Steve Maguire: A Visionary in Materials Handling

Founder of Maguire Products Inc., Steve Maguire has transformed plastics’ raw material handling technology, as well as how processors control the preparation and consumption of plastic materials. With over 41 patents, his ingenuity is present in most processing plants today.

He started in the plastics industry running a sheet extrusion line while working off and on for his father in law who had a small plastics business. “I had many other jobs, most unrelated to plastics. But my last job, before I started this business, was for an injection molder [ATZ Plastics]. This molder got an order from Sears to produce shower curtain hooks in 18 colors. My boss wanted to try liquid color as it would be easy and less expensive. In my effort to make liquid color work, I developed a peristaltic pump, and with some encouragement from our liquid color salesman, I decided to try producing and selling them. They were so much better and cleaner than what was then available. So in April of 1977, I sold the first of these pumps. Over the years I have sold more than 15,000, and this style of pump became and has remained the standard for the industry,” he notes.

Among his main accomplishments, he highlights his three sons, who currently work with him. Beyond that, and besides the peristaltic liquid color pump, he mentioned the blender, which took the business from $1.7 million in sales to $25 million in 10 years. “We have sold over 50,000 blenders,” he says.

Steve started this multimillion-dollar business in the attic of his house. “I was recently divorced and my three boys—7, 9, and 11—were running around the house as kids do,” Maguire says. “After one year I hired a friend, and the next year I hired a woman [Ginny]. After a year, we began to date and we married 10 years later. I give her as much or maybe more credit for the success of my company than I take for myself. Ginny and I took the company from $100,000 a year to $30 million a year, and she managed all of that while I just designed stuff. She passed away 3 years ago.”