Active was founded in 1977 by four journeymen mould makers skilled in developing custom moulds for the automotive industry. The Company experienced significant growth from the date of inception and in 1978 moved to a 5,000 square foot leased facility on North Talbot Road in Windsor, Ontario. In 1980, the current site of North Talbot Division was purchased and a 10,000 square foot facility was erected. In 1982, Active produced its first large fascia bumper mould.

The Company continued to grow through the 1980’s and 1990’s. Additional working space was achieved through ongoing expansions to the initial facility, which currently encompasses approximately 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and administrative space. The North Talbot currently employs approximately 160 employees.

In 1991, Active was approached by four individuals who saw an opportunity to create moulds for manufacturing lenses and housings used in automotive headlight and taillamp assemblies. The Photometrics Division was subsequently established in an adjacent facility which was owned by Active. Since that time Photometrics has undergone four expansions and currently encompasses approximately 35,000 square feet. The Photometrics facility currently employees approximately 70 employees.

In 1994, Active’s founder tragically died in an airplane accident. The management team assumed responsibility to maintain day to day operations until the Company was sold in January of 1997 to Parkview Capital Partners. Parkview is a small investment company located in Toronto, Ontario.

In October of 1997, Active purchased Burgess Machine and Tool Limited located in Wallaceburg, Ontario. Between Photometrics and the Wallaceburg facility, Active is the largest manufacturer of lighting moulds for the Automotive industry in North America.

Burgess Machine & Tool Limited was founded in 1951. Burgess was owned by three generations of the Burgess family prior to the acquisition by Active. From the founding of the business until the 70’s Burgess focused on zinc and aluminium die cast moulds. In the early 80’s it switched it’s focus to forward and rear lighting moulds and has concentrated on this area since. This Wallaceburg facility was amalgamated into the 2 Windsor facilities in 2006.

In 1998, Automotive Gauge was launched. It is located in Windsor and manufacturers gauges and fixtures for the plastic injection and stamping industries. It operates out of the North Talbot facility with 15 employees.

In 2003, AB Automation was started. Located in the Pulleyblank facility, AB Automation is a leader in designing and manufacturing custom automation equipment and factory automated systems.

In late 2006, Jiwoo Mold in HuiZhou City, China was acquired and was renamed AB Mold International. This acquisition has allowed us to be very successful in managing large programs whereby a portion of the program is manufactured offshore with the balance manufactured in our facilities in Windsor. Our program managers control the entire program whether built offshore or in North America to ensure the design and manufacturing parameters of all the moulds are to our customers standards and requirements. All molds build in China are thoroughly inspected and tested upon arrival in Canada prior to shipment to our customers

In 2007, Active Reflex Solutions was launched to provide electroform reflex inserts for the global market. Products include inserts for automotive lighting, road markers, warning triangles and non automotive lighting applications.