PHOENIX - Ex-Tech Plastics Inc. in Richmond, Ill., plans to purchase industrial property for a new extrusion facility. The company makes thin-gauge PVC sheet used in a variety of industries, including the electronic components packaging industry.
Ex-Tech President William Field said original plans to expand the firm at its present location proved to be not economically feasible. Ex-Tech then began its search for a separate site near Richmond. Field said contract negotiations are under way on a selected location.
The firm plans to build an approximately 50,000-square-foot plant, Field said in an interview at the Electrical Overstress/Electrostatic Discharge Symposium, held Sept. 12-14 in Phoenix.
Ex-Tech produces a specialty material, Mustang MMJ-28, a clear anti-static material made from 100 percent recycled PVC. Ex-Tech and Mustang Enter-prises Inc. in Geneva, Ill., developed the material in a joint-venture arrangement.
Field said Mustang, a manufacturer of ESD protective cabinets for the electronics industry, came to Ex-Tech several years ago after dissatisfaction with anti-static packaging materials then available forced them to look at alternatives.
Development of MMJ-28 took both companies more than two years, but response to the sheet has been excellent, necessitating the expansion, said Field.
Ex-Tech was founded in 1982 with an emphasis on recycling rigid PVC back into thermoformable sheet through its toll conversion program. The company takes back PVC scrap from its customers and ``banks'' it, to be used against future orders from that customer.
The company is working on becoming ISO 9002 certified. Ex-Tech operates five sheet lines and manufactures PVC in gauges of 75-thousandths to eight-hundredths, and produces both clear and color-matched recycled PVC.
