Bringing It In-House: Sinclair & Rush’s Acquisition of Protoco Enterprises

How a global plastics manufacturer strengthened its dip molding capabilities — improving quality, delivery times, and the range of solutions it offers customers — by acquiring a respected Oregon specialist. Facilitated by Hart Marx Advisors.

Sinclair & Rush, Inc.  

Protoco Enterprises, LLC

Dip molding is one of the quiet workhorses of American manufacturing. A heated form is dipped into liquid plastisol, cured, and stripped to produce a seamless, flexible part — the comfortable grip on a hand tool, the protective cover on an industrial component, the coating that keeps a product safe in transit and comfortable in use. The closely related fluidized bed process applies powder coatings the same way, fusing a durable layer directly onto metal parts.

The process is simple to describe and difficult to do well. Consistent wall thickness, color matching, adhesion, and finish quality depend on tooling, temperature control, and accumulated judgment — which is why manufacturers of tools and industrial products tend to stay with a dip molder they trust for decades. It is a craft business, and the craft is the asset.

Founded in 1977 in North Plains, Oregon, family-owned Protoco Enterprises built nearly five decades of reputation on exactly that craft. What began as a small dip molding operation grew into a diversified custom manufacturer: vinyl dip molding, fluidized bed powder coating, vacuum forming, plastic injection molding, and pad printing — a unique mix of products, coatings, and custom capabilities able to meet customers' specific job requirements.

Protoco's customer list tells the story of its quality. Tool manufacturers serving the automotive industry, sporting goods makers in the fishing industry, law enforcement and military agencies, and medical equipment manufacturers all rely on Protoco components — and its top ten customers have been buying from the company for more than thirty years. In an industry where switching suppliers is easy, relationships measured in decades are the strongest evidence of consistent performance.

Sinclair & Rush, Inc. of Arnold, Missouri knows the dip molding craft from the inside — the company was founded in 1950 as a small dip molder of custom vinyl products. Seventy-five years later, it is one of the world's leading multi-process plastics manufacturers, with dip molding, thermoforming, and extrusion operations on four continents, more than 20,000 customers, and a family of brands including StockCap (caps, plugs, and protective covers), GripWorks (hand grips), VisiPak (clear packaging), and Indepak (precision thermoforming).

For a global manufacturer with that heritage, the make-versus-buy question is always live: when demand for dip molded and coated products grows, do you expand capacity organically, continue relying on outside suppliers — or acquire a proven specialist? With Protoco, Sinclair & Rush chose the third path, bringing additional dip molding capability in-house through acquisition.

Quality under one roof. Acquiring Protoco brought a 48-year quality reputation — and the tooling, processes, and experienced team behind it — directly into the Sinclair & Rush organization. Quality is now controlled, not contracted.

Faster, more reliable delivery. Owning the capability shortens the path from order to delivery. With Protoco as a division rather than a vendor, scheduling, prioritization, and logistics sit inside one organization — and customers see the difference in lead times.

Expanded capabilities for every customer. Protoco's fluidized bed coating, vacuum forming, injection molding, and pad printing broaden what Sinclair & Rush can offer its 20,000+ customers, while Protoco's customers gain access to global manufacturing, logistics, and support they could never reach from a single Oregon operation.

A cultural match five decades in the making. Both companies began as small family dip molding businesses and grew by taking the craft seriously. Sinclair & Rush's existing Pacific Northwest presence made the geographic fit natural; the shared heritage made the cultural fit obvious. Protoco continues as a division, its products and legacy preserved, with Mark Newman transitioning from president to national sales representative — keeping the relationships that built the business.

Hart Marx Advisors facilitated the transaction, managing the process from confidential marketing through closing. Finding the right home for a company like Protoco requires understanding what actually makes a dip molding business valuable — the tooling library, the process knowledge, the decades-long customer relationships — and knowing which acquirers are genuinely positioned to preserve and build on them. A strategic buyer with dip molding in its own DNA will always see more value in that craft than a financial buyer reading a spreadsheet.

The transaction also illustrates the breadth of the Hart Marx practice. While our core markets are the automotive and heavy-duty aftermarkets, our work extends across the industrial supply chain — coatings, chemicals, plastics, and the manufacturers who serve tool, equipment, and consumer product companies. Protoco's customers span automotive tools, sporting goods, defense, and medical equipment; finding its buyer required exactly the cross-industry relationships our partners maintain.

For owners of specialized manufacturing businesses, the Protoco transaction carries a clear lesson: the best buyer is often the one for whom your capability solves a strategic problem. Sinclair & Rush wasn't simply buying a company — it was insourcing a craft, improving quality and delivery for its customers, and expanding what it can say yes to. Sellers whose advisors can identify and reach that kind of buyer — quietly, credibly, and with an owner-approved process — capture value that a generic auction never surfaces.

If your company has built capabilities that a larger strategic player would want under its own roof, the conversation starts confidentially with a Hart Marx partner.