Sung An Machinery Co. Ltd., a South Korean maker of extrusion coating lines, laminating equipment, solution coating systems and gravure printing presses, has opened SAM North America LLC in upstate New York.
Company officials and local economic development and government leaders held a Jan. 21 ribbon cutting ceremony at the 10,000-square-foot building in Phoenix, N.Y., north of Syracuse. The day before, SAM North America hosted student leaders from the TAPPI trade association, for a tour.
The Extrusion Technology Center has a pilot extrusion coating line that can run up to 11-layer film from three extruders, according to Andy Christie, managing director of SAM North America. The line has an in-line solution coating system, used to prepare substrates for extrusion coating. Solution coating is also used to apply adhesives, for example on peel-off postage stamps, he said.
Christie said the operation will serve North and South America with sales, service and spare parts and technical support. SAM has sold about half a dozen major turnkey systems in the region so far, and some other smaller retrofit projects, he said.
Overall, the South Korean company has delivered more than 600 machines to customers in 26 countries.
Operation Oswego County, a local economic development firm, sold SAM the former Oswego County start-up facility and 2.5 acres of land in the county industrial park. Christie said the machinery company has seven employees and is looking for more.
Christie is a veteran of film equipment and screw design. He worked at Black Clawson Converting Machinery in Fulton, N.Y., for 15 years. He left Black Clawson in 2001 to start a consulting business, Optex Process Solutions, which will remain active. Optex does screw design and process support for film production.
At Optex, Christie worked with smaller machinery manufacturers. He connected with Sung An Machinery. They formed a joint venture in 2010 that purchased sub-systems in North America for SAM and did other support activities.
SAM is based in Hwaseong, South Korea. In addition to the new North American facility, the company also runs SAM Europe srl in Italy.