Optimisation of new lab extrusion equipment
Bespoke extrusion
Athlone Extrusions, based in Westmeath, is a thermoplastic sheet extruder and compounder founded in 1971. It supplies bespoke sheet sizes, colours and finishes in a wide variety of styrenic polymers to small and large consumers alike. The company has sales offices in Ireland, England and the Netherlands, and exports co-extruded sheets to over 50 countries worldwide, destined for sectors/uses such as building, sanitary ware, automotive, screen-printing, packaging, white goods, electronics and point of sale and display.
Manufacturing capacity
Athlone Extrusions’s manufacturing facility of 14,000 sq. metres houses the extrusion division – consisting of fourteen sheet and film lines, all with co-extrusion or multi-layer capability, and the masterbatch and compounding division, containing seven compounding extruders. The plant capacity is currently 36,000 tonnes per annum. The company’s continued growth is achieved through an ongoing investment in the production facility to expand capacity, a focus on efficiency through technical innovation, coupled with a focus on new product development and material innovation.
46
years in business
36,000
tonne annual capacity
180
employees
“We frequently use the team in APT for specialist polymer testing and investigations beyond the capabilities of our own lab here in Athlone Extrusions, and consistently find their support invaluable. A real synergy exists in the relationship between APT and Athlone Extrusions, with APT providing advanced material science capabilities and some specialist equipment for product development and our team here, who frequently provide APT with colour masterbatch and thermoforming sheet for their research needs.”
Mark Hallinan
Technical Manager, Athlone Extrusions
The Athlone Extrusions & APT partnership
Athlone Extrusions has a long working relationship with the APT Gateway in Athlone IT. APT continues to provide material analysis support for production optimisation and new product development activities within the company. In addition, Dr Zhi Cao, a Research Engineer based in APT, was recently seconded into the Athlone Extrusions facility to provide support with the installation and optimisation of new lab extrusion equipment.
Mark Hallinan, Technical Manager of the Colour Division at Athlone Extrusions (a former graduate of the polymer research department in Athlone IT with over 15 years’ experience working in the polymer materials field), leads a technical team conducting new product development & research into innovative new products for the thermoforming industry. Over the past number of years, Mark has expanded the labs at Athlone Extrusions, adding advanced material testing capabilities having seen their effectiveness through numerous collaborations with AIT.