Plastic Compounders Form International Alliance

Originally Published MDDI August 2003

NEWSTRENDS

Erik Swain

In an attempt to offer global services to medical device manufacturers and others who need specialty compounding, some firms are setting up an alliance of small to medium-sized independent plastic compounders.

The charter members of the Global Compounders Alliance are Alloy Polymers Inc. (Richmond, VA) and Kunststoffwerk Voerde (Ennepetal, Germany). The alliance plans to include members from North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan and Korea. 

Subhash Pahuja, Alloy's president, says the alliance will consist of “contract manufacturers of engineering thermoplastics who specialize in meeting the specific and unique needs of the individual customers, not in wholesale solutions from high-volume suppliers. The benefits that will accrue to our customers will parallel those of a multinational company while maintaining the specialized capabilities, quick-turnaround flexibility, and individual customer care of an independent contract manufacturer.”

Alliance members will perform toll compounding for customers in need of specialty materials, and logistics services for certain global resin companies. Candidates must be small- to medium-sized companies that can focus on quick response and scheduling flexibility. They must have a clearly defined focus on specialty compounding and not be oriented toward commodity production.

Members will need to standardize testing procedures and capabilities (including color-matching capabilities) in their laboratories, and offer the same compounding technology and equipment wherever possible. This will include conducting round-robin testing and benchmarking best practices. 

Alliance members are also expected to provide technical service and assistance to each other, help each other in achieving quality certifications, and provide scale-up and other test facilities for customers in each market segment. They also aim to exchange technical experiences while maintaining secrecy obligations with customers.

Customers would be able to benefit from global compounding services with consistent, seamless quality and advanced manufacturing techniques for engineering plastics and specialty compounds, according to the alliance. 

The alliance members are not financially tied to each other, nor do they deal with product lines that are considered proprietary. In addition, they will not become the source of technology transfer of their customers' information. 

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