Hardide Coatings
Opens New U.S.
Production Facility in
Virginia
Hardide Coatings, Inc., the United
Kingdom-based provider of advanced
surface coating technology, has announced the opening of its new Virginia
production facility. In January 2015
the company commenced an investment of up to $7million in Martinsville
to expand its production operations to
North America. The new facility is expected to create up to 29 jobs over the
next three years.
This expansion has been driven by
increased demand from North American
customers, with sales to the U.S. and
Canada more than doubling during
2015. The 26,000 square foot facility in
Martinsville-Henry County, will service
existing and new customers for the company’s patented range of hard wearing
tungsten carbide coatings in the oil and
gas and flow control markets. In addition, the company also plans to expand
in the aerospace and advanced engineering sectors and develop applications for
its newly-patented coating for diamonds.
Philip Kirkham, CEO of Hardide plc
said: “Having a local production facil-
ity in North America will support the
increased demand from existing custom-
ers and significantly boost opportuni-
ties to expand provision of our coatings
throughout the region. We have installed
two large capacity chemical vapor depo-
sition (CVD) coating reactors and work
is already progressing well on some very
exciting customer trials. I would like
thank all in Martinsville-Henry County
and Virginia Economic Development de-
partments for their help and assistance,
and in particular Governor McAuliffe
and Secretary Jones for their personal
support in helping to get this project un-
derway in Martinsville.”
“I congratulate Hardide Coatings on
the opening of its Virginia manufacturing
facility in Martinsville,” said Governor
of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe. “Growing
jobs in the advanced manufacturing sec-
tor is a large part of our efforts to build
a new Virginia economy, and these jobs
will pay well above the average prevailing
wage in a region that needs them. We wel-
come the company to Virginia and Henry
County and look forward to a long part-
nership with the Commonwealth.”
“We welcome Hardide Coatings
to our community,” said Mark Heath,
President & CEO of the Martinsville-
Henry County Economic Development
Corporation (EDC). “Their presence
here strengthens our growing aerospace
sector and demonstrates that our commu-
nity is a great place for business from all
across the globe.”
“We are excited to have Hardide
Coatings among our growing list of in-
ternational companies,” said Tim Hall,
Henry County Administrator. “The
Henry County Board of Supervisors was
glad to partner with the EDC, our friends
in Richmond, and Hardide Coatings to
make this opening a reality.”
The first two senior employees at the
facility, Jamey Ewing, coatings supervi-
sor and Barry Farmer, pre-treatment
supervisor, spent 12 weeks during the
summer in the UK at the company’s
head office and main production site in
Bicester, Oxfordshire, being trained on
the Hardide coating production pro-
cesses and techniques. They returned
to Virginia in September 2015 to assist
with the installation and commissioning
of the process, production and quality
control equipment.
“Production for North American
customers, currently being carried out
in the UK, will be gradually transferred
to Virginia on a case-by-case and
phased basis, taking load and capacity
of both sites into consideration,” con-
tinued Mr Kirkham. “We have also in-
vested in an ultra-fast broadband cable
between the UK and US sites enabling
both facilities to operate on the same
fast, secure network.”
The range of Hardide coatings are
highly abrasion, erosion, corrosion and
chemical resistant while also being tough,
ductile and impact resistant. Applied
by chemical vapor deposition (CVD),
the process can not only coat external,
but also internal surfaces and complex
shapes. The coating technology is proven
to offer dramatic improvements in com-
ponent life, delivering cost savings to
customers through reduced downtime
and increased operational efficiency.
Sika Opens New Mortar
Production Facility in
Greece
Sika is opening a new manufacturing site
for mortars in Kryoneri, near Athens,
Greece. Complementary to Sika’s existing
concrete admixture plant in Thessaloniki,
northern Greece, the state-of-the-art
manufacturing plant will drive forward
the mortar business in the country by
broadening the current product portfolio
and opening up new market segments.
In addition to the mortar production
unit, which has a capacity of 20,000
tons per year, the facility will house a
modern laboratory, as well as a new
concrete admixtures logistics hub for
southern Greece. A production unit for
liquid applied membranes for waterproofing and roofing applications will
be installed in a subsequent step. The
new premises in Greece enable Sika to
offer its customers an optimized supply
chain, a locally produced and enhanced
product portfolio and a greater level of
customer service.
Paul Schuler, regional manager
EMEA: “Despite the challenging economic environment in Greece, we are
confident about the country’s long-term
potential. Sika has a longstanding commitment to its local operations. Even
when conditions are challenging, we
continue to develop our supply chain in
well-defined markets, expand our market share and strengthen Sika’s competitive position.”
Axalta Celebrates 150 Years
in the Coatings Industry
In 2016, Axalta Coating Systems celebrates 150 years of creating innovative
industrial coatings. Axalta’s heritage
dates back to 1866 when its first products were developed in Germany and
since then the company has grown into
one of the world’s leading manufacturers
of liquid and powder coatings.
“All of us at Axalta are excited to
reach this important milestone in the history of our company,” explained Axalta
chairman and CEO Charlie Shaver. “Over
