Expanded Product Offerings Position Americhem as "Your Complete Composites Partner"

Americhem has expanded its line of offerings for producers of composite decking and other composite products summarized by the tagline “Your Complete Composites Partner.”

“Unlike other suppliers in the composites industry, Americhem has a full range of offerings to suit any manufacturing process, end-product use and aesthetic preference,” explains Mark Juve, business director, extrusion for Americhem. “We deliver our products in a multitude of forms including masterbatch, precolored capstock compounds, dry blends, additives, special effects and more.”

Americhem is positioned to provide an expanded offering of world-class products and services to the building products industry, including compounds based on enhanced PVC alloys, TPEs and engineered polymer composites. This creates the opportunity to reshape and improve the customer experience and innovation. The combined product lines, brands and expanded product categories create one of the most extensive offerings in the industry.

“Most polymeric building products providers know Americhem for our masterbatch products,” Juve continued. ”Now, with our partnerships and 75 years of product knowledge, we are able to create new product categories, especially in the compound arena. For example, we are able to offer enhanced PVC technologies to our customers thanks to Vi-Chem’s 35 years of PVC compound experience.”

With the added products and technologies, customers can take advantage of Americhem innovations no matter how their composite products are manufactured. The company’s track record of worldclass product development enables unique building products with the best performance attributes in the field. This gives composites producers the ability to change the status quo, helping them deliver real value and a fast track to a vital, competitive edge.

For more information on Americhem’s comprehensive line of composite products, visit http://www.americhem.com/composites.

Americhem Composes its 2018-2019 Color Trends Forecast

Americhem Inc. has released its 2018–2019 Color Trends comprised of six color palettes united by a musical theme, including: Motown, Techno, Festival, Bossa Nova, Lullaby and Concerto. The color families were announced on Sept. 21 at Americhem’s annual color trends course as part of Americhem U, an ongoing educational series for professionals in the synthetic fibers and plastics industries. This is the company’s ninth annual color trends forecast.

The color families, developed by a committee of color trend specialists, are forecasted to be popular in the coming years based on global influences, pop culture, musical and design trends, technology, and fashion-forward color predictions. In conjunction with a well-known fashion design house in Milan, Italy, the groups of colors, in addition to textures, finishes and effects, are translated into seasonal design concepts, moods and lifestyles, each with a unique story to convey the emotions and context of the colors.

This year’s color families reveal the trending colors of tomorrow based on the sounds of the past and present:

·          Motown — deep tones of blue, with a green that is almost brown, are brightened with orange and rusty tones to provide a palette that is both edgy and mysterious.

·          Techno — bold shades of hi-tech blues and futuristic greens are highlighted by neon yellow and brought back to earth by a subtle, golden beige. Funky and daring, this palette speaks to our inner geek.

·          Festival — an airy taupe is contrasted by blazing shades of orange and red, and brightened by shadowy purples and violets in the vibrant palette, inspired by summer music festivals.

·          Bossa nova — harmonies of calm, refined greens and fluid, soft beiges reflect on the beauty of nature and lend to a calm, tranquil mood. Like an enchanting bossa nova melody played on a nylon-string classical guitar, this collection of gorgeous hues reminds us to appreciate the magnificent world around us.

·          Lullaby — Reach-out-and-touch-me pastels are paired with cozy grays in this understated and comforting palette. Like a mother singing a lullaby to her precious child, this color assemblage wraps us in peacefulness and content.

·          Concerto — A sophisticated palette comprised of soft, pale pinks, romantic peach tones, subdued blues and extravagant greens.

“These color palettes offer a world of inspiration and harmony,” expressed Sydney Gardner, lead color trends specialist for Americhem. “By keeping up with the trends through Americhem’s forecast, designers and product development personnel alike can benefit from learning the colors and the palettes that are sure to drive consumer preference in the years to come.”

The color trends presentation is available to Americhem customers by contacting Ms. Gardner at sgardner@americhem.com. Americhem will also offer its color trends course as a webinar Thursday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. EDT. Visit http://www.americhem.com/americhemu to register. 

Americhem Employees Welcome Summer with United Way

As the first day of summer rolled in on June 21, 2017, Americhem employees from our two Ohio facilities rolled up their sleeves to participate in Summit County’s annual United Way Day of Action. Over 30 Americhem employees gathered at Hale Farm & Village to help clean stalls, chop wood, pull weeds and clean the houses on the historic farm.

