Extruder makers step up to supply medical, packaging needs

A critical need for life-saving medical products and life-altering goods for working and schooling at home was met by the plastics industry's extrusion system builders.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent health care systems in a panicked rush to secure ventilator tubing, respirators and isolation gowns. Stockpiles of medical supplies and personal protective equipment seemed to vanish in a bidding frenzy between states.

Medical device manufacturers scrambled to add capacity to extrude tubing and sheet products to meet the demand for products to save the lives of patients and spare the lives of first responders.

Like many machine builders, Dana Hanson, president of Aurora, Ill.-based Processing Technologies International LLC, fielded some frantic calls. The company makes sheet extrusion machines.

"We sold our fully functioning production line straight out of the Technical Development Center for the sake of a customer immediately producing face shields for the medical field," Hanson said in an email.

At Graham Engineering Corp., medical tubing machinery sales were down overall because of the cancellation or postponement of elective surgeries, according to Michael Duff, vice president of sales and service. But there was a period in April when the York, Pa.-based company sped delivery of extruders to produce corrugated tubing, typically medical-grade polyethylene or ethylene vinyl acetate, for single-use ventilator tubing kits.

"We are incredibly proud of our ability to serve the medical tubing market for ventilator tubing during the pandemic's early stages," Duff said in an email. "Other markets that saw growth through this period include takeout food packaging and plastic lumber."

On the home front, many Americans transitioned to working from home, online learning and eating out less to lessen their exposure to the virus. They turned spare bedrooms into offices, redecorated for Zoom meetings, bought more packaged food and upgraded backyards with decks for outdoor entertaining and recreation.

Composite and PVC decking manufacturers had already been enjoying a steady uptick in sales as consumers shifted from wood products to lower-maintenance alternatives. Residential decking demand was about $3.34 billion in 2019.

In July, Principia Consulting in Malvern, Pa., raised its 2020 forecast for decking demand to $3.38 billion — up from $3.36 billion prior to the pandemic.

"The outdoor living trend has been on the upswing for the past number of years and directly contributes to decking demand growth. The trend's popularity has only soared from staying at home and sheltering in place during COVID-19 and is expected to continue as social behavior to stay close to home and staycations become more commonplace," the firm said in an announcement about the change.

2020 also has been a good year for flexible packaging — and a very good year for Hosokawa Alpine American Inc. in Northborough, Mass., after some ups and downs and ups, according to President David Nunes. The company makes blown film extrusion equipment for customers that produce "a myriad of flexible packaging products -- from food packaging to consumer trash bags and everything in between,""Nunes said in a phone interview.

Hosokawa Alpine experienced one of its slowest and then busiest periods in back-to-back quarters this year, Nunes also said.

"In terms of new business, we had strong bookings in the first and second quarters of 2020 for a number of different projects for customers in many industries from small producers to multinationals," he explained. "Then, in the third quarter, things got slow — the slowest we've seen since probably since the slowdown of '09. But the fourth quarter was one of the biggest we've had in bookings and new orders, also since the '08-'09 downturn. We were just flooded with new business in the fourth quarter."

The only lagging end market is industrial and institutional trash bags for schools and universities, offices, restaurants, airports and hotels, said Nunes, who expects 2021 to be a "very good" year.

At Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. North America, 2020 has been a record-breaking sales year, according to President Andrew Wheeler, who expects "remarkably strong" sales next year, too. The company manufactures machinery exclusively for the production of flexible packaging and 80 percent of its customer base is in food and medical packaging, which have been in high demand during the pandemic.

Duff isn't taking any of it for granted at Graham, and others echoed his sentiment.

"With COVID's impact on our country and economy, we have been fortunate to serve essential markets to support the COVID response, as well as other markets that have strengthened as a result of the pandemic," Duff said.

The fast-spreading respiratory illness is changing perceptions about some plastics, too, such as straws, utensils and packaging. Hanson said the trend continues to find more sustainable approaches to single-use plastics by introducing biodegradable resins and incorporating post-consumer resin into the application process. However, the benefits of using a product only once also are being acknowledged.

"Ironically, the pandemic created a market demand for safe, disposable food packaging throughout the periods of shutdowns as well as transitions into the new normal," Hanson said. "Alternate forms of packaging may not provide the same level of protection as those represented within our industry."

Volker Nilles, executive vice president of new machines at KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH, agreed.

"The packaging market has been very steady for us, even growing, since the pandemic triggered a high demand for hygienic film and ... the demand for reusable packaging is a slightly increasing," Nilles said in an email.

At Entek Manufacturing LLC in Lebanon, Ore., the supplier of extrusion equipment for natural fiber plastic composites, pelletizing, custom compounding and specialty sheet lines, met 2020 sales goals even though the pandemic delayed a few projects, according to Sales Vice President Linda Campbell.

"We attribute this success to our customers in the packaging, recycling and building industries," Campbell said. "In addition, our pilot plant has continued to be booked with customer trials — both virtual and in-person — throughout 2020. This is typically a sign for us that more business is on the horizon."

