Evansville, Ind.-based formulator and compounder EnCom Polymers and Vamp Tech SpA, an Italian flame-retardant compounder, are partnering to support the growth of each other's product portfolios to OEMs in their respective regions.
EnCom and Vamp Tech's customers have been requesting supply on a global scale, Richard Thomas, sales manager at EnCom, told Plastics News at Fakuma 2023 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. "That's what made the relationship so perfect because [the companies] were both being pulled across each other," Thomas said. "The partnership is going to help us bring materials that weren't otherwise economically feasible" because of the cost of safety regulation approvals.
"Historically we would need a very large commitment to invest," he said. "But now we have this joint relationship where they've already made the investment. We can service the market more economically and agilely than some of the bigger competitors."
Recent product rationalization by larger competitors will also give Vamp Tech and EnCom a leg up with customers looking for specific materials, Thomas added. "We'll be … comparable in price and be able to bring new technology that … the OEMs haven't seen before," he said. EnCom and Vamp Tech have similar cultures, organization structures and equipment, he said. "After the successful experience with the manufacturing site in Malaysia, North America is the necessary next step to continue our commercial growth and expand our global footprint," Piero Eigenmann, president and CEO of Vamp Tech, said in an Oct. 16 news release.
EnCom Polymers' customer orientation, flexibility in manufacturing and product portfolio will be key to Vamp Tech's market development activities in the U.S. and Mexico, Eigenmann added."The European market is a logical next step for the EnCom portfolio," the release said. "With a solution-focused customer forward approach, the alignment with Vamp Tech as a strategic partner will bring to the North American market Vamp Tech's rich experience in FR Thermoplastic materials."
Busnago, Italy-based Vamp Tech specializes in flame-retardant applications for markets including household appliances, electrical and electronics, sustainable mobility, energy production and public transportation. It supplies customers in 35 countries. EnCom Polymers continues to add products; capacity, including the recent purchase of a 63-millimeter twin-screw compounding extruder; and talent. It supplies automotive, construction, appliance, transportation, solar and medical customers in North America and Asia.