Hale Farm & Village is a 200 year old family farm nestled in the Cuyahoga Valley. The Hale family passed the farm to the Western Reserve Historic Society and since 1958, it has served as an outdoor living history museum.

United Way’s day of action mobilized hundreds of volunteers from dozens of local companies to work on a variety of health and human service projects.

For over a quarter of a century, Americhem employees have pledged time, money and effort to the United Way and its partner organizations at each of our locations in the U.S. Americhem employees are encouraged to pledge a portion of their paychecks to United Way and our corporate office

also contributes funds to the local chapters where our plants are located. 

Americhem is committed to serving our local United Way chapters across all plants and we believe that our commitment to United Way and other worthwhile charities is a great way to make our communities better places to live and work. 

Five Ways You May Be Missing Value in Your Supplier Relationships

When seeking new supply chain partners, you typically have choices. It’s natural to consider factors such as product performance and pricing levels when deciding with whom to work and how to go about it. Are you overlooking value-added services that could take your product to the next level, though?

Whether you are still working through the viability of a new product offering or seeking opportunities to enhance your product, you may be missing out on extensive expertise that a supplier can offer if you do not know the right questions to ask. Unsure of where to start? Here are five value engineering focus areas in which a supplier partner could help you take your offerings from ordinary to extraordinary.

1. Research and development

While you may have some R&D capabilities in-house, a supplier like Americhem with specialization in polymeric research and product development can help you sort through color and performance testing. From idea inception to product commercialization, your supplier’s R&D department can help with applied research and development, color and raw material science, formulation and process design, and property modeling. They can even aid companies in their new product development goals.

2. Custom product design

Whether you could use help with rapid color design and prototyping or you want to test products without interrupting your daily operations, consider how a supplier could help. For instance, Americhem experts can collaborate with you on product requirements, then run pilot lines and process simulations ranging from molding (injection and injection blow) to extrusion (blown film, film and sheet, profile, composite board and siding) to synthetic fiber (spinning, false twist and air jet texturing, and knitting) and more.

3. Comprehensive testing

Suppliers may offer a variety of testing services to help you be confident in your product design, no matter where you are in the design and development process. Americhem, for example, offers:

• Analytical and physical testing, including polymer composition and properties, polymer performance, dispersion quality and contaminant/impurity identification, predictive heat buildup, end-group and unreacted monomer analyses, and microscopy with ATR and ARO capabilities.

• Weathering testing, including accelerated weathering and real-time outdoor weathering projects.

• Quality testing to achieve lot-to-lot consistency, confirm product reliability, and set exacting targets and tolerances necessary to ensure adherence to a standard of excellence.

    4. Color design and forecasting

Suppliers may also provide guidance on color design, specifically, based on knowledge of cultural trends, fashion preferences and general color rules. Americhem has several color design centers throughout the world that customers can visit for hands-on work with package design or fiber design. You can test samples, assess thousands of samples and see special effects firsthand. Utilize Americhem’s proprietary vDesign® product design software or receive highly personalized in-person service—whatever suits your needs.

5. Continuing education

Trends, technologies and industry realities tend to shift quickly, and suppliers can help you stay up to date on the latest science behind color and polymer performance. Whether you seek subject matter experts out at global technical conferences and events or attend an Americhem U lunch and learn event, opportunities exist for you to learn more about factors that affect your business, but may not lie within your core competencies.

Value engineering is one of the many reasons that companies all over the world choose to work with Americhem to maximize their products’ market impact. You can learn more about their offerings at http://www.americhem.com/value-engineering.

Raising the Roof in Las Vegas

Commercial and technical representatives from Americhem’s building products team visited the InternationalRoofing Expo (IRE) last week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. We’ve attended the last two shows and the market appears to be growing. One of our customers who has exhibited at the Expo for years said he thought attendance was up, probably the highest attendance he has seen at this show. Preshow exhibitor news confirmed that this was the largest Roofing Expo ever in terms of exhibit space, which was completely sold out. The show encompassed 131,000 square feet and 465 exhibitors, the most in the history of the 62-year show.

In addition to the trade show, the National Roofing Contractors Association holds their annual convention at the venue. Forty-four educational sessions were held on a variety of topics, many of which were approved for continuing education credits.

From our perspective, the most commonly displayed roofing was metal, steep slope roofing, both for commercial and residential properties. Steel and aluminum materials in these roofs are painted to achieve the desired aesthetic. These roofing systems are considered lighter in weight and more durable than their asphalt counterparts.

