An early leader in injection molding, Bill Stoesser (1921 – 2004) established himself in mold-making and custom processing. He built his first plastic molding machine in 1947, founding Stoesser Tool and Die in his garage and eventually growing it into Stoesser Industries, one of the premier processing companies on the U.S. west coast. The company also included the largest mold-building operation.

In the early 1990s, the company made the business transition to focus on medical plastics molding and design as well as assembly. With the installation of cleanrooms and the acquisition of requisite certification, Stoesser Industries became a valued vendor to the medical device industry.

Stoesser was also an innovator and educator, mentoring many others who became founders of future plastics processing firms. Located in what was to become Silicon Valley, he took advantage of emerging technologies to become an early adopter of electronic database management systems for production control. By developing a modern in-house data processing center, the company could provide up-to-the-minute information on the status of all projects, schedule workloads, and expedite customer delivery.

With injection molding machines ranging from 30 to 500 and compression and transfer molding, Stoesser Industries provided cost-effective production services for small and large orders. Recognizing the need for value-added services, the company established a fully equipped machining facility for the in-house production of small metal parts to respond to the industry’s need for parts that had both plastic and metal components.

The SPE Golden Gate Chapter of the Hall of Fame inducted Bill in 1986.