Testing firm Alpine Polytek moves into new home

FORT WORTH, Texas—A materials and equipment testing firm that services the oil and gas sector has moved into a new facility.

Alpine Polytek moved into its new 20,000-sq.-ft. plant in Fort Worth late last year, with the site just a mile from its former 5,000-sq.-ft. factory.

"We're working on getting it up and running," said Neil Mendes, the firm's CEO. "We don't even have a sign up yet."

Mendes co-owns Alpine Polytek with Buc Slay, who serves as chief technology officer. The two started up the firm five years ago and needed the extra space to keep up with its growth trend, according to Mendes.

The CEO has worked in the oilfield service for more than 25 years. He worked 20 years with Greene, Tweed & Co., serving as general manager/vice president of the Oilfield Business Group from 2001-09, and then as vice president of sales and marketing for the entire corporation from 2009-14.

Slay graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and a master's in material science. That was followed by a career at Halliburton and Weatherford, where he led technical efforts to select and test materials for critical oil and gas applications.

After leaving Greene, Tweed, Mendes joined a private equity firm and recruited Slay, with whom he had worked as Mendes' company sold a lot of material to Halliburton. They were supposed to start a company through the private equity group, but then the oil market collapsed.

"So we started Alpine Polytek on our own," Mendes said. "We have 10 employees and it's gone well."

Alpine Polytek provides material testing and services to the upstream oil and gas market, as well as the downstream chemical processing and refining market. Mendes said Alpine works with all fluids and environments that polymers, composites and metals will see in service, including hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and high pressure/high temperature.

Slay said the material and tool testing service involves all aspects of technology, including aging, failure analysis, life estimation and full-scale tool testing.

Capabilities run up to pressures of 40,000 psi testing, according to Mendes, who added that sour gas testing also is a specialty of Alpine Polytek.

The new site was built from scratch, he said, and includes a crane to move equipment and tooling. It also tripled the testing firm's immersion capacity and gives adequate room for further growth.

No investment figures for the project were disclosed.