Louisville-based Jones Plastic & Engineering celebrates 50th anniversary

Louisville-based Jones Plastic, a leading injection molders for the appliance and automotive industries, announce its 50th anniversary.

In 1961, Louisville natives and Manual High School Alumni Harry & Larry Jones, with funding from family and friends along with their wives, Nancy and Skeet, and six children all under 7 in tow, started a one-machine manufacturing operation.

Two years later they purchased another machine and with great employees and hard work the business eventually out grew its modest beginnings and was relocated to its current headquarters, in the Jeffersontown Industrial Park. Harry said

“We took a big chance but needed to have the ability to continue to expand if opportunities kept coming our way," Harry Jones said.

They did keep coming and helped turn Jones Plastic and Engineering into a
multinational injection molder that is still family owned, with three generations active in day to day operations.

Harry and Larry are Kentucky staples both as entrepreneurs and local sport legends. The twins both lettered three years (1950-52) with the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

Harry led the UK team and the nation in kickoff return yardage with 964 in 1951, and Larry led UK in punt returns that same year.

Harry Jones, 1A, and Larry Jones, 1BHarry and Larry are mentioned in the book, "The Wildcats," by former UK Sports Information Director Russell Rice. The book discusses Bryant’s use of a unique number system to identify the twins, Harry (1A) and Larry (1B).

Jones Plastic initially manufactured whiskey caps for liquor bottles, and in the early ’90s it pioneered the use of gas-assist, high-speed molding and component kitting. It was not only this expertise in molding, but their reputation for helping their customers get products to market, reducing handling labor and shipping costs that led the way to expansions
in Kentucky, Tennessee and two Mexican locations, Monterrey and Juarez.

The company is known in the industry for service and quality and by its “Outworking the Competition” motto, coined by Larry in 1965.

“My father, Harry and Uncle Larry insisted on providing customers with the best product and service possible. The 50th anniversary is testament to our continued dedication to this core value!" said CEO Craig Jones

Jones Plastic and Engineering now has 2,400 employees worldwide and
its plants are comprised of nearly 1 million s.f.

“It wasn’t always growth over the 50 years”, said Harry Jones. “Sometime the markets changed and then we had to adjust.”

The results of those adjustments can be seen through the primary product lines, which consists of Appliance Consumer Goods, Packaging & Displays,
Outdoor Products, Medical, Electronic, and Automotive Components.

In 1978, the family held company expanded its holdings with the acquisition of a division of Ajax Hardware of California and established Rev-A-Shelf as a division of Jones Plastic and Engineering in the 1980s. Rev-A-Shelf’s line began as metal and polymer Lazy Susan components complemented Jones Plastic and has since grown into the market leading innovator of quality, functional residential cabinet storage and organization products.

 “We had high hopes for this company (Rev-A-Shelf) when we started it." Harry Jones said. "With the help of so many hard working employees and great leadership in our first president, Kevin Jones, and now with David Noe, current general manager, Rev-A-Shelf has grown into an International company with a great reputation for very high quality, storage solution products.”

“2011 was never a goal, nor did we ever expect to be in business this long”, said Harry Jones. “The reason we are still here today is because we were very fortunate to find great people willing to work hard to satisfy our customers.”

That hard work has grown Jones Plastic and Engineering from one machine to a global corporation with five molding facilities, two satellite locations in Europe and Asia, and its subsidy company, Rev-A-Shelf.

“We are proud to be part of the business. It has been great to be here all these years” said Harry Jones.