Royal Plastics history

Infuriated, De Zen decided to launch his own business, but not before returning to Europe for a year in 1969 to learn the latest developments in the making of dies for vinyl extrusion.

Then, in 1970 he joined forces with a pair of fellow immigrants and Pillar employees, Domenic D'Amico and Lorenzo De Meneghi, each of them investing $17,000, although De Zen held a majority stake in the venture.

Royal began importing into the United States market in 1973, a watershed moment that marked the beginning of rapid, long-term growth.

According to a 1993 Forbes profile, "Royal would grow, then reap some profits; grow, then reap.

De Zen took Royal public in November 1994, keeping most of the voting stock for himself, more than 80 percent of voting shares as opposed to about 17 percent of equity.

In January 1995 the company launched a joint venture with Rubbermaid Incorporated, creating Royal Rubbermaid Structures Ltd. to make and market modular consumer storage sheds.

At the end of 1996 Royal bought out Rubbermaid's share of the business.

A year later it cracked CAD 1 billion in annual sales and approached CAD 1.3 billion in 1999.

Initiated toolmaking for export from RPI-China circa 2000

No doubt feeling the pressure, De Zen announced his retirement in November 2003, although he retained 80 percent of the voting rights.

In November 2004 De Zen as well as CEO Douglas Dunsmuir and CFO Ron Groegan were ousted.

Began Integrated components, assembly, testing export from RPI-China circa 2005