At K 2013, Ascend Performance Materials has announced the start of a new compounding line in Pensacola, Florida. The company produces PA66 resin in Pensacola and in Greenwood, South Carolina. Since 2005, it has more than doubled its resin capacity, primarily in Pensacola, making it one of the largest PA66 resin producers in the world. In recent years, the company has also invested capital and resources to expand production of Vydyne compounds.
In 2013, Ascend added a world-scale compounding line (30,000 t/year) in Pensacola. The new line adds state-of-art capabilities for producing unique, high-performance compounds. The company believes that the new asset in Pensacola is a key step in implementing its global compounding strategy:
- quality: innovative approach to deliver class-leading consistency, cleanliness, and performance;
- reliability: offer a highly-reliable global network of compounding assets and logistics to ensure uninterrupted supply;
- scale: develop scale through integration with PA66 resin production site;
- geography: integrate "compounding center of excellence"' with its resin and R&D assets in southeastern US; customers in EMEA and Asia who prefer local manufacturing would benefit from Ascend's strategic compounding partnerships in those regions.
State-of-the-art compounding technology on the new Pensacola line is producing material with significantly improved consistency in viscosity and mechanical properties. In addition, parts molded from these compounds are yielding 50-75% less mold-deposits (also called as "plate-out"), offering significant process and design benefits in high-volume applications with intricate part geometries.