Campbell expects strong activity for building products in 2021, as does Paul Godwin, president and CEO of Battenfeld-Cincinnati USA.

"Overall, the project maturation timeline seemed longer in 2020 compared to previous years, but the business level was steady throughout. We do anticipate 2021 growth," Godwin said in an email. "We are anticipating 2021 to be a year of recovery back to a new normal."

So is Campbell, who said, "We are going to operate as if COVID is nonexistent in 2021. We anticipate sales to be even stronger than in 2020."

Entek will be introducing new technology at NPE2021, but Campbell didn't elaborate. The company is also installing new equipment that will be running in 2021.

"This will enhance our capabilities with regards to sheet lines," Campbell said.

At Graham Engineering, Duff said efforts have been concentrated on its Navigator-brand series of controls.

"Our goal is to bring all of our product lines into this control system while also taking the time to upgrade the various sub platforms," he said.

In addition, the company incorporated new features to the system to provide customers with more process control no matter the application.

"We continue to look at ways to bring new features and performance improvements to our customer base, particularly in the fast-moving medical and pharma extrusion fields," Duff said.

At Battenfeld-Cincinnati, Godwin said the focus is on "continued design refinement for efficiency improvements and price performance ratio."

Nilles said KraussMaffei has been reorganizing into a setup with more focus on North America and the regions in its market, which includes China; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia-Pacific; and Latin America. The company also is investing in a new plant for Burgsmüller as part of a massive capacity expansion for extruder screws, as well as a new factory in Laatzen, China, for extrusion products.

PTi's sheet extrusion product line expanded with the introduction of a high-rate machine with a small footprint — Super-G HighSpeed 3500 extruder — that has a 600 horsepower motor and is capable of multiresin applications, including polypropylene, polystyrene and PET.

The company also launched a program this fall to expedite delivery of standard machine platforms in as little as 12-14 weeks.

"This is generally unheard of in the industry," Hanson said. "The advantage to this significant reduction in standard build lead time of a system is transferred to the customer in terms of revenue achieved through quicker delivery of product to market."

Called Genesis, the program is structured around stocked inventory of PTi's latest extruders, parts and subassemblies, including sheet dies, roll stands, accumulators and winders.

The program also includes a sheet die loaner option to keep customers running while custom sheet die tooling is being manufactured.

Hanson said PTi's scope of offerings makes "possible configurations for a complete extrusion system numerous and quick."

At Hosokawa Alpine, the company invested in warehouse space for logistics and lab facilities and has been building its recently introduced low-energy consumption, high-throughput extruder, new single inlet air ring, all-new winder design, and machine-direction orientation (MDO) equipment.

"MDO is really starting to heat up and some exciting things going on with it in regards to the circular economy," Nunes said. "Companies are trying to utilize materials in the process of stretching to develop products that are completely recyclable."

At W&H, the company introduced new technologies in both blown and cast film extrusion focused on making production more efficient by minimizing the time between jobs, Wheeler said.

"We also introduced several new sustainable products, for example, recipes for films that we developed with our partners. They range from PET replacement films for stand-up pouches to bottle films made from PCR and PIR [post-consumer and post-industrial resins] and a recyclable barrier film," Wheeler said.

Chicago-based Azek Co. has been ramping up for the increasing demand. The company accelerated its $180 million capacity expansion program to support the spike. The first phase of additional capacity came online in the fourth quarter, and two more phases will follow.

Azek CEO Jesse Singh said the strategic plan calls for an incremental expansion of decking production of about 70 percent and a new manufacturing facility over the next 15-21 months.

"Given the sustained level of demand we saw during the quarter, we continue to be in a position where we are unable to fully meet demand for our deck and rail products and expect gradual improvement as new capacity comes online in the first half of 2021," Singh said in a Dec. 3 earnings call about fourth-quarter 2020 results.

Decking is also being used as cladding in another trend of architects and contractors. Trex Co. Inc. in Winchester, Va., is one of the decking manufacturers selling into the rainscreen cladding market with its Trex Transcend boards, which are 95 percent recycled polyethylene and sawdust.

Trex says the cladding can be installed vertically or horizontally for modern design options. The open-joint façade system promotes air flow while providing a worry-free armor with visual appeal, according to Adam Zambanini, president of Trex residential products.

"Rainscreen cladding is extremely popular right now across the building industry and has proven to be a natural extension for us," Zambanini said in a press release. "The unparalleled performance attributes of our Trex Transcend boards make them ideally suited to outperform wood in these applications."

Extrusion system builders said it's hard to determine if the cancellation of trade shows hurt sales because 2020 has been such an atypical year.

"We saw a decrease in what we like to call the 'gestation period,' or the time between initial need recognition and the final sale of equipment," Graham Engineering's Duff said. "In 2020, when our customers needed equipment, the need was real, critical and timely. I think the effect of reduced face-to-face contact, particularly at trade shows and conferences, will show itself once we get back to a more normal economy."

