When NewAge Industries was founded in 1954, it didn’t make anything. The company was a distributor that purchased and resold plastic tubing, reinforced hose, fittings and clamps. It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that NewAge began manufacturing products.
Extrusion – a method of forcing material through a die to make a certain shape – is the process NewAge uses to make its plastic tubing and reinforced hose. The extrusion equipment purchased in the 90’s was still performing well, producing hundreds of thousands of feet of tubing every month, but the company’s engineering team was concerned. The equipment showed signs of wear, and the group felt that breakdowns were only a matter of time.
“We stock a lot of inventory here – millions of feet – so our supply for our customers is in good shape” noted John-Paul Deitz, NewAge’s Manager of Manufacturing Engineering. “But we don’t want to be down a production line if a piece of equipment fails. That would eventually put our inventory and our customers’ needs in jeopardy.”
Deitz added, “The availability of replacement parts was starting to come into question. And extrusion equipment and the software that helps run it has come a long way in the past twenty-plus years. Upgrading and replacing the extruders before any potential failure is just smart business.”
The new machinery passed testing and qualification stages and is now being used to produce braid reinforced PVC hose and braid reinforced polyurethane hose. Other extruders at NewAge’s facility manufacture unreinforced PVC and polyurethane tubing, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) tubing, silicone tubing and braid reinforced silicone hose.
“PVC, polyurethane and silicone make up a big percentage of our business,” said Deitz, “and as an employee-owned company, all of us are concerned about keeping the business running at its best. Upgrading the equipment is an investment in our future.”
Learn more about NewAge Industries and its products at http://www.newageindustries.com or contact the Fluid Transfer SpecialistsÒ at NewAge Industries by phone: 800-506-3924 or 215-526-2300; e-mail: [email protected]; fax 800-837-1856 or 215-526-2190; or at 145 James Way, Southampton, PA 18966.
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Filed Under: Hose • wraps + sleeves