A couple of companies were geared towards residential steep slope and produced polymeric roofing. These products were injection molded, and fit into two categories: similar to cedar shakes and a slate-like appearance. The ability to create custom colors was touted by one of these organizations. Some of these materials had a different look, more like flexible cedar shake. Some of these products come with 50 year warranties, class 4 impact resistance and a class A fire rating.

From a standpoint of booth size, the top three were definitely GAF, Johns Manville and Firestone Building Products. Other sizeable players included Seaman Corporation and Carlisle Syntec Systems. There was a lot of equipment at this show, certainly more than last year. The most prominent group of these seemed to be ultrasonic welding equipment.

We learned a lot about the industry during our visit to IRE. Next year’s show moves to New Orleans, from February 6-8. Until then, Americhem will continue to innovate  on behalf of our roofing customers, leading the industry in color and natural woodgrain and other effects. Polymeric roofing has come a long way, and we’re proud to have taken part in its growth to this point.

Kelly Gager

Development Segment Leader – Building & Construction

Brian Cur

Field Service Specialist

Americhem Supports by Participation in AAMA 80th Annual Conference

I attended the AAMA (American Architectural Manufacturers Association) 80^th annual conference in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago. It was held from Feb. 12-15 and it attracted an excellent turnout of 360 attendees, one of the best attendance figures since I’ve been attending these events.

The conference consists of 1-2 hour sessions including council meetings geared toward window, door, skylight, curtain wall and storefront manufacturers. AAMA is a material neutral organization, so materials of all kinds are covered under their product umbrella. I sit on several task groups, which help set the standards for the window industry in areas such as thermal performance, insulating glass certification and code acceptance. Other committees include the aluminum materials council, the wall interface council and the residential products council. Building products manufacturers covet AAMA’s certifications and approvals, and the standards are some of the toughest in this industry. An awards banquet was held Monday night where the contributions and accomplishments of award winners was recognized.

There were a variety of good speakers at the conference, including Dick Doyle, head of The Vinyl Institute, who advocated the use of vinyl in windows and doors and also spoke of the institute’s lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. There were even speakers who talked about persuasive and selling skills, such as the role that body language plays in achieving what you want to achieve. The sessions were spirited and showed that the industry as a whole is moving forward in protecting home owners and commercial property owners with its research and certification programs.

For Americhem, this is a great opportunity to support the industry and to help AAMA achieve its goals. The top decision makers in the industry are present and this makes the event one of the most important that we attend each year. It’s also a great networking opportunity where all the important manufacturers in the industry gather in one place at one time. Color certainly plays an important part in the proceedings, as the vinyl materials council advocated switching to a CIE color system for its products. Americhem proudly manufacturers color and additive masterbatches that play a crucial role in architectural products. We enjoy bringing innovation to our customers, many of whom were in attendance at the conference. We also enjoy helping our customers attain AAMA certificiations. I look forward to representing Americhem at the AAMA conference for many years to come.

Rich Camacho

National Account Manager
Americhem, Inc.

 

Americhem U Back in Session

Last week, Americhem U kicked off its Winter/Spring season with a class on “Designing Color Masterbatches,” taught by Americhem color and synthetic fibers expert Roger Threadgill. It was nice to see Americhem U back in session in Dalton, Georgia, where we’ve been teaching color classes to industry professionals since 2011. During that time, we’ve taught 23 classes to almost 700 industry professionals focusing on topics such as color trends, color measurement, color tolerancing, weathering and polymeric additives.

This year, our classes are being held at a new location, the Dalton Golf and Country Club. Participants enjoyed the nearly hour-long presentation before networking with other professionals in the carpet and synthetic turf industries during a buffet lunch. We have found that this “lunch and learn” format helps educate while keeping up with the developments within the industry.

We learn much through our interactions with those who attend Americhem U classes. In fact, we survey participants at every class, and the subsequent year of classes is determined by those that we survey. We teach the classes quarterly in Dalton, semi-annually in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (near Cleveland) and, for customers of Americhem, we’ll even bring Americhem U to you at your plant or office. We’ve also instituted a series of Americhem U webinars that can be attended anywhere there’s a good internet connection.

Color is a complicated subject and it has a huge impact in the manufacturing arena. We pride ourselves on helping you to understand color’s many facets and how you can get color to help you sell your products, no matter what industry you’re in.

For more information, visit www.americhem.com/americhemu or contact me by posting a comment below.

 

Scott Blanchard

Corporate Marketing & Communications Manager