CLEVELAND - Resin distributor Indiana Polymers Inc. now is supplying generic and custom compounds and expects to announce a site for a Canadian warehouse by the end of the year.
The firm's increased business in Canada and Ohio also has allowed it to add a sales rep in each of those areas this year, bringing its companywide total to seven. Also, Indiana Polymers is extending its product mix beyond standard commodity materials into more grades of engineering resins such as polycarbonate and ABS.
The compounding entry is being done through a group of regional toll compounders. The move came about as a way for Indiana Polymers to help its compounders with processing issues, according to Donald Berrill, who joined the firm as a sales representative in Cambridge, Ontario, earlier this year.
``Now, a guy will say, `We're having a problem with warpage,' and we'll be able to modify a compound with filler to solve it,'' Berrill said in an interview at Plastics Encounter in Cleveland, held June 19-21.
The Canadian warehouse will be Indiana Polymers' third, joining sites in Columbia City, Ind.; and Midland, Mich.
The firm's product mix is split evenly between prime and off-spec material. Commodity materials currently generate about 70 percent of total sales, although its engineering resin share has been growing in recent years.
The slowing U.S. economy will prevent Indiana Polymers from matching the 25-30 percent annual growth rate it has achieved recently, but the firm still expects double-digit sales growth in 2001, Berrill said.
Berrill added that Indiana Polymers has no plans to enter into compounding on its own.
``We're going to stick with what we do best, and that's distribution,'' he said.
