, producing close-tolerance OEM parts for diverse industries. Revenue comes from part production across multiple thermoforming processes (vacuum forming, pressure forming, twin-sheet forming), with pricing based on part complexity, material selection, production volume, and tooling requirements.
2. Value-Added Services: Additional revenue streams from assembly, kitting, packaging, drop-shipping, and custom decoration services that simplify supply chains and add value beyond basic thermoforming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Profile Plastics is a heavy-gauge thermoforming manufacturer that produces close-tolerance OEM plastic parts using vacuum forming, pressure forming, and twin-sheet forming processes. The company provides end-to-end services including design-for-manufacturing assistance, value-added assembly, kitting, packaging, drop-shipping, and graphic decoration for customers in healthcare, transportation, food service, industrial, and recreation markets.

Product overview

Profile Plastics is a heavy-gauge thermoforming manufacturer offering a comprehensive portfolio of forming processes including Heavy-Gauge Thermoforming (core capability), Pressure Forming, Vacuum Forming, and Twin-Sheet Forming. These core manufacturing services are supported by Value-Added Services (assembly, kitting, packaging, drop-shipping), Material Expertise (technical consultation on material selection), and Quality Management (ISO 9001:2015 certified). The company serves diverse industries including Healthcare, Food Service Equipment, Industrial & Specialty, Transportation & Material Handling, and Recreation. With 65 years of experience and 170,000 square feet of manufacturing space, Profile Plastics specializes in close-tolerance OEM parts and offers Design For Manufacturing (DFM) assistance to optimize part designs for thermoforming processes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Heavy-Gauge Thermoforming Primary thermoforming manufacturing process using heat and pressure to form thermoplastic sheets into large, close-tolerance OEM plastic parts for diverse industrial applications. Serves OEMs in healthcare, transportation, food service, industrial, and recreation markets.
• Pressure Forming Thermoforming process applying 20-90 PSI positive air pressure to heated plastic sheets to achieve superior surface detail, sharp details, tight tolerances, and high-gloss cosmetic finishes for OEMs requiring premium aesthetics.
• Vacuum Forming Thermoforming process using vacuum to draw heated plastic sheets into molds, suitable for non-surface parts and lower volume production runs with cost-effective tooling for OEM customers.
• Twin-Sheet Forming Two-sided thermoforming process using two heated plastic sheets and opposing molds that fuse together to create hollow, lightweight, rigid parts ideal for structural applications, insulation, and wire routing.
• Value-Added Services Comprehensive post-forming services including assembly, kitting, packaging, drop-shipping, multi-color decoration, and graphics coordination such as pad printing and silk screening, simplifying OEM supply chains.

Quantifiable outcome

• 43 Parts Competition Awards in 40 years from SPE Thermoforming Division
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Productive Plastics: Custom heavy-gauge thermoformer serving OEMs across medical, industrial, and transportation. Closely comparable to Profile Plastics in process mix (pressure forming, twin-sheet), customer profile, and mid-market scale.
• Ray Products: Heavy-gauge thermoforming specialist focused on large-format, close-tolerance OEM parts. Directly comparable to Profile Plastics in oversized part capability, vacuum/pressure forming processes, and design-for-manufacturing service model.
• Formed Plastics: Custom heavy-gauge thermoformer producing OEM enclosures and components for industrial, medical, and transportation customers. Matches Profile Plastics in niche heavy-gauge focus and engineering-driven sales motion.
• Universal Plastics Group: Custom thermoformer offering heavy-gauge vacuum and pressure forming for OEM customers. Comparable to Profile Plastics in multi-process capability and emphasis on value-added services like assembly and finishing.
• Vantage Plastics: Mid-market custom thermoformer serving automotive, industrial, and consumer OEMs. Directly comparable to Profile Plastics in mid-volume heavy-gauge programs and tier-one supplier positioning.
• Spencer Industries: Custom plastics manufacturer focused on medical, diagnostic, and industrial OEMs with thermoforming and assembly capabilities. Highly comparable to Profile Plastics' healthcare and industrial customer mix and DFM-led sales approach.
• Brentwood Industries: Thermoformed plastics manufacturer serving industrial, water treatment, and OEM customers with custom heavy-gauge forming. Comparable to Profile Plastics in industrial-equipment focus and large-part thermoforming.

Broad incumbents

• Placon: Larger thermoforming company with broad packaging and custom-product capabilities across multiple verticals. Comparable to Profile Plastics in thermoforming technology but operates at significantly greater scale and with a wider product portfolio.
• Pactiv Evergreen: One of the largest North American thermoformers, primarily in food-service and food-packaging products. Adjacent incumbent to Profile Plastics' heavy-gauge OEM work; competes for similar thermoforming dollars but at vastly different scale and end-market.
• Anchor Packaging: Established thermoformed plastics manufacturer with broad food-service and industrial product lines. Comparable underlying thermoforming technology and food-service vertical exposure to Profile Plastics, but at broader incumbent scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/profile-plastics-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Profile Plastics