Steve Maguire Founder and President, Maguire Products, Inc.

Steve Maguire is a prolific inventor who has transformed plastics raw material handling
technology and revolutionized the way processors control the preparation and consumption of
molding and extrusion compounds. As a self-reliant entrepreneur in the classic American vein,
he has drawn on his own early experience as a plastics processor to devise systems that address
the practical needs and preferences of processors, with an emphasis on simplicity, reliability, and
ease of use. More often than not, this has required completely re-thinking the way a particular
processing system might operate.Best known as the inventor of the Maguire Weigh Scale Blender, Steve
Maguire has single-handedly developed the basic concepts, system designs, and manufacturing methods for this and other new forms of auxiliary equipment. Nearly all of these systems were radical departures from
conventional equipment at the time of their introduction but eventually became industry
standards. The company which he founded to commercialize his innovations, Maguire
Products, Inc., is today one of the leading global supplier of plastics auxiliary equipment.
Having entered the plastics industry in the early 1970s, Steve Maguire at age 74
continues to work on developing new auxiliary equipment systems. His latest major
invention, a new type of vacuum resin dryer for use by plastics processors, promises to
have an effect on the industry as revolutionary as that of the Weigh Scale Blender. His three sons have joined him in the business. Thus far 41 patents have been issued to Steve Maguire, 26 applications have been
published, and 11 are pending. His chief innovations, presented in chronological order, include:
 1977: Liquid color pump. While colorant is often the most costly additive in a
compound, liquid colors are less expensive for processors than conventional bead concentrates.
Until Steve Maguire’s invention of the Maguire peristaltic liquid color pump, however, there
was no suitable device available for accurately metering liquid color into the processing
machine. The invention was the basis for the formation of Maguire Products to supply
dispensing pumps to liquid color manufacturers and their customers. In years to come, Steve
Maguire would continue to develop innovations relating to liquid color (see developments in
2002 and 2015, below).
 1980: Microprocessor control. Drawing on previous experience as a computer
programmer, Steve Maguire pioneered the use of microprocessors in auxiliary equipment,
starting with a controller and software developed for the liquid color pump. The microprocessor
monitored the operation of the pump and automatically adjusted it to improve accuracy. Using
digital input, the controller detected and compensated for changing cycle times, varying torque
requirements, or fluctuations in plant voltage.
In developing other new types of auxiliary equipment, Steve Maguire subsequently
expanded the role of computerization in raw material management. Among later innovations
were self-calibrating, self-adjusting controls for the Weigh Scale Blender; software enabling
processors to network their blenders for plant-wide raw material management, operational
monitoring, and job documentation; use of blender data for extrusion yield control; and
translation systems enabling blenders to communicate with the microprocessor controls of all
other processing equipment in a manufacturing plant.
These innovations in computer control have been put to work synergistically with the
Internet via Maguire’s www.maguire.com website. Customers can use the site to download
updates for their machine controllers, “test-drive” new control software, and troubleshoot
problems with their Maguire equipment.
 1989: Weigh Scale Blender. This system for metering and mixing pellet and powder
ingredients enables processors to confidently blend in colors and additives that previously had to
be pre-compounded, or to add regrind without the risk of erratic melt behavior caused by poor
mixing. As a result, processors have eliminated over-coloring, reduced consumption of costly
additives, and improved product quality and consistency.