EVANSVILLE, Ind.—A successful manufacturing agreement between Integral Technologies Inc. and Nova Polymers Inc. has led to a long-term strategic alliance between the two firms.
Integral has been making its ElectriPlast-brand conductive compounds at Nova's plant in Evansville, Ind., since early 2015. Under the new agreement, Nova will provide manufacturing and laboratory testing for an expanded ElectriPlast line that features materials that are anti-static and static dissipative. In addition to providing manufacturing, Nova also will supply resin, color matching, and blending for the new ElectriPlast formulations.
"Nova has been a strong partnership for us," Integral CEO Doug Bathauer said in a Feb. 13 news release. "It would have been challenging to develop our new product line as quickly as we have without their support."
Bathauer added that the alliance "allows us to improve quality and increase volume without the need for capital expenditures or added personnel.
"We are continuing to see demand for our new [ElectriPlast] product line and we believe we have the capacity to fulfill this demand for the foreseeable future," he said.
Nova founder, President and CEO Roger Chapman said in the release that the combination of his firm's 30 years of resin compounding and Integral's conductive plastic expertise "creates an exciting opportunity for both companies.
"We are always looking for growth and we're seeing a lot of opportunities in conductive plastic," Chapman added.
Nova was founded in 1984 and is a custom compounder of engineering resins and thermoplastic rubber. The firm currently produces a full line of compounds based on ABS, polypropylene, polycarbonate and its proprietary Novalast-brand thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV).
Nova operates a pair of plants in Evansville covering more than 100,000 square feet of manufacturing. The firm has annual production capacity of more than 70 million pounds and also has a full service lab and custom coloring capabilities.
Integral also is based in Evansville. It operates ElectriPlast as a wholly owned subsidiary. Integral produces conductive plastic products for the aerospace/defense, transportation, industrial materials and electronics end markets.