THE LATEST EXTRUDING NEWS FROM ENTEK

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1 JUNE 2011 EDITION Extrusion Solutions THE LATEST EXTRUDING NEWS FROM ENTEK Based in Orangeburg, South Carolina, with numerous additional facilities in North America and around the world, Zeus ( is a leading global supplier of highperformance extruded fluoropolymer tubing and materials for the medical, fluid handling, electrical and mechanical industry markets. Zeus prides itself on solving challenging assignments, which is evident when you see the company s lists of materials used to produce high-performance tubing for critical applications. Extruded tubing from Zeus must provide characteristics such as temperature resistance, lubricity, and high tensile strength to name a few. When researching twin-screw extruder suppliers for a recent purchase, Zeus did their homework and the result was the purchase of an ENTEK E-MAX 27mm machine. Leading Global Supplier of Fluoropolymer Tubing Uses ENTEK Extruders for High-Performance Compounding Engineering Resins and Nanomaterials Many of the materials used by Zeus are engineering resins, and the company mixes these with inorganic fillers or other polymers to create high-performance compounds and nanomaterials. The twin-screw extruder must perform flawlessly so valuable materials are not wasted. For successful processing, these materials require very uniform temperatures in the twin-screw extruder, said Zahidul Wahab, R&D Engineer at Zeus. Temperature uniformity is critical for sensitive resins, so we needed a machine that met that criteria, amongst other things. Lab Trial Seals the Deal Zeus ran lab trials at several twin-screw extruder supplier locations, and made the trip from South Carolina to Oregon to run trials at ENTEK. We knew ENTEK was not the biggest twin-screw extruder company, but we had an excellent experience at their plant, said Wahab. Their personnel were extremely helpful and supportive. We learned a lot from them, and they were flexible they even worked with us to custom design a machine with integrated auxiliaries that was perfect for our specialized needs. (continues on page 3) JUNE 2011 PAGE 1

2 Executive s Corner Extrusion Business Outlook ENTEK is fortunate to be the supplier of extrusion equipment and services to an outstanding group of companies that are industry leaders. Business at ENTEK returned to a normal level in 2010 after the severe drop in capital equipment demand in 2008 and the first half of Demand for our products and services has continued to increase in 2011 and our booking of new business is now well above normal. We can attribute part of our good fortune to general economic recovery, as shown by the Federal Reserve s data for capacity utilization in the Plastics and Rubber Products industry. Capacity utilization is at about 93% of 2008 pre-recession levels, after dropping to a low of 73% in early The balance of our good fortune, and perhaps the larger part, is attributable to the success of our Customers. ENTEK is fortunate to be the supplier of extrusion equipment and services to an outstanding group of companies that are industry leaders in their market spaces. Our sales in color and additive compounding have been particularly strong because our Customers are growing faster in this market space than the market space itself is growing. Serving Customer Needs Beyond the Extruder ENTEK s in-house design, machining, fabrication, and programming capabilities have enabled us to earn business outside the typical scope of feed, extrude, and pelletize. Our Customers are bringing challenges to ENTEK and looking to us to provide engineered solutions for plant designs, plant build-outs, and processes well upstream and downstream of the extruder. Many of our customers reported record sales in 2010 and even better results year-to-date for 2011, and are expanding their operations to take advantage of opportunities. There are still areas of slack demand in polymer-based products residential construction for example which can provide space for further expansion of demand. Our outlook for the rest of the year is for continued strong sales of extruders and wear parts; overall ENTEK is forecasting its second-best revenue year ever in We like to think that ENTEK is responsible for some part of our Customer s success, although we re modest enough to know our Customers have earned their success through hard work and savvy business decisions. ENTEK is proud to be a part of your story and we thank you for your business. If you are not a current ENTEK Customer, we hope to earn your business in the future. I hope you enjoy reading our latest newsletter and as always, I encourage you to contact me anytime at khanawalt@entek.com. Sincerely, Dr. Kirk Hanawalt Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, ENTEK Manufacturing, Inc. JUNE 2011 PAGE 2

3 Extrusion Solutions Their personnel were extremely helpful and supportive. We learned a lot from them, and they were flexible they even worked with us to custom design a machine with integrated auxiliaries that was perfect for our specialized needs. (continued from page 1) After purchase of the twin-screw extruder, ENTEK personnel were present at Zeus for the machine s start-up, which went perfectly. We started up the machine and then trained their machine operators on the proper use of the twin-screw extruder, said Bill Petrozelli, ENTEK s Eastern Regional Sales Manager. Everything went very well, and the machine met all of Zeus compounding criteria. Small Production Lots Zeus uses the ENTEK 27mm twin-screw extruder for both R&D and for producing small production lots of materials. We usually only require up to 40 lbs/hour of material output, said Wahab. As demand for certain compounds grows, we know we can get more output out of the ENTEK machine. While most of the leading brands of twin-screw extruders provide good performance, it was ENTEK s service and support that set them apart from the rest, said Wahab. ENTEK helped us tremendously from the initial stages of our project, through machine start-up, and into production, he said. We have been very pleased with our partnership and look forward to continuing working with ENTEK in the future. Upcoming Events Biopolymers Symposium 2011 September 26-28, 2011, The Westin Tabor Center, Denver, CO JUNE 2011 PAGE 3

