Elite Mold & Engineering Inc - 2025 Manufacturing Innovation Excellence
This article will appear in the August 2026 issue of MiMfg Magazine. Find past issues online.
For more than 40 years, Elite Mold & Engineering has built its reputation by solving complex manufacturing challenges through speed, precision, and adaptability.
In an increasingly competitive global tooling market, the Shelby Township-based company has embraced an innovation-first mindset — investing in advanced manufacturing technologies, engineering expertise, and workforce development to redefine what customers can expect from a U.S. mold builder.
Driven by its innovation-first mindset, Elite has redefined what customers can expect from a mold builder in terms of agility, quality, and speed — earning the company the 2025 Manufacturing Innovation Excellence Award.
By investing in advanced manufacturing technologies and empowering employees to challenge traditional methods, Elite has transformed the way complex molds are designed and produced.
Solutions for Complex Challenges
Elite serves customers across a wide range of markets, including automotive, aerospace, commercial, industrial, and medical sectors, supporting projects at every stage of product development.
That support includes 3D printing, prototype tooling, prototype injection molding, and low-volume production tooling — all with the goal of solving customers’ challenges while helping them reduce costs and improve lead times.
“Our approach allows us to keep the complex, high-value work right here in Michigan while continuing to grow and support our customers,” says President and CEO Paul Patrash.
Competing on Capability
Elite’s forward-thinking strategies and investments in advanced manufacturing technology have helped the company stand out in an increasingly competitive industry. Elite’s approach to innovation focuses on identifying manufacturing bottlenecks and investing in technologies that improve lead time, precision, and production flexibility.
In fact, Elite is the only company in Michigan — and among the first in the nation — to integrate Mantle Inc.’s additive metal technology into mold manufacturing operations.
Mantle’s unique toolmaking system, TrueShape™, combines additive manufacturing, CNC machining, and advanced software to produce tooling components. The technology has enabled significant reductions in tooling lead times, improved manufacturing efficiency, and lower overall tooling costs.
“By embracing additive technologies, Elite delivers precision-engineered plastic injection molding solutions that meet the highest standards of quality while accelerating customers’ time to market,” says Wipfli Advisory Manager Lisa Lehman, who nominated Elite for the award.
Patrash says they integrated Mantle into their processes to address global pressures regarding cost, delivery, and performance.
“As a Michigan manufacturer, we had a choice,” he says. “We could compete on labor,or we could compete on capability. We chose to compete on capability.”
Elite’s strategy has focused on proving that advanced tooling and manufacturing innovation can continue to thrive in Michigan.
Sales Engineer D.J. Mandeville says the technology has since transformed the conversation with their customers.
“When I propose to them that we can build a tool in 15 to 20 business days, they look at me skeptically, but it ends up changing their perspective on what the U.S. market can achieve as far as tool construction,” he says.
The innovative technology allows Elite to approach complex geometry in diverse ways — saving on time and labor that would otherwise be required, says Mandeville.
Because of the Mantle TrueShape Machine, Elite Mold can support customers from the very first stages with a cost-effective, production-robust prototype at a more affordable cost with a reduced lead time, he adds.
Advancing Innovation
Integrating the solution required training employees and encouraging them to rethink the traditional way of building tools, Patrash says.
Elite’s culture emphasizes creative thinking and adaptability to solve customers’ challenges through high-quality manufacturing solutions, allowing them to compete globally on delivery, performance, speed and precision, he says.
“We invested in advanced technology, engineering expertise and the skilled workforce that makes high-performance manufacturing possible,” Patrash says.
He says Elite has an innovation mindset, which is not just about one machine or one idea, or even solely about growth.
“It’s about a culture of constantly asking how we can do things better,” he says. “It’s about building a company that remains competitive and relevant for the next generation of manufacturing.”
Elite’s identity in the industry has even become an attractant to tool makers interested in using their technology skills to become pioneers in the field. To further that endeavor, Elite partners with local high schools and colleges by providing apprenticeships, tours, internships, mentoring, and technical education scholarships.
“We’re very active in training the next generation and letting them know that there is a great opportunity to have a career in manufacturing,” Patrash adds.
Elite is controlling its own destiny by investing in groundbreaking technology and continuing to grow a highly skilled team.
“This allows them the ability to compete on a global scale while still keeping these jobs here in Michigan,” says Lehman.
Elite’s vision for the future is grounded in their confidence to deliver innovative solutions on a global scale, while also striving to lead within their home state.
By combining advanced manufacturing technology with engineering expertise and workforce investment, Elite Mold & Engineering is helping redefine what modern American manufacturing can achieve — both in Michigan and beyond.
The Manufacturing Innovation Excellence award is part of the annual Manufacturing Excellence Awards which celebrates the leaders and products that are pushing the industry forward. Learn more about the awards program and gala.
The 2025 Manufacturing Innovation Excellence award was sponsored by Rapid Canvas. Visit online: www.rapidcanvas.ai.