SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Action Technology is in growth mode as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, according to Sales Manager Kevin Volden.
The Tekni-Plex Inc. business makes rubber and plastic products like aerosol and pump components, and invested resources toward achieving National Science Foundation certification for some of its polypropylene and polyethylene tubing products. Volden discussed these activities at the Healthcare Elastomer Conference in Schaumburg, Ill.
The products are certified under both standards 51 and 61, for food equipment materials and drinking water systems. Action Technology went for the classifications to reach a wider range of opportunities, he said.
"We've always had the capability, but we've made the investment now," Volden said. "What this does is not so much just in the health care market, but every market, it's given us the chance to get into some industries and applications that we've never had the chance to before."
Volden said Action Technology began the project in September 2017 and received certification in December 2018. The certified tubing is available between diameters of up to a half inch.
Action Technology initially took on the certification for a "major player" customer, he said. The customer was interested in Action Technology and Tekni-Plex as a whole, and believed it was a good fit, but NSF certification was required.
"That whole relationship acted as a catalyst to drive that business," he said. "It's given us a chance to lock in a major player, and also we've got two or three other major players behind them that we're working with as well at the same time. They all require NSF certification."
From its facility in Clinton, Ill., Action Technology reaches markets including health care, sanitation, and food and beverage, where the certification is required for products, he said. It produces tubing for pharmaceutical sprays and misters, as well as products for blood pressure control. In food and beverage, it makes products such as spreader sticks for food applications, and sticks for lollipops and ice cream popsicles.
"I tell people that every single household in America has probably got 15 items in the house that come out of our plant and you wouldn't know it, because it's tied in to a soap dispenser or an aerosol spray of some kind," Volden said.
While the company has been very strong in a few industries before, Action Technology has been looking to expand its footprint and "push the envelope a little bit," Volden said. That drive was another part of what led to the NSF certification and an enhanced focus on the health care market.
"And then it was just finding a whole range of new applications and areas that we weren't looking at before," he said.
On top of the company's 50-year milestone, Action Technology reached eight years of no lost time because of an accident, which Volden said is a record for both the company and Tekni-Plex as a whole.