STOCKTON, CALIF. — Specialty stock shapes extruder Advanced Polymer Technologies has relocated and upgraded in a new operation to expand its market penetration.

The firm has bought a 60,000-square-foot building in Stockton, Calif., about 12 miles from its former Port of Stockton, Calif., facility and equipped it with a Class 10,000 clean room complete with an extrusion line.

"We wanted a cleaner building because we're looking more at medical extrusions and semiconductor business," said APT general manager John Sharpe in a telephone interview.

APT completed the move in February after a several-month staged relocation to prevent disruptions to customers. Sharpe said the company would not disclose the cost of the relocation and upgrade, which also expanded its footprint. Its former building had 40,000 square feet of space.

APT runs eight extrusion lines mainly making rod and slab from ¼ inch to 6 inch in thickness. It regularly extrudes engineering plastics like polyetherimide, polysulfone, polyetherether ketone, polycarbonate, acetal and fluoropolymers. The private company specializes in short runs, tight quality and quick turnaround. Sharpe said APT aims to take the hassle out of sourcing short runs of specialty materials.

He said APT added another annealing oven during the move that relieves internal stresses that can occur in some extruded materials.

"The new floor plan will provide greater efficiency in our manufacturing processes," Sharpe stated in a news release.

APT was founded in 2002 by Steve Kessler, whose extrusion experience included a stint with Ensinger Inc., a Washington, Pa.-based firm with several North American operations involved in shapes extrusion, plastics machining and other plastics processing. APT currently employs 32.