If you enjoy flipping through the glossy pages of magazines such as Vogue and National Geographic, you may be a fan of Omnova Solutions’ work without even knowing it.
Omnova manufactures a coating for paper, called GenCryl Pt, that makes it stronger for printing and holds the color for intensive images of high-fashion models or safari expeditions.
Made of about 50 percent water, 50 percent polymer, the latex based product is sold to paper manufacturers that apply it to paper for a smooth feel.
While the paper industry has been struggling with profitability as pulp prices rise and magazines and newspapers find their place in a changing industry, Omnova Solutions, which manufactures a wide variety of chemicals, polymers and functional surfaces, saw its profits increase by $28.4 million in 2009, when it expanded into China and Thailand. GenCryl Pt contributed to that success; two new paper mills started using it in the first quarter of the year.
“The downturn in the paper market has been a challenge for our customers but it has afforded us opportunities that haven’t been there in the past,” says Kevin McMullen, Omnova’s CEO. “It was fortuitous that we started making this when we did.”
GenCryl Pt stands out in the marketplace because its formula requires less chemical to coat the same amount of paper, says James Hohman, (pictured above) president of Omnova Solutions’ performance chemicals division.
The product emerged on the printing scene about five years ago and is in its fourth generation of production, Hohman says. The company is still working on advancing the technology and applying it to a number of other applications including coated paper board.
“The Pt technology has been a tremendous contributor to our success,” McMullen says.
Omnova has expanded in the paper-coating industry and has translated the technology to new sectors. Of the nearly 300 employees working for Omnova in the Akron area, about half work in some way on GenCryl Pt, from sales and marketing to engineering to technical services.
And its willingness to specialize services to customers’ needs has allowed Omnova to remain competitive in the paper coating market next to larger competitors such as Dow, says Robin McCann, Omnova’s business director for performance chemicals.
“We look toward what is happening with our customers,” McCann says. “We look at magazine publishing and where it is going and we have an exceptional technical sales force that will work collaboratively with customers to address their needs.”
The milky white GenCryl Pt is created in giant, several-story vessels. When it leaves Omnova, it’s transported to paper manufacturers that bond the substance using large, million-dollar machines.
Omnova has its own bonding machine at its factory so clients can see the substance as it changes and evolves, McMullen says.
“The last thing they want to do is shut down their equipment to make sure something works,” he says. “This way, we can demonstrate and make tweaks. When we ultimately go into production, we’ve done all the tweaking so we aren’t wasting time on their equipment.”