Superior Conduct

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Zefon International, a manufacturer of medical products and air sampling equipment used for monitoring indoor environments, takes great pride in the quality of its products. In fact, they have brought the entire production process, from injection molding to final assembly and packaging, in-house in order to maintain maximum control of the finished product.

Of course, they still need to source raw materials, and an ongoing issue with the purity and consistency of the carbonfilled conductive polypropylene they used for the manufacture of their asbestos air sampling cassettes was a concern for the quality-conscious company.

According to Kurt Kyvik, Zefon’s Director of Product Development, the additional work needed to produce the cassette to their exact specifications was costing the company money. There was excessive material waste, excessive labor and even damaged molds due to the poor quality of the material they were receiving.

“I guess compounders find this conductive material particularly challenging to produce due to the high percentage of carbon required. We’ve tried a number of suppliers over the years, and in every case the material we’ve gotten has always been just passable at best,” he explained.

Finally, after a few particularly poor batches, Zefon began a search for a new compound supplier, avoiding the suppliers that they had used before. They found three potential new sources, and RTP Company quickly stood out in their tests.

“We immediately saw that the RTP Company material was significantly higher quality than anybody else’s that we’ve come across in the more than twenty years we’ve been making this product,” said Kyvik.

After testing, the compound, RTP 100 series Conductive Carbon Black Concentrate for Polypropylene (PP), became the new spec for the cassette. The compound met all OSHA requirements, and allowed Zefon to reclaim a significant amount of time in the production process. Excessive waste and damaged molds became a thing of the past. In addition, notes Kyvik, the consistently high levels of carbon black in the RTP Company polypropylene helps Zefon attain several additional efficiencies in the blending process, saving them even more time and money.

“Finally,” said Kyvik, “we have a great source of high quality material for this product. We are very glad to have found RTP Company.”

AIR SAMPLE CASSETTE
Market: Industrial
Compound: RTP 100 series
Conductive Carbon Black Concentrate