‘We’re using chopped-up yogurt containers and blending that with other recycled materials to make the pots,’ says Molded Precision Components co-owner
When David Yeaman and Thomas Woegerer were in high school, they fixed up old Volkswagens in their backyard.
They never thought that a few decades later they would be running a world-class, vertically integrated manufacturing company known as Molded Precision Components (MPC).
The company was founded in 2006, after Yeaman and Woegerer completed their mechanical engineering degrees and decided they no longer wanted to commute to Toronto for high-quality work.
Yeaman, who lives in Oro-Medonte, had an idea: “Why can’t we work closer to home?”
He’s a backwoods advocate and felt drained by spending half his day in his car, away from family.
“It started with two men and a moulding machine,” says Yeaman.
Initially, MPC worked in the automotive industry, but has since diversified into the medical and greenhouse sectors.
It delivers service in the serial production of contract-injection moulded parts, and has a team of 85 employees at two plants, located on Line 4 in Oro-Medonte, just north of Barrie.
“Growing a company in a rural area was a huge challenge,” Yeaman says, especially since the work he set out to do was not just average — he wanted real growth and to create meaningful work for locals.
The 2008 recession didn’t make his goals easy to obtain, either.
“But it’s all about community. It’s why we started. I wanted to be in a community where you matter,” Yeaman says.
MPC eventually found its stride. In 2020, it built a 50,000-square-foot expansion, which gave it the capacity to take on new clients.
“It’s built to suit the manufacturing of injection moulding to compete on the global stage with other overseas companies,” Yeaman adds.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the company adapted to community needs and produced millions of face shields for the federal and provincial governments. Twenty thousand shields were also donated locally.
“We needed to pivot, so we did,” Yeaman says matter-of-factly.
In 2025, MPC took another turn after it learned Clifton Plastics, one of Canada’s only flowerpot manufacturers, was shutting down its operations.
“We had common values with Clifton Plastics’ owner,” says Yeaman. “They were a generational business that had been around for decades. Once the owner saw our facility and technology, he was confident that we could pull this off.”
MPC does all its own tooling, automation and moulding in house, making it a one-stop shop.
“Customers were already seeking premium products to substitute, so we had to make the transition happen fast. Within a week, we did a handshake deal,” Yeaman says. “It was refreshing to see true collaboration still exist today — we just worked on ethics and integrity.”
The transition was smooth and flowerpot manufacturing is now in full swing at MPC.
The pots are made with post-consumer recycled material, known as PCR in the industry.
“We’re using chopped-up yogurt containers and blending that with other recycled materials to make the pots,” says Yeaman. “We’re working on new technologies to make them biodegradable as well.”
It looks simple on the surface, he adds, but admits it’s much more complex, as there are process variation and thin wall moulding, which is tricky.
However, customers have been elated that they can continue to purchase flowerpots in Canada, Yeaman adds.
“Canadians want to buy from Canadians,” he says. “Our goals for the future are to continue to build jobs in our community, continue to diversify and help supply goods for Canada.
“Canada does play on the global stage. We’re doing it right here in Simcoe County.”