Our History

Chesapeake Plastics Manufacturing was founded by Mark McGrath and Steve Moore when their former employer went into retirement. Rather than look for new jobs outside their home county, they would purchase their former employer’s equipment, re-hire many of their newly unemployed colleagues and launch their own business.

Before opening their doors, Mark and Steven took a deliberate approach to securing the success of their new company. Moore developed a comprehensive business plan while McGrath secured a solid customer base. With the business plan and contracts in-hand they approached William Hitte of the Maryland Small Business Development Center Network and Steven Wall of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development (DBED). Working together, the business plan was refined and presented to Stephen Hall of Branch Banking & Trust Company. In addition, Maryland DBED awarded CPM a $15,000.00 Maryland Industrial Training Program (MITP) grant. Wall noted that this is the first time the award has been received in Southern Maryland. It was awarded due to CPM’s unique fast-track start-up situation, to help with company development and specialized training needs. With the support of their former employer, they embarked on a new endeavor and opened the doors to Chesapeake Plastics Manufacturing in September 2003.

Since opening for business in 2003, Chesapeake Plastics many awards for their innovative approach to injection molding. These awards include:

Leading Edge Award

Daily Record’s Innovator of the Year Award

Baltimore SmartCEO’s “Future 50” List

Governor’s Citation for Maryland Technology Champion

Maryland Small Business Administration Small Business of the Year

In 2005, Chesapeake Plastics Manufacturing began operations of CPM Fastools, which provided a wide range of services and products for the manufacturing industry using laser sintering, cryogenic processing and rapid prototyping. CPM Fastools’ ability to provide small runs of products quickly and cost-effectively has made the company a popular solutions provider for a host of manufacturing applications. Born out of a passion for photography, Chesapeake Plastics has developed a line of products called CPM Camera Rigs. There are two lines of camera rigs which are available for purchase including a Professional Line and a Semi-Professional line. Most recently, they introduced a new line of camera rigs solely for smartphones, including iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

In 2015, Chesapeake Plastics Manufacturing updated their corporate identity to include all of the services they offer including Design, Prototyping, Tooling and Manufacturing. The logo features a Blue Heron, a native bird of the Chesapeake area, as well as a ship wheel which ties into the water that surround the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic area.