Extrusion International USA 1-2021

30 Extrusion International 1/2021 EXTRUSION INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY NEWS Davis-Standard, LLC www.davis-standard.com Teel Plastics www.teel.com Newly Installed Lines Address Swab Stick Demand Herrild continued, “We’ve also been able to rely on our rela- tionship with Davis-Standard. We needed to boost production capacity and Davis-Standard responded to our extrusion needs in record time. They provided us with a demo line almost imme- diately and two additional lines within 10 weeks from order to delivery.” Teel is a longtime Davis-Standard customer with more than 30 Davis-Standard extrusion lines, some dating back to the 1980s. Thenewlyinstalledpro fi lelines,extrudersthroughdownstream, are application-speci fi c with controls, feedscrews, and machin- ery customized for Teel’s swab stick process. Davis-Standard has supplied Teel with extruders and associated machinery in variousmodels over the years formanufacturing tight-tolerance tubing and pro fi les in different sizes. These machines process a range of materials including high temperature, water sensitive and custom blended resins for products in the medical, cosmet- ics, industrial piping, fi lm core and water treatment industries. Davis-Standard has also addressed cleanroom requirements since Teel is a class 100,000 cleanroom capable business. „ As COVID-19 continues to spread far and wide, Teel Plastics has risen to the pandemic challenge in an unprecedented way. The custom pro fi le and tubing manufacturer based in Baraboo, Wisc., has quickly become one of the nation’s largest and most reliable suppliers of swab sticks for COVID testing. Since March 2020, the company has produced over 500 million swab sticks for U.S.-based customers. Thanks to a recent contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, Teel will boost production in 2021 by adding 66 million extruded and 50 million injected molded swab sticks each month. The company recently installed two Davis-Standardextrusion lines to support the increased capacity. In addition, Teel has been selected to manufacture pro fi les for a proprietary respirator device used to treat patients in critical care for COVID. These pro fi les will also be produced on Davis- Standard lines, including a new custom line. “Before the pandemic began, we were the only U.S. company to make diagnostic swabs needed for coronavirus testing,” said Christian Herrild, director of growth strategies for Teel Plastics. “This requiredus to react quickly to support the surge in test kits. Our development style, product repeatability, and ability to nav- igate highly regulated markets have been key to our response. Our dedicated employees have done what is necessary to meet very tight timelines, including taking on additional shifts. Our large manufacturing and engineering teams, chemists and ana- lytical lab are de fi nitely a differentiator for us.” Davis-Standard Extruders in Teel Plastics’ manufacturing facility Teel Plastics Medical Swabs „ Avient Corporation, a premier provider of specialized and sus- tainablematerial solutions and services, will complete an expan- sion of existing production capabilities for color concentrates at its Binh Duong site in Vietnam. The move will improve speed- to-market and service level for local customers seeking unique color solutions to enhance aesthetics and appeal of high-quality end products. “Demand for plasticshasbecomeoneof theVietnameconomy’s fastest growth areas,” says Say-Eng Lee, vice president and gen- eral manager, Color & Additives Asia for Avient. “As consump- tion grows, requirements for high-quality color concentrates are becoming more challenging as well, as top brands focus on novel color solutions. We have increased our production space by over 30 percent and added to our state-of-the-art machin- ery portfolio to shorten lead times for developing and produc- Expansion of Color Concentrate Capabilities in Vietnam Avient toExpandColor ConcentrateCapabilities inVietnam(Photos: Avient)