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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

PlastiComp, Inc Expands Winona, Minnesota, Manufacturing Center

04/25/2017
PlastiComp, Inc., a global leader in long fiber thermoplastic materials and technologies, expanded its manufacturing plant with the installation of an additional pultrusion line dedicated to producing long carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite pellets at its Winona, Minnesota.

According to company officials, the firm brought its initial production line dedicated to producing long carbon fiber composite pellets online in 2014 and operates four other pultrusion lines to manufacture its long glass fiber products.

"In recent years we have experienced continuous growth in demand for our long carbon fiber reinforced composite materials," said Eric Wollan, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at PlastiComp. "This additional, higher volume carbon fiber pultrusion line will triple PlastiComp's capacity for producing long carbon fiber products to ensure an uninterruptable supply chain for our partners."

To provide a safe operating environment and minimize downtime, PlastiComp manufactures its carbon fiber composites on pultrusion lines located in self-contained areas equipped with isolated electrical and air handling systems.

"From a pultrusion perspective, carbon fiber's small filament diameter and conductivity makes it a little more challenging to manufacture composite pellets than other types of fiber," said Wollan. "Using our specialized equipment, PlastiComp is able to completely melt impregnate continuous tows of carbon fiber with 12,000 to 50,000 filaments. This capability allows us to offer a broad range of composite material solutions which we tailor to meet customer specific design and performance requirements."

Long carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites provide the strongest and stiffest performance available in flowable materials suitable for injection molding processing, officials said.

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