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OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 1EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
Leading Color Concentrates and Masterbatch Supplier Grows Its Business with Help from ENTEK Extruders
Founded in 1964, Penn Color (penncolor.com) is a leading global manufacturer of color concentrates, masterbatches, and pigment dispersions. Penn Color has worked closely with ENTEK Extruders since 1999; in fact, ENTEK originally published a story in 2006 about its relationship with Penn Color.
Fast forward to 2017: 11 years later, we thought we’d catch up with Penn Color to see what’s new at the company. What we found was a success story of growth, expansion, and diversification – and through it all, ENTEK has continued to contribute significantly to that success.
GrowthIn a recent interview Penn Color’s Kevin Putman Jr., Director of Sales, Marketing & Operations, and Wayne Miller, Vice President-Manufacturing, spoke about the company’s growth over the past several years and how they have utilized ENTEK’s twin-screw extruders and technical expertise to help with that growth.
“Business has grown strongly and consistently for Penn Color – both our plastics and liquid color dispersants businesses,” said Kevin. “We’ve added significant capacity, expanded our product development capabilities, and entered new markets. We’ve added facilities in Milton, WI; Europe; and India, all supporting our thermoplastics growth, color masterbatch and additives business.”
The Milton, WI plant opened in 2011 – this was a significant move for Penn Color and was geographically important, as they needed to have a plant closer to their Midwestern customers. This plant, along with several of the other Penn Color locations, is outfitted with numerous ENTEK twin-screw extruders ranging from lab-size to high capacity machines.
Customer Support Makes the Difference“ENTEK’s extruders have been an integral part of our growth”, said Wayne Miller. “We have a wide range of their extruders and have continued to purchase ENTEK machines over the years to support our growth. They make reliable, well built, quality machinery. But with ENTEK, it’s their customer support that sets them apart. The technical support and customer service that ENTEK provides is phenomenal.”
Wayne mentioned that the support Penn Color receives from ENTEK’s Bill Petrozelli is invaluable. “Bill provides great technical service to Penn Color,” he said. “He, and the entire ENTEK organization, does a great job making sure we have what we need to succeed.”
Wear Parts Stocking ProgramA few years ago, ENTEK approached Penn Color with a proposal to establish a stocking program for twin-screw extruder replacement wear parts. ENTEK had initiated this program with a few key customers and found it to be a valuable way to ensure that spare parts were ready and available for fast shipment when needed.
(continued on page 3)
OCTOBER 2017 EDITION
CHOOSES
OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 2
5-Minute Screw ChangeIt’s been almost three years since ENTEK introduced our first QC3™ twin-screw extruder, the QC3 43mm. Since then we have expanded the QC3™ line to include our 27mm, 33mm, 43mm, and 53mm machines and we’re proud that there are dozens of these now in use throughout the plastics compounding industry.
When we introduced the QC3™ in January 2015 with a press conference at our headquarters in Lebanon, OR, we made the bold claim that this new machine allowed for fast, easy screw set changes – as fast as 5 minutes. Any skepticism the press had about that claim went away when Colt McDaniel, our Pilot Plant Technician, performed a complete screw change in less than 5 minutes while they watched.
Some of the reporters in attendance commented that they knew why this was a big deal - they knew it was not uncommon for compounders to change screw sets numerous times a day. It was also not uncommon for this to take an hour or longer on traditional twin-screw extruders. Our customers had asked for this important feature, and ENTEK delivered.
We’ve just released a new video of Colt performing the screw set change while a timer runs in the corner of the screen – and sure enough he completes the change in 5 minutes. See the story on p. 4 and go online to take a look – it’s an impressive demonstration.
Growth UpdateIn the last issue of Extrusion Solutions, I mentioned ENTEK’s increased business and anticipated growth. I’m happy to report that we are hiring new staff in both engineering and manufacturing to keep up with the several new projects we have in
process, one of which is the largest single order in ENTEK’s history.
Because of this, we are planning on expanding our own facility here in Lebanon, OR. Over the next year we expect to enlarge our manufacturing and assembly areas to create a bigger, better work space for our employees. This will not only provide much-needed additional space but will improve project workflow. I’ll update you on our progress in the next issue of Extrusion Solutions.
Complete Extrusion Systems and Turnkey Manufacturing PlantsIn addition to our twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts, we specialize in providing complete extrusion systems and turnkey manufacturing plants to our customers.
We have a lot of experience in this area – especially since ENTEK began as a processor. Our state-of-the-art battery separator manufacturing plant right next door on our campus here in Lebanon, OR is completely supported by the same employees who service you, our customers. See the article on p. 5 to learn more.
