Company History

Royal has been located in Minden, NE for 60+ years.  Royal first opened its doors after World War II as Royal Plastic Manufacturing. Royal was originally made plastic products such as plastic soap dishes, transitioning to  fiber glass reinforced parts by 1954. According to local legend,  a group of engineers from McDonnell Aircraft were boating in nearby Harlan County Reservoir when their boat developed a serious leak. The group happened upon Royal’s owner, Harley Cole, who fixed their boat and subsequently was given an invitation to submit bids for making spare parts for McDonnell. Royal was awarded some contracts and by 1958, the company was exclusively in the composites business.

After Mr. Cole passed away in 1978, California-based M.C. Gill Corporation acquired Royal and Stephen Gill ran this division through 1992. During this time, Royal acquired more aeronautic customers and was manufacturing primarily fiberglass covers and ducts for military aircraft.

In 1990, we broke ground for a new 20,000 sq. ft. building.  In 1993, Phillip Gill moved to Nebraska and took control of Royal, bringing with him business from California. This enabled Royal to double its size to 18 employees with its owner on the premises. Royal embarked on reinvesting profits to develop technology and acquire equipment to allow it to grow and compete in the structural composites arena. 

The company enjoyed continued growth and in 1996, Royal purchased an autoclave and began making antennae for the GPS IIa global positioning satellite. Royal reached a turning point in 2001. Believing Royal was vulnerable to low cost, low technology companies in other countries, Royal decided to develop its engineering capability.  Royal now supplies primes and second tier suppliers with both quality engineering and on-time production.  The focus was and is on making parts requiring more sophisticated quality systems. By 2004, Royal had over 50 customers and was qualified to make structural graphite/epoxy parts for Boeing. 

In 2006, Royal qualified to NADCAP and AS9100 quality standards for graphite epoxy. Two years later, Phil Gill established an ESOP and began selling shares of Royal to the employees. Royal expanded its plant to 52,000 square feet of building and employment reached 100. 

Why did we change our name to Royal Engineered Composites?

Until 2010, Royal was known by its original name of Royal Plastic Mfg. The name 'Plastic' lost its glamour in the 60's; however, Royal mistakenly thought customers valued the company's history as a pioneer. The change to Royal Engineered Composites reinforces Royal as an industry leader in the manufacture of composite materials and more accurately represents the company’s technical capabilities, state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and expertise.  Royal's goal is to use engineering expertise to create value and reduce costs for customers.  

Royal strives to do an excellent job for its customers, employees, and owners. Royal's focus is to produce high quality composite parts on time. Royal has always been owned and operated by engineers and is committed to figuring out better ways to add value. 

Industry Leader in On-Time Performance

In 2005, Royal's suppliers delivered 68% on-time and Royal delivered 84% on-time.  Royal's customers were not delighted. Royal invested in a constraints based scheduling system, rather than MRP/ERP based scheduling.  With consistent effort, Royal has improved on-time to 98% and suppliers to 75% in 2010.  Royal expects to continue to improve

Culture:

At Royal, we aim to set clear goals and hold people accountable.