Entek's growth takes it ‘from rail car to feeder'

Henderson, Nev. — Entek Manufacturing Inc. is entering a new phase of growth with a $15 million machining plant opening near Las Vegas, planning underway for a $1.5 billion lithium-ion battery film separator plant in Indiana — the first of two separator plants — and new product lines for both existing and acquired businesses in process.

But in a sense, a big element of that growth plan is rooted in shortages: a need for skilled labor, a national need for electric vehicle manufacturing infrastructure and demands from both Entek and its customers for larger extruders and equipment.

For a company that marks its foundation on its ability to build its own barrels and screws because it had problems sourcing a regular supply of them from a supplier, all those expansions to fill those needs make sense.

"Entek has been very fortunate to hook our wagon, if you will, to some of the largest compounders in the world. And we recognize that we want to grow with them, and a lot of our customers are growing," said Linda Campbell, Entek vice president of extrusion sales, during a Feb. 10 event at the company's new 100,000-square-foot facility in Henderson. "So in order to keep capacity going, we need to expand."

To expand, the company needs machinists, and there's a shortage of available labor in its hometown of Lebanon, Ore. So Entek worked with consultants to survey the best location to find skilled workers and landed on the Las Vegas area. It ended up leasing an existing facility in Henderson — previously home to a firearms company — so it could move quickly, said CEO Larry Keith.

It has hired 50 people so far and expects to hire another 50 in 2023. The pay scale in Nevada is similar to what Entek pays in Oregon, he said, while a lower cost of living has also lured workers, including those from Placentia, Calif., the home of Adaptive Engineering & Fabrication Inc., a previous supplier to Entek that the company acquired in 2022.

The Henderson plant will support a new Entek wear parts division serving the twin-screw extrusion and materials compounding industry, building wear parts including screws and barrels for both Entek and non-Entek twin-screw extruders.

A focus on high-volume production will allow the company to reduce lead time on part delivery and also build up inventory of key wear parts.

The Henderson plant will be key to supporting other Entek businesses, including the growth of Entek Adaptive, the material handling operations that were part of Adaptive Engineering.

With Adaptive, Entek will be able to provide turnkey operations "from the rail car to the feeder," Keith said.

Entek had worked with Adaptive for years, contracting with the California firm to fill out its portfolio, he added. But Adaptive was too small to support all of Entek's needs. As part of the Oregon business, it now has the ability to grow.

In California, Adaptive had six people spread across three buildings. While engineering operations continue in Placentia, in Nevada the fabrication business is all in one place.

Two 10-ton overhead cranes support the current crew and Entek plans to hire another 24 people for the fabrication business, said John Burke, vice president of manufacturing.

The investments include new metal fabrication equipment delivered in early February able to operate 24/7 in a lights-out operation.

The facility can turn out 70-foot silos for material storage or create exterior parts for Entek equipment.

Beyond the plastics industry, Adaptive's material handling business serves a range of other end markets such as pet food, milling, food processes, brewing and the mineral markets. That gives Entek the ability to enter new industries, Keith said.

Entek is rolling out its largest twin-screw extruder, a 160-millimeter machine set to begin shipping to customers by the end of 2024. The company has provided wear parts for extruders up to 250 millimeters, but its own equipment only went up to 133 millimeters.

"Over the last several years, [customers] asked us when are we going to make the rest of the extruder," Campbell said. "One of our larger customers, I can't name because it's not public, but is in recycling. And another one of the customers is in polyurethane manufacturing."

Recyclers are looking to make big investments in high-throughput twin-screw extruders to improve efficiency and meet the demand for more recycled content in products, Keith said.

The Oregon facility will be the primary supplier of the 160-millimeter extruder with the Nevada site supporting production.

"The engineers are working on it in Oregon facility," Campbell said. "We're about ready to release it to the shop floor. So all these machines [installed in Nevada] that you saw today will start making the parts and we're targeting that first extruder to be ready to be sold sometime in 2024."

With so many different projects going on in so many different businesses within Entek, the company has the ability to adapt and adjust as the economy changes.

"We always have more projects than we have time," Keith said. "So if there's a slowdown in the economy, we can go and borrow some people from one area of the business if they're slow and keep them busy. We're not having these layoffs that maybe some other people that were in just this business would have to do."