Engineering resins maker Ticona has expanded its compounding business by adding new extrusion lines at plants in Shelby, N.C., and Florence, Ky. The Summit, N.J.-based firm also added Prime Alliance Inc. to its list of licensed distributors.
Each compounding site received a new twin-screw line. In Shelby, that means a 20 percent capacity increase; in Florence, capacity will be boosted 30 percent.
In Shelby, Ticona produces glass-filled grades of PET, polybutylene terephthalate and liquid crystal polymer, as well as compounded grades of polyphenylene sulfide. The Florence plant compounds glass, minerals and other materials with PET, PBT, LCP, PPS, acetal and nylon 6/6. PPS material used at the sites is made at Ticona's site in Wilmington, N.C.
``The capacity we've added ... makes us a much more versatile supplier with a more flexible production base,'' Ticona global operations director Dave Postolowski said in a news release.
Prime Alliance - an engineering resins distributor based in Des Moines, Iowa - becomes Ticona's third major distributor, joining GE Polymerland and Entec Polymers. Ticona Americas sales director Dave Vranesich said his firm was attracted to Prime Alliance's technical capabilities in design and marketing.
Prime Alliance President Tom Irvine said the deal allows his firm to offer PPS, LCP and long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics for the first time. The addition of Ticona brings the total number of resin makers and compounders represented by Prime Alliance to 14.