What Lacks Enterprises makes

Lacks Enterprises is a family-owned Tier One automotive supplier that specializes in decorative finishes and structural trim, turning molded plastic and forged metal into the visible surfaces of a vehicle. Its work spans interiors and exteriors: instrument panels, bezels, handles, grilles, badges, roof rail covers, and wheels. The company controls the full process in-house, from thermoplastic design and injection molding through chrome plating, painting, assembly, and testing.

The business is organized into a handful of divisions. Plastic Plate, LLC produces interior trim and decor. Lacks Trim Systems produces exterior components. Lacks Wheel Systems produces composite and forged wheels, including the Chromtec bonded-composite surface system, XPOSE single- and multi-piece inserts, and the eVOLVE aerodynamic wheel line. Lacks Carbon Fiber, LLC builds a two-piece wheel that pairs a carbon fiber barrel with a forged 6061-T6 aluminum disc joined by titanium bolts. In August 2024, the company acquired a majority stake in Forgeline Motorsports, a Dayton, Ohio maker of made-to-order forged racing and street wheels, now operating as Lacks Forgeline, LLC.

Underneath the product lines sits a set of proprietary finish technologies that the company sells as a shared toolkit across interior, exterior, and wheel applications: Spinelle and Selective Spinelle color finishes, Tessera three-dimensional textured finishes, and Luminelle lighting. Lacks describes electroplating and injection molding as core disciplines it has run for more than 60 years, and it markets the ability to apply the same validated wheel or trim structure across multiple designs to simplify trim-level differentiation and reduce tooling costs.

Ownership and history

Lacks was founded in 1961 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as Metlac Corporation by John P. Lacks and his son, Richard Lacks Sr., to make die-cast products. The family renamed the business Lacks Industries in 1972 and later Lacks Enterprises. Richard Lacks Jr. became the third-generation family leader as CEO, a role he held from 1999 until 2021. The company remains private and family-owned, and it describes itself as the fourth-largest privately held employer in West Michigan.

Leadership passed to professional managers in February 2021, the first time in the company's history that neither the president nor the CEO carried the Lacks name. Nick Hrnyak, who had joined in 2002 and become president in 2015, was named chief executive officer. Mike Clover moved up from chief financial officer to president, and Scott Chaudoir was promoted to CFO. Richard Lacks Jr. and Kurt Lacks continue as Co-Executive Chairs. In December 2021 the company restructured its board, naming John Kennedy, the founder of Autocam, and Darren R. Jackson, the former CEO of Advance Auto Parts, as Co-Chairs, and adding Dan Bowen. Ryan Lacks, who runs the wheel division, and K.V. Lacks are being groomed as the fourth generation of family oversight.

Where Lacks operates

Lacks is headquartered at 5460 Cascade Road SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and employs more than 3,000 people. Beyond its Grand Rapids operations, the company runs a facility in Novi, Michigan, and maintains international entities in Germany (Lacks Europe LLC), the United Kingdom, Japan (Lacks Japan Godo-Kaisha), and South Korea, which support its work with OEMs and tier suppliers across regions. The company also states that it provides global export and distribution capabilities alongside its manufacturing.

Certifications and quality

Lacks describes itself as ISO certified and an approved vendor to global automakers, a claim it made publicly in connection with the 2024 Forgeline acquisition. The company has not published a specific certificate, revision year, or scope on its site, so the certification is reported here as a company claim rather than a documented, dated record. Lacks runs one of what it calls the most advanced in-house testing facilities in the industry, with environmental and chemical testing plus finite element analysis, and it certifies its wheels to both U.S. and European OEM and aftermarket standards. Its interior work has been recognized with a WardsAuto 10 Best Interiors award.

Known customers

Lacks publishes several OEM programs directly, which is unusual for a decorative-trim supplier and makes its customer relationships easier to verify than most.

