How Contract Manufacturing Companies Help Your Business Grow

For manufacturing companies of all sizes, the goal is growth – not only in sales, but in developing a line of quality products. These aspirations are the backbone of our country’s economy. Growth, however, comes with its own set of issues. In order to manufacture a growing line of products, a company must make huge investments in equipment, machinery and the trained technicians to operate them. An alternative is to explore contract manufacturing companies to aid you with your production needs. One of the leading companies helping businesses in many industries attain their goal is Conversion Technologies International.

Specializing in adhesive coatings and laminations, we also excel at die-cutting and slitting. Our processes meet ASTM, ASME, ISO, and SAE standards. These organizations set production models to ensure quality products. Thus, each component we produce meets the designated specifications.

Additionally, we have experience in navigating increasing regulatory requirements. Manufacturers must comply with directives from the FDA and EPA and other agencies. Our experience allows us to ensure compliance with any directives that impact a particular product.

What Benefits Can Contract Manufacturing Companies Offer?

By partnering with CTI, a company can save both time and money. Most manufacturers are constantly working on improving existing products or creating new products. The investment in machinery, equipment and the cost of training operators to handle the processes can overwhelm the largest budget.

When looking for an alternative, many companies realize that working with a contract manufacturer can provide a much better ROI. CTI can offer its partners:

• Modular, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility
• Experienced, trained engineers and technicians who specialize in problem-solving
• Cutting-edge machinery and equipment to handle the processes in which we specialize
• Research and development facility that has helped companies of all sizes to create new products, test prototypes and improve existing products
• Time-tested, five-step process that we use for every project to guarantee success

One of the main values that we offer our clients is our flexibility. We can step in as a partner at any point in the manufacturing process. Therefore, we take the burden of a particularly complex component away, so that our clients can focus on their core business.

An Example of a Contract Manufacturer’s Role

Let’s look at this scenario of how contract manufacturing companies help businesses.

Company A manufactures clothing. They decide that a new line of waterproof rain jackets would be a profitable item to add to their spring line. Unfortunately, they have no equipment to waterproof the material before producing the rain jackets. After investigating the cost of the necessary equipment, they are facing 3 options:

1. Spend a substantial amount of money and invest in the necessary equipment. Then hire and train the necessary technicians to operate the equipment. (This is incredibly expensive and would take so much time, that they would miss the spring fashion market).

2. They could decide not to enter the rain jacket market, but they may be missing a substantial opportunity for a competitive new product line.

3. They can hire a contract or toll manufacturer, such as CTI to handle the process for them.

You can easily see the advantages inherent in hiring a partner that can add value to your manufacturing process, so you can concentrate on your day-to-day operations! By outsourcing a production process, your firm avoids the problems associated with complex operations. A contract manufacturing service can work with you from product development through the finished goods delivery.

Moreover, CTI can handle any arrangement that will benefit the client’s supply chain. CTI can act as an extension of the client’s facilities to offer machinery, equipment, research labs and personnel. They can take over the waterproofing process on state-of-the-art equipment and produce a cost-effective solution. Additionally, they can ship the material back to the manufacturer, or perhaps ship it on to another processor who needs to do additional sewing operations on the material.

Every product is unique and has its own requirements. That is where the flexibility of CTI comes in. When we partner with a company, we work with them to fit our services in at any point in the process.

When we act as a contract manufacturer, we will complete the production of a product according to the specifications provided and pass it along for distribution as a finished product. Our client doesn’t have to get involved in the final shipping to the ultimate destination.

Specialty Services Provided by CTI

We focus on providing three complex services for clients in broadly diverse industries. These are Adhesives and General Coatings, Laminating and Slitting & Die Cutting. Each of these unique fields require expensive investments in machinery, equipment and the related technical personnel.

By contracting the manufacturing process to CTI, our clients know that the finished product will have the best chance of success by getting to market in a timely manner. Since our equipment and technicians are experienced and ready to take on a project, there is no wasted time in setting up new manufacturing facilities or waiting to train operators. As every company knows, getting a new or improved product to market before a competitor does, can make or break the financial results! A one-week delay can mean loss of a huge amount of market share that the developer may never regain.

Additionally, utilizing a contract manufacturer’s facility saves expensive square footage that you can optimize for another use.

Let’s review the details of our three specialty areas:

ADHESIVES AND GENERAL COATINGS

We have a fully-operational facility with the latest equipment to handle a broad range of coatings, including, but not limited to:

• Hot melts
• Water-repellent
• Fire-retardant
• Water-based adhesives
• Spray adhesives

Our capabilities extend to a wide variety of materials and we can process substrates from foam, cloth and polyester, to vinyl, paper and polypropylene. Whether your material needs a primer coating or surface tension decreased, its all in a day’s work for us.

Clients in a broad range of industries utilize our adhesives and coatings technology, including:

• Automotive
• Roofing Materials
• Fiberglass
• Office Furniture
• Construction
• Packaging

We offer cure temperatures up to 350°F, material widths up to 120 inches and roll weights to 2,000 lbs. You provide the specifications and we will handle the process – start to finish.