4 ENTEK Plus ENTEK Plus Adds New Products And Services ENTEK Plus, ENTEK s wear parts/services business, was started in December Since its formation, the business unit has rolled out numerous new parts and services to help customers improve their operations and increase productivity. Some of the newest offerings include: Henschel gearbox repair and rebuild program; powder metal screw elements up to 250mm now available; flexible wear parts stocking programs - we work with you to ensure your parts are available, when and where you want them These join some of the previously introduced ENTEK Plus products and services, including: conical barrels for PVC extrusion that feature higher performance and longer life than other barrels; screw elements for processing highly abrasive and corrosive materials; replacement wear parts for both ENTEK and non-entek twin-screw extruders For more information on any of these products and services, contact Tammy Straw, Business Development Coordinator, at (541) , or tstraw@entek.com. Lean Efforts Paying Off Sales at ENTEK Plus have been very strong, which the company attributes largely to lean manufacturing efforts that were implemented starting in Three years ago, ENTEK s machine shop added numerous machine tools in an effort to ramp up capacity. Since then, the company has increased its parts manufacturing capacity by a factor of 5. Our lean efforts continue to pay off, and we especially see that in our wear parts business, said John Effmann, ENTEK Director of Sales & Marketing. While our lean program is implemented across all departments company-wide, our machine shop has been dramatically affected and this has been key to increasing our parts output. ENTEK Plus works with its customers to ensure their spare parts are in stock and immediately available when and where they need them JUNE 2011 PAGE 4

5 Lab Trials Lab Notes Dean Elliott ENTEK Lab Manager (Editor s Note) The ENTEK in-house development tlab continues to push hthe limits it of twin-screw extrusion. Dean Elliott, ENTEK s lab manager, outlines some of the latest lab happenings below. Recent News from the Lab Every day in the ENTEK in-house lab, we experiment with new materials and work with customers to optimize the performance of their compounds. Over the past few years we have seen some interesting trends emerging in the industry, including the birth and subsequent boom of Bioresin compounding. After seeing an increase in lab trials with Bioresins in 2008 and 2009, we have seen the trend towards traditional compounding rise over the past year. This includes mineral-filled compounds and masterbatches, as well as color masterbatches/compounds. Other recent lab developments include: we recently installed a brand-new Gala underwater pelletizer with an oversized dryer in the lab. It includes an I-Heat system for hygroscopic pellets, allowing us numerous options for running pellets for customer trials. Additionally, we have a Bay Plastics strand pelletizing system for those materials that require it. we have developed a new method to combine shear sensitive polymers or biopolymers with polyolefins and various other polymers, using two ENTEK co-rotating twin-screw extruders (more on this below). Tandem Twin-Screw Extruders Customer requests to combine shear sensitive materials or biopolymers with other polymers led us to experiment with using the two ENTEK machines in the lab, 27mm and 53mm twin-screw extruders, together. The two machines are used to combine two melt streams into one. Using this method, a mixture (such as a bioresin compound) is processed in the 27mm machine, and then introduced into the 53mm machine, where it joins a color compounded melt stream. This is similar to what a standard side feeder would do with solids. This new method has helped us, and our customers, explore ways of balancing the needs of shear sensitive materials and compounding unlike materials. Schedule a Lab Trial If you would like to learn more about our in-house lab or would like to schedule a trial, please contact Tammy Straw at , or tstraw@entek.com. JUNE 2011 PAGE 5

6 Oregon s Best - Again! Who to Contact GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS ENTEK MANUFACTURING, LLC PO Box 39, 200 Hansard Avenue Lebanon, OR Tel FAX DR. KIRK HANAWALT President khanawalt@entek-mfg.com JOHN EFFMANN Director of Sales & Marketing jeffmann@entek.com TAMMY STRAW Business Development Coordinator ENTEK PLUS tstraw@entek.com DEAN ELLIOTT Lab Manager delliott@entek.com NORTH AMERICA BILL PETROZELLI Regional Sales Manager Tel ext FAX bpetrozelli@entek.com LINDA CAMPBELL Regional Sales Manager Tel FAX lcampbell@entek.com EUROPE JOHN EFFMANN jeffmann@entek.com Great Comeback of 2010/2011 Underway at ENTEK Company is hiring numerous employees to keep up with increased sales, record growth The Great Recession is thankfully over, and the Great Comeback is underway at ENTEK. The company s workforce has been increased by 40% since March 2010, and sales at the end of 2010 were dramatically higher than 2009 in all areas, including twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts. In addition, ENTEK is pleased to announce it has been named to the 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon list by Oregon Business magazine for the second year in a row. This list, published annually by Oregon Business, recognizes large, medium and small companies for excellence in retention and rewards, work environment, decision-making and trust, performance management, career development and learning. Hiring to Meet Demand Employees have been added in virtually all departments at ENTEK according to John Effmann, Director of Sales and Marketing. Engineers, machinists, assemblers, and purchasing agents, to name a few, have recently joined the company, he said. Business volume increased exponentially for us in 2010 and this is continuing into 2011 as well, so we had to ramp up our workforce to keep up with the demand. ENTEK had one of its best unit sales years ever in 2010, with turnkey manufacturing plant services, complete extrusion systems, twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts combining to provide record growth numbers for the company. We re grateful to our customers for their loyalty and continued business, said Effmann. Like us, many of them struggled during the recession and we appreciate the fact that as their business has improved, they have come back to ENTEK for their twin-screw extruder and parts support. ASIA TAY HWA BENG Asian Sales Manager Tel hbtay@entek.com EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at JUNE 2011 PAGE 6