Addcomp North America Inc. expanded its manufacturing facility, with the installation of a second twin-screw extrusion line at its production facility in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

According to the firm “complementing its existing production equipment, the smaller-capacity line will be used primarily as a development resource to serve customers of the company's portfolio of thermoplastic additive products. Its presence will bring new efficiency to development activities and optimize utilization of the company's production line.”

ACNA president Louis Martin said, "the new installation will significantly shorten the time required to produce additive iterations in volumes appropriate for testing and verifying product enhancements." By selecting a small, but commercial-scale extruder, Martin points out that the company also "will be able to produce sample-size quantities — 25 to 50 pounds — from raw materials on hand, in case a requested formulation is not present in inventory."

The new line will be configured initially to adjust the formulations of the company's existing additive lineup, allowing currently offered functionalities to be adapted to new end-product applications. Company officials said in the coming months, ACNA will add capability to the line that will permit the development of additive solutions based on customer requests for additional functionalities or for technologies designed for use in a wider variety of thermoplastic polymers.

"We have already added research staff to our team in North America," said Martin. "The installation of the new line is the next step forward into three levels of development: application development, new product development, and additive research. We currently conduct research at Addcomp Holland," he added, "but by the middle of this year, the new line will bring almost all those capabilities very much closer to our customers in North America."