The story
Gemini Group traces its origins to 1972, when Bill Roberts and Frank Peplinski established Lyntex Manufacturing, a sewing operation that initially produced helmet liners and later expanded into automotive seatbelts. That same year, Jack Rochefort purchased Thumb Tool & Engineering, an aluminum extrusion tool-and-die business in Michigan's Thumb region.
In 1977, Roberts and Peplinski established Gemini Plastics, adding blow molding and plastic extrusion capabilities for the automotive industry. The companies expanded their manufacturing operations through a series of partnerships and new businesses. In 1979, they formed an alliance with CKS Tool & Engineering and Briney Tooling Systems, followed by a partnership with Axly Tool & Bushing in 1980, adding precision and production computer numerical control (CNC) machining capabilities. A 1983 partnership with Thumb Plastics added two-shot injection molding capabilities.
Expansion continued in 1984 with the formation of Regency Plastics in Ubly, Michigan, for blow molding and Regency Plastics-El Paso, later renamed Sierra Plastics, in El Paso, Texas. Valley Enterprises was established in Ubly in 1990, adding automotive interior trim manufacturing.
In 1996, the affiliated plastic products and metal tooling businesses were brought together under Gemini Group.
Gemini Group continued to expand through acquisitions and the development of additional operations. CKS Tool & Engineering and Axly Tool & Bushing were combined in 2009 to form Gemini Precision Machining, which later became the company's forge tooling operation. Gemini Plastics de Mexico was established in Saltillo, Mexico, in 2011.
In 2013, Gemini Group acquired Mid-South Extrusion Die and Consolidated Tool in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, expanding its aluminum extrusion tooling operations. The company acquired Tri-R Dies in Youngstown, Ohio, in 2021 and GT Plastics in Oscoda, Michigan, in 2022, expanding its plastic extrusion operations into the building and construction market.
Gemini Group is headquartered in Bad Axe, Michigan, and is one of the largest employers in Huron County, Michigan, where it operates four plastic product plants and two metal tooling solutions plants. In total, it operates 17 manufacturing facilities in the United States and Mexico. Its operations include automotive interior trim, plastic extrusion and co-extrusion, two-shot injection molding, technical blow molding, aluminum extrusion tooling, forge tooling, and aluminum die-cast tooling.
From Wikipedia’s article on Gemini Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5