Moving Forward

When Noble Plastics received the prestigious 2015 Lantern Award from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, the St. Landry Parish company was cited for “quality in its work processes and a commitment to the local community.”

“With their focus on improvement, growth and innovation, these Lantern Award winners exemplify what is best about our state’s manufacturing sector,” LED Secretary Steven Grissom said.

The recognition was particularly sweet to Missy and Scott Rogers, because quality, innovation, and commitment were high on their list of what they wanted their company to stand for when they first set up shop in Lafayette in October of 2000. Their idea was to build a company that was a manufacturer of innovative, high quality products, and also a company that was an interesting and enjoyable place to work.

They founded the company after seeing a need for replacement of some metal products at petrochemical plants with more durable plastic and for other oil and gas applications of molded plastic products. They thought there was a niche waiting to be filled because there was very little molding of that type going on in south Louisiana.

“Our interest was not in making a lot of money,” Missy said in an interview with Plastics Technology magazine. “We thought design and manufacturing with plastics was cool stuff and it would be fun to do it.”

“Our idea was always, ‘Let’s exploit technology, not people.’ Use smart labor, not dumb labor,” Scott told the magazine’s editor Matthew H. Naitove. “Others had invested in old technology, but we had a clean slate, so we went to robotics, automated cells, and highly nimble, highly skilled employees who could adapt to new technology. We’re geared to custom molding of new things never done before.”

Both Missy and Scott had engineering backgrounds, but neither of them had any experience with plastic molding. When they switched on their first molding machine in half 

of a rented warehouse, it was the first time they or any of their employees had ever operated one.

But, besides being in the right place at the right time, they were quick learners and both Missy and Scott enjoyed the challenge of solving problems.

It was a winning combination. Missy designed a five-year business plan that worked so well it was fulfilled in three years. The company quickly outgrew its rented space and in 2006 purchased a 30,000-square-foot building in Grand Coteau. The larger space enabled them to add and upgrade equipment, which allowed them to continue to grow even more—by 30 percent each year in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

In fact, Noble, which now employs 32 people at the Grand Coteau plant, recently announced that it will expand to a second plant at the St. Landry Parish industrial park. The second site, 77,000 square feet in an existing building, will allow Noble Plastics to create new, larger plastic products, Missy said.

In the new space, Noble will continue pursuing its goals of innovation, quality, and satisfied customers. Nobel’ redevelopment of the long vacant Yoo-Hoo bottling plant is providing a catalyst for other development in the industrial park and is a key component of a park master rail plan that will allow three additional industrial recruitment in the park, according to  Bill Rodier, director of St.  Landry Parish Economic Development, which nominated Nobel for the Lantern Award

“The products we create need to fit the need and vision of the user,” she said. “As a designer and manufacturer, we need to be sure that a product will function as it is intended to do. Our primary purpose is to create solutions for our customers’ needs, whether those needs are in product design, manufacturing, distribution, or any other area. We are a ‘can do’ company.”

“Noble Plastics is the kind of progressive and community minded company that we are proud to call a partner,” Rodier said. ” We look forward to continuing to assist in any way possible with their future growth in St Landry Parish.”