Chemionics deal to strengthen Protech

TALLMADGE, Ohio—Chemionics Corp. is getting a new owner.

Chessco Industries, which owned Chemionics since 1981, has sold the firm to Protech Oxyplast Group, a provider of both powder and liquid metal coatings, in a deal that closed Dec. 1. Financial details were not disclosed.

Protech generated $250 million in sales and operates 10 manufacturing sites worldwide. Chemionics General Manager John Blackfan said Protech will help Chemionics grow, especially in the metal coatings industry, with plenty of cross-selling opportunities between the two customer bases.

"Overall it's exciting," Blackfan said. "There's a lot of overlap in raw materials. We buy a lot of the same PVC resins, plasticizers and heat stabilizers. Right out of the gate, in the first week, Protech salesmen contact me with opportunities for plastisols. We've got a flood of interest from both sides where we already have inroads with our customers and now have additional products we can take to them."

Based in Tallmadge, Chemionics is a formulator and compounder of PVC plastisols, natural latex, synthetic latex—polychloroprene and nitrile, as well as water-based adhesives. Blackfan said Chemionics' plastisol capabilities complements Protech's line of PVC powder coatings and will help extend the firm's broad line of metal coatings. Chemionics also has a full line of solvent and water-based primers for plastisol metal coatings.

Blackfan said Protech's primary product lines are thermoplastic and thermoset powder coatings, making Chemionics a perfect fit to enhance its capabilities.

"Chessco wouldn't have sold us to one of our competitors," Blackfan said. "They wanted to make sure we were in good hands with a company who was going to take care of the employees, do the right thing, keep everything here and put the resources behind it to help grow the business."

Founded in 1975, Chemionics was relocated from Fair Lawn, N.J., to Tallmadge when Chessco acquired B.F. Goodrich's formulating and compounding plant in 1981, merging the two operations into its current three story, 85,000-sq.-ft., location that sits on 10 acres of land. The site also operates a research and development/quality control lab.

The firm employs about 31, all of whom Blackfan said are transferring in the deal, and generated about $20 million in sales in 2017. The PVC/plastisols business accounted for 60 percent and the other 40 percent came from its natural and synthetic latex and water-based adhesives business. The site has capacity for about 40 million pounds in plastisol and 30 million pounds of latex/adhesives.

Recently, the firm has invested for additional equipment—adding an infrared spectrophotometer, an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, and a gas chromatograph/GSMS mass spectrometer. Blackfan said the recent additions were driven by increased regulations driving customer requirements.

"We're getting more and more demand from our customers who, when we produce a batch of material, want a report that shows it's RoHS or REACH compliant, doesn't contain phthalates and is clear for all of the California Prop 65 materials," Blackfan said. "We've converted a lot of our plastisols business to non-phthalates because most industries are demanding that. This was a good way to be able to test and certify batches of material, and ensure there are no issues with compliance."

Chemionics operates in a number of industries—plastisol dip coating and primers for metal coating; PVC dots, PVC palm coatings, PVC dipped gloves and natural and synthetic latex glove coatings for industrial gloves; soft plastic/plastisols for fishing lures; plastisol and water-based adhesives and coatings for laminated and coating industrial fabrics/wall covering; PVC-coated belts; latex and plastisols for construction and manufactured stone; plastisol dip molded caps, grips and automotive parts; latex dipped products like toy balloons, medical and industrial parts; latex masks and props for Halloween; natural and synthetic latex packaging adhesives; dip molded/coated industrial rubber products; latex adhesives and binders; and plastisol screen printing inks for textiles.

The biggest overlap, however, occurs in the metal coatings industry.

"That's the real push at this point in time," Blackfan said. "We're in it, they're in it and there's a lot of companies out there that would be using both of our product lines. We think we can get a home run out of it between the two companies."