Thank you to all of our customers for their continued support.
As always, I encourage you to contact me anytime at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Dr. Kirk Hanawalt President, ENTEK Extruders
Helping Our Customers Welcome to the latest issue of Extrusion Solutions.
EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
Executive’s Corner
Dr. Kirk Hanawalt
I’m happy to report that we are hiring new staff in both engineering and manufacturing to keep up with the several new projects we have in process, one of which is the largest single order in ENTEK’s history
OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 3
Helping Our Customers Welcome to the latest issue of Extrusion Solutions.
EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
Working Together
Penn Color Chooses ENTEK (continued from page 1)
“We had seen these parts stocking programs as a way to help both ENTEK and our customers,” said Tammy Straw, ENTEK’s Marketing and Business Development Manager. “Our customers could know that the parts they need would be available and ready to ship to them on a moment’s notice. At ENTEK, we liked the fact that our lead times for wear parts for our customers would be reduced. It’s truly a win-win program.”
Penn Color now has ENTEK manufacture and stock replacement wear parts including screw elements and barrels at their headquarters in Oregon. “This is a great program for us, as it helps Penn Color stay lean with our inventory,” said Wayne Miller. “And we can call on ENTEK to ship the parts we need, when we need them.”
A Bright FutureWhen it comes to color technology, Penn Color is a leader in providing innovative solutions in plastics and coating formulations. ENTEK is proud to have had a long, mutually beneficial partnership with Penn Color.
“We started working with Penn Color in the early days of ENTEK Extruders, back in 1999,” said Bill Petrozelli. “and just three months ago we helped
them install their latest ENTEK twin-screw extruder at their Hatfield, PA headquarters. They’re a great company that makes quality products, and we’re happy to help support the continued growth of their business.”
Upcoming EventsPlease plan on visiting ENTEK at these upcoming events!
Extrusion 2017, October 18-20, Charlotte, NCAt the Extrusion 2017 Conference in Charlotte, and again at the AMI Compounding World Conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL, ENTEK’s Bill Petrozelli will be doing a presentation titled “The 5 Rate-Limiting Factors of Twin-Screw Extruders and How to Overcome Them”. Bill will share his many years of processing expertise to outline how to get the best performance out of your twin-screw extruder.
AMI Compounding World Forum, December 13-14, Fort Lauderdale, FL
January 15-16 – 2018 Plastics in Automotive, Detroit
February 19-21 – Plastics Recycling, Nashville
February 26-28 – International Polyolefins Conference, Houston
May 7-11 - NPE2018, Orlando | Booth No. 5189, West Hall
REGISTER for the Extrusion Conference in Charlotte, NC
October 18-20, 2017; Get 25% OFF your registration courtesy of ENTEK!
Go online and enter your VIP code: ENTEVIP
OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 4
Extrusion Solutions
EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
How ENTEK’s Quick Change, Quick Clean, and Quality Control System Came to BeIt was in January 2015 that the new ENTEK QC3™ twin-screw extruder was introduced to the industry. The first ENTEK machine to incorporate all the features of the QC3™ was the 43mm twin-screw extruder, a new size of machine that also was introduced as part of the concept.
But it was more than two years earlier, in late 2012, that ENTEK embarked on its quest to design and build a better twin-screw extruder, one that incorporated specific features that customers asked for.
Customer Input“We have many years of experience manufacturing twin-screw extruders and wear parts for the industry,” said Linda Campbell, ENTEK’s Director of Sales. “And our sister company, ENTEK International, uses these machines to process battery separator materials – some of the most difficult to process materials in the world. But we’re always trying to get better – so we set out to learn more from our customers.”
Numerous customer interviews were held over a year or more to find out what they really wanted in a twin-screw extruder. Several common themes emerged from these interviews that led ENTEK to begin the process of designing the new QC3™. These included:
• faster, easier methods to change screw sets – a critical need for color compounders who often change screws numerous times a day.
This included a desire for easier ways to install the replacement screws into the couplings, a procedure that often was time consuming
• machines that stay clean, and prevent material residue and dust from getting into the critical processing parts
• easier ways to access the appropriate tools necessary to work on the machine
“Once we had the information we needed from our customers, we got to work with a great internal team to design and build a next-generation twin-screw extruder,” said Kirk Hanawalt, ENTEK President. “There was plenty of trial and error, but the machine we introduced in 2015 was and continues to be a winner.”
