SCOTLAND NECK, N.C.—AirBoss of America Corp.'s rubber compounding business has added equipment at its upgraded Scotland Neck plant to expand its capabilities.
The company purchased and installed strip equipment at the facility to give it the ability to handle custom compounding, according to Robert Dodd, executive vice president of AirBoss and head of the firm's compounding services.
It represents a turning point for the 150,000-sq.-ft. Scotland Neck factory, which the company said has made a dramatic transformation in the last year.
Additional machinery will allow the Scotland Neck plant to make and supply the U.S. market with varying dimensions of strip material piled in a stable cross weave configuration.
Previously, the site produced select high-volume compounds, Dodd said, primarily slabs or sheets of material. It now has the capability of handling complex projects with the most challenging requirements, he said.
The company said it made a significant investment in the expansion project, but did not release financial data.
The addition, along with improvements made at AirBoss Rubber Compounding's Wake Forest, N.C., Technical Center, makes the Scotland Neck operation compatible with the company's rubber mixing plants in Kitchener, Ontario, and Acton Vale, Quebec, Dodd said.
"We've always had the capabilities at our Kitchener facility and recently added them at our Acton Vale plant," he said. "The additional capabilities gives our sales force more to offer a wider variety of customers. Scotland Neck has an exceptional mixer, but the form was limited. Now we can do it all."
He said the latest additions also improved the reliability of the facility because everything at the factory has been improved.
While it has been upgrading and expanding the Scotland Neck site, the firm also added new analytical equipment and achieved ISO certification at its Wake Forest technical center, which it opened two years ago, according to Dodd.
AirBoss has made major investments in both its rubber mixing and its protective products operations in the last two years. In early 2012, the Newmarket, Quebec-headquartered company said it was spending about $6.3 million to improve efficiencies at its three compounding facilities and boost capacity.