Custom PVC compounder Roscom Inc. has opened a new R&D lab and redesigned quality control lab at its Croydon, Pa., site.
Croydon-based Roscom marked the opening Nov. 2 with a site tour and formal dinner at a nearby location. The event was attended by more than 150 customers and suppliers.
Marketing director Steven Lynch said in an email to Plastics News that the new R&D lab was built to develop new PVC formulas thatwill allow Roscom to enter new markets and diversify its PVC portfolio. The lab also will provide Roscom with the capability to break down compounds to identify polymer concerns such as compound melt flow and cross-contaminations, he added.
The redesigned QC lab was designed to provide quality checks during production runs, according to Lynch. Roscom's production team retains small samples from each production line and runs quality tapes through its Milacron extruders to verify that there are no surface property issues, he added.
By the end of March, Roscom also plans to open a pilot lab, which will replicate its production lines and will be used for small 500-pound sample research and development runs. The pilot lab "will allow Roscom to take clients' material requirements and demands from concept to reality," Lynch said.
On the branding front, Roscom recently unveiled a diamond logo that retains the blue color of its previous logo. Lynch said the diamond represents "the four Cs of PVC: cut, clarity, color and custom."
Roscom has been compounding PVC since the early 1980s. The firm's 80,000-square-foot plant has annual compounding capacity of more than 80 million pounds.