The defense relationship is the newest and most significant shift in the company's mix. In April 2026 Lacks acquired an equity stake in IGCS International, a Dallas-based service-disabled veteran-owned small business that supplies the U.S. Department of Defense, a move Crain's Grand Rapids Business reported landed Lacks its first military contract to build drones.

Recent developments

August 2026 - Toray Advanced Composites, IGCS International, and Lacks Carbon Fiber formed a cooperation to supply composite materials for the U.S. Army's Drone Dominance Program, an initiative focused on rapid, on-demand domestic drone fabrication, per CompositesWorld.

April 2026 - Lacks acquired an equity stake in IGCS International to extend its polymer chemistry, plating, molding, and composites expertise into aerospace and defense, according to CompositesWorld and Crain's Grand Rapids Business. The deal produced the company's first military drone contract and marked a deliberate push beyond automotive.

August 2024 - Lacks acquired a majority stake in Forgeline Motorsports, a Dayton, Ohio maker of custom forged aluminum wheels, forming Lacks Forgeline, LLC and keeping operations in Dayton, per the company's announcement.

Sourcing evidence

Lacks appears in U.S. customs records with only a handful of sea shipments, seven on the current record, with the most recent dated July 28, 2026. For a company of its size, that thin footprint is the signature of a domestic producer rather than an importer of finished goods: Lacks molds, plates, and assembles in Michigan, so most of its material moves inside North America by truck and rail, which do not appear in ocean bill-of-lading data. The foreign shippers on record fit the wheel business, including Nanjing Dicastal Huashun Wheels, alongside an intercompany lane from the company's own Lacks Japan entity.

Coverage caveats apply. These are U.S. ocean-freight records only; truck, rail, and air movements do not appear, and a domestic manufacturer will always look small in this data. Absence of a shipment record is not evidence of absence of activity. For buyers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure, Lacks reads as a heavily domestic, vertically integrated supplier with limited direct import dependence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Lacks Enterprises make?

Lacks Enterprises makes decorative finishes and trim for vehicles: interior components like instrument panels and bezels through its Plastic Plate division, exterior trim through Lacks Trim Systems, and composite and forged wheels through Lacks Wheel Systems, Lacks Carbon Fiber, and Lacks Forgeline. It runs injection molding, chrome plating, painting, assembly, and testing in-house, and sells proprietary finish technologies including Spinelle, Tessera, and Luminelle.

Who owns Lacks Enterprises?

Lacks Enterprises is a private, family-owned company founded in 1961 by John P. Lacks and Richard Lacks Sr. It is led by the third and fourth generations of the Lacks family. Richard Lacks Jr. and Kurt Lacks serve as Co-Executive Chairs, while professional managers run day-to-day operations. Nick Hrnyak became CEO in 2021, the first non-family chief executive in the company's history.

Where is Lacks Enterprises headquartered?

Lacks Enterprises is headquartered at 5460 Cascade Road SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It also operates a facility in Novi, Michigan, and maintains international entities in Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea. The company employs more than 3,000 people and describes itself as the fourth-largest privately held employer in West Michigan.

Who are Lacks Enterprises' customers?

Lacks publishes several documented OEM programs, including RAM 1500 trim for Stellantis, F-150 interior decor for Ford, interior LED lighting for BMW, and a Tacoma wheel for Toyota. In 2026 the company entered aerospace and defense, supplying composite materials for the U.S. Army's Drone Dominance Program through a cooperation with Toray and IGCS International.

Is Lacks Enterprises ISO certified?

Lacks describes itself as ISO certified and an approved vendor to global automakers. The company has not published a specific certificate, revision year, or scope on its website, so the certification is best treated as a company claim rather than a documented record. Lacks also runs in-house environmental, chemical, and finite element analysis testing and certifies wheels to U.S. and European standards.

How big is Lacks Enterprises?

Lacks Enterprises employs more than 3,000 people and is the fourth-largest privately held employer in West Michigan. It does not publish audited revenue figures because it is a private, family-owned company, so any revenue number circulating in data brokers is a modeled estimate rather than a reported figure.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.