Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based Americhem Inc. — a provider of custom color and additive solutions for man-made fibers — has added a new production line at its Manchester, United Kingdom (U.K.), plant that will manufacture customized masterbatches for synthetic turf applications. The line will accommodate the company's growth in the European synthetic turf market and is expected to increase its color and additive masterbatch capacity by more than two kilotons annually. Americhem also has nearly doubled the plant's manufacturing space by expanding into a 50,000-square-meter facility located next door.

Americhem also will begin operating a synthetic turf yarn pilot line later this year at its Dalton, Ga., manufacturing facility, to supplement production in the U.K. The line will enable the company to perform raw material testing of pigment palettes, stabilizers, and additives, and will help Americhem conduct spin process studies and new formula developments as well as in-house customer trials.

August 2, 2011