Tuesday 9 October 2012

The applicability of social media in a manufacturing environment


Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube – big words with big impact for companies looking to extend their reach farther than they ever have before.

 
The growth in popularity of social media marketing platforms has been staggering as companies scramble to connect with markets on a more personal level. It seems that those organizations trading in the FMCG markets have the most instantaneous gratification online and can more clearly quantify and gauge the successes of their online campaigns.

 

What then for organizations in a manufacturing environment dealing with B2B strategies?

Here at NCS Resins we produce unsaturated polyester resins, gelcoats, pool coats, flow coats and various other raw materials that serve the Glass Reinforced Products (GRP) markets. How do businesses with similar operating profiles reach businesses owners, CEO’s, MD’s and all members of their targeted DMU’s (decision making units) in order to either gain market exposure or covert online interaction into sales?


It seems in the manufacture and sale of unsaturated polyester resins and the accompanying products that we as NCS Resins can identify a few ways to capitalize on the evolution the current technological expansion. Strategies including educational videos that teach workers correct application techniques, surveys identifying client’s thought patterns when deciding on the applicability of an unsaturated polyester resin or simply the use of online newsletters engaging our clients on a personal level and keeping them abreast of current trends in the Glass Reinforced Products market, all bare relevance to ensuring we as a leading manufacturer of unsaturated polyester resins remain current and relevant.

 

With all that social media and an online platforms have to offer, we here at NCS Resins realize that the key to success when operating on these systems is connecting personally with our targeted audience and ensuring that their experiences with us are always enjoyable and memorable.

 

After all, it is here where pure science and performance materials meet.
 
Find out more on www.ncsresins.com or view www.ferrosa.co.za

Thursday 20 September 2012

Another feather in the cap for Ferro Industrial Products (Pty) Ltd “The Performance Materials Company”

Ferro Industrial Products’ acquisition of NCS Resins was sanctioned by the competitions commission in August this year. The acquisition by Ferro of another high performance materials company now brings the list of subsidiaries to six.

NCS Resins is a manufacturer of high quality unsaturated polyester resins for the GRP (Glass Reinforced Products) market with a National and International footprint.
Technology agreements with Reichhold in the USA combined with a world class laboratory, modern production facilities and a highly active technical interface with customers, has made NCS Resins a profitable acquisition for the Ferro brand.
These features coupled with a highly efficient distribution network will allow Ferro to increase its reach to converters and extract greater efficiencies from all of its subsidiaries.
All of the Ferro businesses offer superior high performance materials with strong technical support to their clients. The list of high performance materials manufacturers include:
ü Ferro’s Spectrum Ceramics – which recently gained exposure for the opening of its new highly sophisticated production plant
and Laboratory in Brakpan
ü Ferro’s VEDOC Powder Coating – with a strong reach in the architectural, automotive and industrial industries
ü Ferro Plastics – Ferro’s Masterbatches ensure convenient incorporation of black and white pigments
as well as Polymer Additives and Polymer Substitutes.
ü Ferro Glass Decorating and Coloring - these coatings are dually used for the decoration (as well as serve functional purposes) of various compositions and applications of glass.
ü Ferro Porcelain Enamel – producing a glass to steel tough and durable vitreous enamel used in an array of markets
In keeping to the unwavering standards of high performance materials supplier, NCS Resins brings to its new holding company the ethos of ‘pure science’ built on a flagship technical foundation.

http://www.ncsresins.com/
http://www.ferro-sa.co.za/

Tuesday 21 August 2012

The hidden treasures of change


Change is described in the dictionary as making the form, nature, content, future or course of something different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone (Dictionary.com). The example is that of changing one’s name or opinion, or to change the course of history.

Why is it then that we fight it so hard? Women change their names once they find that lifelong partner, opinions are changed when we learn the truth about people or subjects, and history is changed by the brave that dare to fight for what they believe in.

In business, change is an inevitable and unavoidable truth. It guarantees growth and prosperity and change in its negative form makes way for the stronger more profitable businesses to thrive – all resulting in a better deal for the client. Recently there has been a lot of change here at NCS, but it has brought the promise of security and growth to those who are willing to change with it.

Companies like BP, Vodafone and Pfizer all share our view that M&A’s shape not only the future of the industries in which we operate, yet more importantly, the businesses and individuals involved (Wikipedia). Authors like Jeffrey Gitomer and Spencer Johnson and institutes like Red Tree and the Arbinger Institute have dedicated their time to helping us overcome our fear of something so vital to our survival and as nascent as the theory evolution. Change in its simplest form offers us the opportunity to discover - albeit and idea, possibility, opinion or even just a road we should not take.

The true paragon change offers us is an enlightened perspective or a sobered judgment and in business, change offers us unending potential – we need just see the treasure within the experience and take it.

