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Compounding business is attaining maturity and
requires an extra effort to provide a better product to the discerning
customers from application segments like automobile, consumer electronics
etc. The global compounding majors have set up elaborate testing facility
to support their businesses. ISO 9000 or 9001 quality programmes are
very common to these global compounding majors. The industry is more
often tuned to the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) for process and
laboratory data. Stringent quality of the products provides an added
value. The globalization of the plastics business demands more usage
of ISO tests although ASTM tests continue to dominate in North America.
Some major compounders define a continuous improvement of quality
by 5% every year. The expectations of customers on quality are increasing
every year. More stringent tolerance of the properties is now quite
common. To meet the increasing demand of the global customers most
of the compounders implement LIMS (Laboratory Information Management
Systems). These LIMS are computer-based tools for organizing, analyzing
and reporting the laboratory data. Simple physical tests are not
adequate any more as the discerning customers demand more analytical
properties. It is quite common to use FTIR, Ray fluorescence as
well as diffraction. Microscopy is also becoming quite common to
determine dispersion at micro-level. The consumer electronics segment
also demands closer tolerance on colour measurement as well as implementation
of the latest colour measuring techniques.
While global compounders located in the developed region of North
America and Europe as well as Japan have taken a lead in the quality
enhancements, few compounders from the developing regions have also
made initiatives to execute quality measurements. After all, the
dynamics of the present compounding business demands tighter and
stringent quality products and can determine the difference between
a successful and global player against the local low-end commodity
product maker.
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