NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREENFIELD, Massachusetts - Argotec, Inc., of Greenfield , Massachusetts , recently marked the 15th anniversary of the company's founding. Referred to by some as the best kept secret in the specialty films industry, Argotec has quietly built an enviable reputation as one of North and South America's top three suppliers of high performance polyurethane sheet and film.

The brainchild of company founders and co-chairmen Dick Barnes and Steve Wolkenbreit, Argotec is a privately-owned company that provides custom-engineered industrial film domestically and internationally for a wide variety of critical applications using flat-die, blown-film, cast-on-carrier, and foam extrusion technologies. Between them, they have spent 60 years pioneering the development of polyurethane resins, film and sheet.

Since founding the company in 1988, Dick and Steve have carefully assembled a management team that brings their customers a urethane experience base of over 100 years. The company is not only capable of meeting the specific product needs of highly demanding low- or high-volume applications, but also works closely with customer management to help them meet their overall business objectives. "From the beginning," says Wolkenbreit, "the objective has been to provide superior value and solid business solutions to our customers' most difficult engineering challenges. As a result, we have a well-earned reputation for engineering, problem solving and customer service that is unequaled in today's marketplace."

While Argotec can extrude a wide variety of specialty TPE's, TPO's, copolyesters and copolyamides, Barnes pointed out that the "specialty of the house" is thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a high-performance material possessing physical properties superior to plasticized vinyl films and thermoset rubber. "Polyurethane contains no plasticizers to leach out and cause embrittlement over time. At the same time TPU possesses a combination of properties you won't find in other thermoplastic materials or synthetic rubbers," he stated. "When you combine the great physical characteristics of polyurethane with our ability to custom engineer the end product in so many different ways, it's easy to see why our TPU film is the material of choice in some of the toughest industrial film applications."

Argotec's manufacturing operations are housed in two separate factories, the entire second plant being a hard wall clean room facility dedicated to producing exceptionally clear, aliphatic-grade TPU film for use as an optical interlayer in bonding glass, polycarbonates and other substrates together into high strength architectural, security and ballistic glass composites.

The original plant contains flat-die and blown-film extrusion lines that provide thin, 0.5 mil film for waterproof, breathable protection and maximum comfort in performance apparel applications. In addition, Argotec TPU film is used in such medical applications as elastic tapes, wound dressings, hospital mattresses and covers, transdermal patches and wheel chair cushions. The company also manufactures weatherable film for automotive paint protection, as well as backing for headliners and foamed-in-place seating, head rests and arm rests. Other common applications include bladders, inserts, sock liners and mid-sole materials for athletic applications, keyboard covers, industrial bellows, headset ear cushions, as well as diaper and apparel elastics.

Argotec has mastered casting films as thin as 0.2 mils onto a variety of carrier materials in widths up to 65 inches. Blown film thicknesses range from 0.8 to 20 mils in widths up to 85 inches, while standard, flat-die-extruded film is produced in thicknesses of 5 to 125 mils and widths up to 78 inches. A variety of finishes, textures, colors and custom additive packages are available to meet the specific needs of customer applications.

While Argotec's steady growth has come almost exclusively by "word-of-mouth," it is apparent that the specialty film industry's best kept secret will not continue to "fly under the radar" for much longer.

Click on the following link to see this story as it appeared in PFFC (Paper, Film, Foil Converter): http://pffc-online.com/mag/cclips_0305_1/

	Argotec Expands Flat-Die Capability With Hard/Rigid Films
	Argotec's Thin Aliphatic TPU Films Fill Industry Need
	New Thin Aliphatic Film Application Bulletin
	Argotec's New Blown Film Lab Extrusion Line Will Help Customers Save on Development Costs

	Jesse Hau Joins Argotec as Plastics Engineer
	Argotec Promotes Mike Mosher to Vice President of Sales
	Startup of Second Aliphatic Extrusion Line in Hard-Wall Clean-Room Facility
	Argotec Promotes Susan Cole to Inside Sales Manager
	Argotec Appoints Bruce Wilby President
	Argotec Offers First Extruded Polyurethane Foam Sheet
	Argotec Marks 15 Years as Specialty Films Industry's Best Kept Secret