List of References:

·        Dictionary.com, 2012. Change. [Online] Available at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/change [Accessed: 21 August 2012]

·        Wikipedia, 2012. Mergers and Acquasitions. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergers_and_acquisitions#M.26A_objectives_in_more_recent_merger_waves [Accessed: 21 August 2012]

·        Who moved my cheese.com, 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/ [Accessed: 21 August 2012]



Tuesday 24 July 2012

The naked truth revealed

Resin formulations are more an evolution in materials engineering than some form of chemical wizardry.



The same applies to the “greening” of resins. 

NCS Resins and Reichhold continue to examine their recipes and find ways to become truly environmentally and user friendly without misleading our customers or sacrificing on their requirements. True “greening” can be described as follows…

Biodegradability:

Glass-fibre composites have been purposely designed to last as long as possible with the highest resistance to weathering and deterioration.

* It is made into products such as piping, yachts, chemical resistant tanks and sanitary-ware.

* In these applications the product is expected to last decades. Thus actual “biodegradability” of resin is unthinkable.

* There are very rarely requests from our customers for products that must deteriorate and degrade.

* NCS Resins have no biodegradable systems nor are we working on such systems though we know that other products degrade faster than our products do.

Resins made from recycled content:

NCS Resins produces a resin that is based on recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). This is a thermoplastic material used in the production of products such as plastic soft drink bottles.  

* PET can be used to replace some of the acid and glycol components that make up a polyester resin.

* This requires that the PET to be made into a pre-polymer which is then further reacted to produce a resin.

* Unsaturated polyester resins made from PET are usually tougher and have higher heat strength than conventional unsaturated polyester resins however the processes involved in sorting and preparing the recycled PET are costly and impacts the resin cost making it a little more expensive than standard resins.

* Ask your sales rep for details on NCS 362 PA.

Recycled glass-fibre composites as a filler for polymer concrete:

Glass-fibre composites are made up from thermosetting materials and unlike thermoplastics cannot be melted or re-used in this manner. The hardening of the resin is irreversible and the hardened product is insoluble in most solvents making it difficult to reprocess.

* NCS Resins are undergoing feasibility studies and are conducting tests on polymer concrete made from recycled fiberglass.

* The most cost effective method is by grinding the composite waste to a graded format.

* This can then be used in Polymer concrete, though currently it has not provided better strength than some systems using quartzite and calcium carbonate as a filler.

* It does however provide better bulking - sometimes up to 2.5 times better in volume than calcium carbonate with better cure rates.

We believe there is merit for recycled glass-fibre composite in some applications providing that it is free of contaminants.

Resins made from renewable content:

Natural and modified natural oils have long been established as raw materials for polyester alkyd resins. They can be either reacted into the polymer or used as modifiers.

* Unsaturated polyester resins made with soybean oil have been around since the 1950s. It is however only recently that this raw material has been used to produce polyester resin systems equal in strength or better than conventional GP resins.

* Unfortunately organic sourced renewable raw materials cost considerably more to produce due to logistical constraints and the extra processing required in making it usable.

* Reichhold have found that resin users are reluctant to pay a premium for such resins and thus it is used in limited applications.

* The renewable content only makes up 30-60% of the resin itself.

* Some resin suppliers and manufacturers have created a misleading impression that it is a “100% green” resin when, in our opinion, it is not.

Another problem prohibiting the commercialization of renewable content resin is the competition with agricultural land and feed-stocks used for food production and legislation against this in some countries.

Low styrene emission and low styrene content resins:

There is often confusion between low styrene content (LS) and low styrene emission resins (LSE). Low styrene emission resins employ the use of styrene suppressants that trap most of the styrene vapours beneath the surface of an open moulded composite laminate.

* The composite usually cures to a waxy surface and the amount of styrene vapours released into the atmosphere is greatly reduced.

* To establish and evaluate exactly just how much styrene gets emitted and to compare styrene emissions is easy to quantify by anyone with an accurate 2 decimal balance.

* All that is required is that one pours an amount of catalysed resin into a shallow dish with a large surface area - like a bucket lid. Weigh the container on the scale as soon as the catalysed resin is poured and then again once the resin has achieved its full barcol.

* The difference is the amount of styrene emitted. We would encourage concerned consumers to evaluate L.S.E resins disguised behind marketing hype of “green” by doing their own tests.

* Low styrene content resins are those resins that contain less than 35% of styrene but still maintain the viscosity of standard resins. This may be achieved by substituting the styrene for other less volatile monomers like acrylates and or modifying the resin to require less monomer.

* Low styrene content resins are generally expensive since styrene monomer is the most cost effective monomer available for unsaturated polyester resins and reducing the styrene content in favour of the more expensive low volatile monomers adversely influences the overall resin cost.

* It would make good sense to take note of the information in this article when moving toward greener technologies. NCS Resins prides itself in assistance with the best solutions for their customer’s requirements.