By allowing us to handle your adhesive and coating processes, you know that your product will stand up against any competition. Our experience would be difficult to match, if your normal production line hasn’t required these processes in the past.

LAMINATION SERVICES

Our highly-specialized lamination equipment and expertise allow us the ability to handle the unique lamination requirements of clients across a broad spectrum of industries. Since we have this flexibility, we can offer some lamination services that are not easy to duplicate without substantial investment. That is the value of our service – a small expenditure reaps benefits that far exceed the cost…in other words, we provide a great ROI!

When a client requires a complex lamination process for one of their products, how better to handle the issue than to partner with CTI? Immediately, our experts will understand the need, gather the resources at hand and take on the project. As a contractor, we can handle the entire process and move the finished product along the supply chain or, return to the client for further processing.

As an overview, we will provide a partial listing of our capabilities. Our equipment is all state-of-the-art and can handle a wide variety of materials.

Our methodologies include:

• Hot melt spray
• Slot die
• Knife-over-roll
• Meyer rod coating
• Hot Melt
• One-sided
• Two-sided
• And many more!

Companies that may be sourcing some operations overseas, are now realizing that there is a resource here in the US with these diversified abilities.

Our clients cover a broad range of industries, such as:

• Automotive
• Construction Materials
• Aeronautic
• Consumer Products
• Roofing Materials
• Vinyl and Paper Products

Adhesive lamination is another complex process with which we have years of expertise. We offer some specialized techniques, such as powdered adhesive processes to produce a stretchable or breathable lamination. We also have water-based equipment, for some unique operations.

Our facility can handle both medium and long runs, with a typical lead time of 1 to 6 weeks.

SLITTING AND DIE CUTTING SERVICES

We are proud to offer extensive, customizable slitting & die cutting services on a toll or contract manufacturing basis. Utilizing equipment that includes flat-bed die cutters, we have the capability to cut from sheet or rolled form. We also use steel rule and belt-fed methodologies. Specifications include materials up to 5/8” thick, sheet sizes through 40” x 60” and rolled materials up to 60” in width. Our die press tonnage is up to 150 tons.

Some of the leading national brands utilize our services and they need to depend on our technologies and expertise. These companies realize the value that we add to their products. The expense is a small portion of what they would need to invest in order to produce the same results in-house.

We provide slitting and die-cutting services to many industries, including automotive, vinyl, fiberglass, construction materials, office furniture/partitions and more. The list of materials that we process includes vinyl, rubber, felt, foam, non-wovens, silicone, urethane and many more.

Why Choose Conversion Technologies?

With our expertise, state-of-the-art equipment and modular facilities, we feel that we can become your partner in growing your business and your product line. We are proud to have an excellent reputation among premier American companies as a reliable, trustworthy contributor to their growth.

CTI’s flexibility and reliability are foremost in their consideration process, when deciding on a resource for a particular product or a manufacturing problem that requires a solid solution. Clients know that they can depend on us for many facets of their manufacturing needs.

We can work as a toll manufacturing company or a contract manufacturing service, depending on the needs of each unique customer.

In business since 1993, we have evolved with the technological advances and take advantage of all possible equipment and machinery improvements. Our engineers and technicians have a broad range of experience that they can use to help solve your problems, because they have probably seen a similar issue before!

To that end, we are proud to share some of our case studies, so that you can see the quality and the results of our problem-solving methods and resources.

Additionally, when evaluating a partner for your business, always verify credentials and certifications to ensure that their processes meet industry standards. Look for manufacturers with a documented, detailed manufacturing process. An ISO 9001 certification of the process indicates the contractor’s dedication to maintaining the highest standards. Manufacturing processes that meet certification standards are efficient, consistent, and reliable. By controlling the process, your end product will be safe, reliable, and of good quality.

We adhere to all industry standards including ASME and ASTM. Our reliability and reputation depend on our work ethic and our quality standards, which is why we are a trusted resource for companies who recognize the value of those attributes.

Our Five-Step Process

When taking on a new client, we have developed a five-step approach to ensure our compatibility and the success of the project.

1. Consultation: Having a frank discussion with our potential client can determine that we are a good match to provide the services that they require. When you are looking for a manufacturing partner, you want to be sure that you are both comfortable in the relationship.

2. Research and Development: Whether a client wants to develop a new product or improve an existing one, we explain our methods, technical expertise and test/retest ethic. Having access to a fully-equipped R&D lab is a big advantage to our clients who usually don’t want to fund such an operation for product development in-house.

3. Testing/Sample: We strongly believe in creating a sample early on, so that we can make any necessary changes quickly and inexpensively. An experienced contract manufacturer understands that this can save time and money later on.

4. Pilot run: At a contract manufacturer’s facility, experience tells us to insert this operation between the sample and the final production process. A limited “pilot run” will find any glitches before the full production run.

5. Production: Our production runs are very calm events. We know that there will be no problems, since we have tested, sampled and created a short run prior to this stage. No surprises, just results at this point.

When you are ready to speak to us about your production needs, either fill out this form and we will contact you, or give us a call at 419-924-5566. We look forward to working with you.