(Feb. 10-12; Anaheim, CA) that his company is planning to launch a product that can withstand temperatures up to 800°F, as well as some grades for lower-temperature applications. Serell said a lot of the company's current success can be attributed to its existing high-temperature product, PX grade, which has been on the market for two years and works at up to 420°C.

"PX gives us entrée to customers we wouldn't have access to otherwise," Serell said, including medical operations and molders running ultra high-temperature materials like PEEK and sulfones.

The improved business is also forcing the company to update its space and boost staffing. Asaclean is currently expanding its sales staff and will be moving to a new office. Serell said the company plans to occupy a larger, more modern space in the its current building in Parsippany, NJ. The moves also reflects a molding market that has changed its perception of purging, according to Serell.

"Plastics processors in general are embracing purging compounds more and more," Serell said. "Now, the conversations we have with customers are entirely different. The concept of purging is solidly mainstream in a way that it was not 10 years ago."

Part of the shift can be attributed to the molding industry's old guard retiring, Serell noted, recalling how when Asaclean called on companies in the past, they were told that instead of custom formulated purging compounds, screws and barrels could be cleaned by everything from "popcorn, Coke or cat litter, to baking powder and peanut shells."