This is how most factories operate.

Hire someone to design a plastic mold, pay for the work, never hear from that person again.

It is insane to expect anything more than a tax code, that is only retained for some few years in some dusty finance department file cabinet.

There is no source control, design history files, CD/CI, etc in a factory, i.e. 99% of small to medium business. Silicon valley and fintech are the exceptions, even today, let alone when that happened.

Also, it is a bunch of old timers recommending one another for work. The people on the floor and owners definitely know the person, but will not tell unless they have to.