A purging compound for all reasons

The last thing you want to do when speaking to potential customers is to tell them that you don't have what they need, but that your competitor does. That would sometimes happen to Joe Gallucci, National Sales Manager for Sun Plastech Inc. (Parsippany, NJ), which manufactures Asaclean purging compounds. "We produce mechanical purging compounds, and sometimes the customer might be better served by a chemical purging product," Gallucci told PlasticsToday from the company's booth at PLASTEC West last week in Anaheim, CA. Sun Plastech wasn't turning away any customers at the event, however: It bought Novachem, a producer of chemical purging compounds based in Bridgeport, CT, in June 2015, and the trade show was a perfect opportunity to promote its expanded product portfolio. "As a result of our combined mechanical and chemical grade portfolio, we were able to show further value to our existing customers and also had a chance at the show to connect with new prospects, because we now offer the best of both worlds," said Gallucci in an e-mail interview following the event. "It's really an exciting time for us!"

With the addition of the chemical purging compound product lines to its existing Asaclean mechanical purging compounds, Sun Plastech offers an array of purging products that satisfy almost any purging scenario, noted the company. These products will help thermoplastics injection molders, extruders, compounders and blowmolders to maximize production efficiency by minimizing downtime and reducing scrap.

"The N Series [formerly Novachem] products have been a huge boost and allowed us to focus on areas where our mechanical grades weren't always the best choice," explained Gallucci. "With the advent of our new chemical line, we are now in a perfect position to service a multitude of extrusion applications. We have the perfect solution for low-flow and low-pressure environments. Couple this with our existing injection molding solutions, and we have become the one resource for all purging needs," said Gallucci.

Asaclean offers compounds for a range of operating temperatures and resin types, including commodity and engineering resins such as PPS, PEEK, PEI and LCP. The newly integrated chemical compounds include NCR for most commodity and engineering resins within the 175 to 360° C range, NCT for engineering resins, NCF for film grades such as LLDPE and LDPE in the 175 to 290° C range and NCH for high-viscosity resins between 175 and 360° C.

Assaclean currently has a portfolio of 16 core mechanical and chemical grades of purging compounds along with some smaller grades for special applications. The company also has products in the pipeline that will be introduced later this year. Gallucci couldn't be happier: Now, he can keep the customer satisfied while keeping his or her business.