The cancellation of the trade shows and conferences were missed opportunities to present technical information to a wider target audience and meet face to face with customers, according to PTi's Hanson.

"There is something to be said about the personal interaction that does not necessarily transpire in a virtual session," he said. "However, video conference platforms, which have become the new norm, offer us the opportunity to bring together a greater number of technical advisers and decision-makers at once, allowing us to really drill down on the issues at hand and focus on the appropriate solution."

At Entek, Marketing and Business Development Manager Tammy Straw agreed the staff missed seeing customers face to face but adapted at a time it was best to minimize travel for the safety of all.

"We had to become good at customizing virtual solutions to satisfy different customer needs and it forced us to think outside the box," Straw said. "This led to virtual tours of our facility, pilot plant trials both recorded and streaming, and of course many meetings done via Zoom and [Microsoft] Teams."

The loss of trade shows didn't eliminate the need for equipment, Godwin said.

"The demand is there, it was the revision of communication style that had to be refocused," he said.

Another facet of business that has needed some adjustment is the "be-there-tomorrow philosophy," Hanson said.

"We pride ourselves on our level of service and we are not going to forego that because of COVID," he said.

However, field service technicians must now contend with ever-changing travel limitations and restrictions as well as customer policies and procedures to maintain COVID-19-free environments.

"This may mean changing methods of travel, quarantining for days prior and avoiding contact with site personnel that we would otherwise interact with," Hanson said.

It certainly has meant finding new ways to provide service through chat-based technology, video conferencing and team sessions.

"We have even conducted full-scale trials with customers watching and interacting with the process from the comforts of their home offices," Hanson said.

The PTi president said the coronavirus has had an effect on just about every business — not always in terms of sales, but definitely in regards to how people interact with one another.

"The new normal is being defined before our very eyes, and we are being forced to react and maneuver without haste," Hanson said.

When it comes to medical tubing and PPE, Duff said, "I believe reshoring is very likely, and we have seen evidence of this."

Companies want to source PPE from the U.S. now more than ever, Campbell added. Entek is trying to make it easier, she said, pointing to one division busy producing U.S.-based breathable membranes for isolation control gowns worn by health care workers.

The patent-pending membrane — made of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene — is tough, puncture-resistant, lightweight compared with the Tyvek brand, highly breathable for comfort and hydrophobic to repel body fluids and waterborne aerosol particles, according to Entek.

The company is supplying the PPE material in wide rolls and a variety of thicknesses. The median pore size of 0.1 micrometers, which Entek says is smaller than most viruses and bacteria.

"This may help support U.S.-manufactured PPE," Campbell said, adding that Entek is proud to be based for business in America.

"Throughout this global pandemic, we and our customers have realized the positive impact of having local products and services available to support our customer base," Campbell said.

At KraussMaffei, Nilles gave several reasons for his positive outlook.

"For next year we see a moderate but stable growth in almost all extruder applications, mainly driven by all packaging applications while the automotive applications still remain vary but recovering."

The infrastructure sector also remains strong and important for KraussMaffei.

"We are able to serve almost all needs in this regard with our products," Nilles said.

Entek expects growth in 2021 as a supplier of twin-screw extruders for processing recycled materials to a U.S. market that has been forced to find better solutions for handling a larger part of the plastic waste stream.

"The continued efforts of our industry to find ways to increase the recycling of plastics, coupled with China's decision to no longer accept scrap plastic from the USA, has made this a huge growth area for Entek," Campbell said.

The company also supplies twin-screw extruders to the building products market.

"We are seeing significant growth here," Campbell said. "We believe homebuilding projects have taken off this year as a result of people spending more time at home and doing improvement projects during the pandemic."

Based on Hosokawa Alpine's "exceptional" fourth quarter, Nunes said, "We think 2021 will be similar to 2020, which was a very good year, especially considering all the negative effects associated with a pandemic."

W&H's Wheeler said he expects the flexible packaging market to remain strong for food and medical.

"We also expect that the new administration in Washington will maintain the tax benefits for capital equipment purchases that our customers have enjoyed since the beginning of the century," he said.

At Graham Engineering, Duff said the company is benefiting from strategic moves over the past seven years to develop a well-rounded portfolio of products serving various end-use markets.

"This diversity has paid dividends for us and our customer base in 2020, and we expect the same going into 2021," Duff said. "While our end-user applications have suffered in the short term, such as wire and cable, automotive and building materials, I expect a rebound effect for them as the pandemic situation improves."

At PTi, Hanson sees a lot of bright side.

"We are encouraged by the eminent deployment of a vaccine. Should one come to fruition with an appropriate distribution strategy by midyear, then the buildup of business demand will flow again," Hanson said. "We remain cautiously optimistic that we will see some normalcy again but are not letting go of the 'new normal' in terms of using virtual and digital platforms to reach and communicate with our customers."