Americhem (Suzhou) Company Ltd. Grows Into the Future

2014 was a great year for Americhem in China, and 2015 is poised to be even better. Last year, we added 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space to our Suzhou, China plant, doubling its size. We’re continuing our expansion here in 2015 as our laboratories are being completely remodeled and stocked with upgraded equipment. We’ve also added new lab capabilities in physical and mechanical testing including flame retardancy, izod impact and tensile strength, among others. We expect the lab renovations will be completed by March.

New dryers have  been installed in Americhem's
 newly expanded Suzhou, China plant.

In the manufacturing arena, we’re making similar strides. We’ve added three new state-of-the-art high output extrusion lines. With these additions, our Suzhou plant’s capacity is roughly four times what it was last year. In addition, we’ve expanded our capacity to make specialty black products, including products based on carbon blacks and nigrosine blacks. We’ve also added a new manufacturing platform that will allow us to make products for our new sister company, Infinity LTL Engineered Compounds. We will make Infinity LTL compounds that go into medical applications, electrical and electronics, aerospace and many other industries.

Our raw materials warehouse is fully stocked
 and ready to meet our expanded capacity.

Bringing specialty compounds into our product mix will give the plant an additional distinction – ISO 13485 certification. This is a special medical certification for color and property modification and pelletizing of engineering thermoplastics for medical equipment. We are working to achieve this by the end of the first quarter of 2015. This will put us in the exclusive company of a very few businesses that are certified to both the ISO 9001 and the ISO 13485 standards.

With all the activity and expansion, Americhem is building a world-class organization to bolster our operations in Asia. With local technical support and assistance from our corporate R&D staff, Americhem is a technology leader in the region and a leader in the production of color and additive masterbatches for plastics and synthetic fibers, as well as specialty engineered compounds. What started as a new plant in China in 2006 has grown into a formidable technology leader in support of our customers in these industries.

Stanley Teoh

Vice President and Managing Director – Asia Pacific

Americhem (Suzhou) Company Ltd.

ISO 14001 Teaches Americhem Employees Environmental Awareness

Our company’s plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, recently became certified to ISO 14001, which is a family of standards related to environmental management. It helps companies minimize any negative impact on the environment, comply with laws, regulations and other environmental requirements and continually improve in these areas.

As part of the team that worked on achieving this accreditation, I was amazed at the amount of awareness that this process promoted throughout our plant and our employees. By becoming aware of ways to reduce waste in one area, our people were motivated to look for opportunities to conserve in other departments, plant processes and even at home.

It’s amazing how working toward this certification empowered our employees to become conservationists. Once plant personnel were aware that I was part of the team working toward ISO 14001, they brought a wealth of ideas to my attention. I was asked if we recycled cans, ink cartridges and lots of other items that were beyond our initial thinking.

I think that speaks volumes about the certification’s relevance to everyone. Conserving what we have is not only good for the environment, it’s good for business. We learned that there are many waste streams that we can be paid for instead of paying someone else to dispose of them. Cardboard and polymer waste are two great examples. Through our initial “dumpster dive”, where we literally looked at all the things we throw away in a week’s time, we uncovered many waste streams that we were able to reduce, conserve or sell.

Now, I notice people conserving not because it’s a requirement, but because they care about it and it’s the right thing to do. During the process, our registrar interviewed more than 30 employees, and they discovered a lot of engagement and pride that the process helped promote. They were amazed by all the different ways that employees answered a question like, “How does your job impact the environment?”

The team that helped work our way through the requirements did an excellent job. It was a lot of hard work over months and months. But a lot of credit also goes to our employees who helped make the project their own. Many of them will carry this newfound awareness home and expand on our sacred company principle, “Be a proactive steward of the environment.” The impact is clear to our people, our community and the world at large.

You can view our certification and get more details  on all of our ISO accreditations on our website.

Darwin Brown

Quality Manager, Americhem Inc.