Three Years LaterThis coming January marks the 3-year anniversary of the introduction of the QC3™ and a lot has happened in that time. Materials compounders have embraced the new ENTEK machinery and numerous QC3™’s are up and running throughout the industry. In addition, ENTEK expanded the product line by introducing the new QC3 33mm twin-screw extruder earlier this year, a size specifically designed for compounders running small lots of materials who need to change screw sets often. ENTEK has also added the QC3™ features to its 27mm and 53mm twin-screw extruders.
“The industry response to the QC3™ has been phenomenal,” said Linda Campbell. “Compounders are seeing that this new machinery is making their lives easier in several ways, not the least of which is the fast screw change features.”
Screw Change in 5 Minutes? YES! Watch the Video!Anyone who doubts ENTEK’s claim that users can change screw sets on the QC3™ twin-screw extruders in 5 minutes need to watch this newly released video, now playing on www.entek.com!
Colt McDaniel, ENTEK’s Pilot Plant Technician, stars in the video and is shown conducting a typical screw set change. What’s not typical is he does it while a timer runs in the lower right corner.
“People sometimes question our 5-minute screw change, so the goal with this video was to show that it can really be done on the QC3™,” said Tammy Straw, ENTEK’s Marketing and Business Development Manager. “Colt did a great job and wasn’t intimidated in the least, and now we have the video to prove it!”
The video shows Colt in ENTEK’s Pilot Plant Facility performing the screw set change on a QC3 43mm twin-screw extruder.
“We want to remind customers that this machine is available to them for running material trials at our facility here in Lebanon, OR,” said Tammy Straw. “Not only can they run trials, but they can also learn first-hand from Colt how easy and fast it is to perform screw changes.”
A Brief History of the ENTEK QC3™ Concept
OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 5
Complete Extrusion Systems & Turnkey Manufacturing Plants
EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
ENTEK is well-known in the industry for its co-rotating twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts. But a large part of the company’s business is perhaps not as well-known; ENTEK is also a major provider of complete extrusion systems and turnkey manufacturing plants.
The Complete Extrusion Systems that ENTEK provides consist of the entire production line, from raw materials in to finished products out. ENTEK takes full responsibility for the production line and designs, delivers and installs the entire extrusion system. While the ‘heart’ of the system is ENTEK’s twin-screw extruder, ENTEK customizes the entire extrusion system for each customer’s specific needs.
Another ENTEK specialty is providing complete Turnkey Manufacturing Plants for its customers. These plants are designed specifically for each customer’s application and are customized to best suit the processes and materials being run. ENTEK engineers provide everything from site selection to plant design, construction, and ongoing support once up and running.
Contact any ENTEK salesperson if you’re interested in putting its extrusion system or turnkey plant expertise to work for your company.
Complete Extrusion Systems and Turnkey Manufacturing Plants
OCTOBER 2017 PAGE 6
Dr. Kirk Hanawalt President E-mail: [email protected]
Linda Campbell Director of Sales E-mail: [email protected]
We Are ENTEK
New LiteratureENTEK has recently produced two new flyers on its Pilot Plant Services and the QC3 33mm twin-screw extruder.
The Pilot Plant Services flyer outlines available machinery and equipment for running material trials at ENTEK’s facility in Lebanon, OR, as well as the services provided. The QC3 33mm twin-screw extruder flyer provides features, benefits and specifications on ENTEK’s newest addition to the QC3™ product line.
Both of these flyers are available by contacting Tammy Straw at [email protected].
Who to Contact ENTEK PO Box 39, 200 Hansard Avenue Lebanon, OR 97355 Tel. 541-259-1068 FAX 541-259-8018 www.entek.com
EXTRUSION SOLUTIONS is an ENTEK publication. Visit us at www.entek.com
Follow Us on Twitter @ENTEK_Extruders
Tammy Straw Marketing and Business Development Manager E-mail: [email protected]
Kristina Corona Sales Project Coordinator E-mail: [email protected]
Kelsey Dennis Inside Sales/Customer Service E-mail: [email protected]
North America
Bill Petrozelli Regional Sales Manager Tel. 541-259-1068 FAX 541-259-8018 E-mail: [email protected]
Austin Lindsey Regional Sales Manager Tel. 541-259-1068 FAX 541-259-8018 E-mail: [email protected]
In the Path of TotalityOn August 21, a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse took place – and ENTEK’s location in Lebanon, OR was right in the zone of totality! Many employees stopped to go outside and witness the phenomenon. During the total eclipse they described it as a bright silver ring around the darkened sun – an amazing experience!
