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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Intertek Expands Facilities In Michigan, Along With Massachusetts Lab

05/04/2015
Intertek, a leading provider of quality and safety services to a wide range of industries, is expanding laboratory space and tools to further enhance its material testing capabilities in Grand Rapids and Plymouth, Michigan. The company will also expand its facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

With these investments, Intertek is able offer customers new and expanded evaluations for chemicals, corrosion, lighting and environmental influences, company officials said.

A new, expanded materials lab in Plymouth, Michigan offers increased testing capacity with three new chambers to test thermal aging or conditioning, as well as updates to the existing tension testing apparatus, which will allow analysis of a broader range of materials including plastics, composites and fabrics.

The lab also offers new capabilities with two Xenon chambers to test weather aging and sunlight resistance in automotive exterior and interior parts, exterior building products, outdoor furniture and sporting equipment. A cyclic corrosion test chamber replaces the lab’s traditional salt spray chamber allowing corrosion resistance testing that controls for humidity, temperature and other chemicals.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a specialized laboratory with 16 chambers analyzes automotive materials, furniture, building products and consumer goods for volatile organic compounds. Additional equipment in Grand Rapids includes chambers to test durability and functionality of automotive interiors and an apparatus to conduct LED photometric testing in transportation equipment. Future plans include equipment to test haze and transmittance on glass up to 12 inches in thickness.

Intertek’s Plastics Technology Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, has added capabilities to test water vapor and oxygen transmission rates for advanced barrier films used in transportation as well as energy, medical and consumer goods. New capabilities have also been added to analyze specialized flexible film tests for packaging applications including Gelbo-Flex and hot tack/seal testing. New equipment at Pittsfield allows for Non-Destructive Testing for quality verification of composite material, scanning for damage or material inconsistency prior to verification of mechanical properties.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to providing comprehensive solutions to our customers, we’re happy to bring these new and expanded material testing services to the transportation industry, as well as others who will benefit from these additions,” said Tim Hubbard, Senior Vice President at Intertek. “The new labs and devices underscore our commitment to innovation, speed, and customer service as we help clients bring quality products to market.”

Intertek Transportation Technologies provides expertise on performance, quality, and reliability standards and expectations for the automotive and aerospace industries with efficient, cost-effective insights and testing capabilities.

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