Compounders add capacity. (Your Business in Brief).

Four compounding firms recently expanded their production capacity. First, Ampacet Corp. of Tarrytown, N.Y., has completed a $10-million expansion of its Heath, Ohio, plant for making custom color concentrates. Much of the addition is devoted to colorants for bottles, and the plant is installing a three-layer coextrusion blow molding machine. The expansion, which includes additional twin-screw extruders, doubles the size of the Heath facility.

Also, LNP Engineering Plastics, Exton, Pa., has added a $2-million "white room" compounding facility at its Columbus, Ind., plant. The new facility is designed to produce "critically clean" compounds for healthcare applications. The room has positive air pressure to exclude airborne contaminants. LNP borrowed applicable "best practices" for the facility from parent GE Plastics' Mt. Vernon, Ind., plant, which produces optical-quality products.

Meanwhile, Westchester Plastics in Nesquehoning, Pa., has boosted capacity by adding two new twin-screw extruders. Both are ZSK Megacompounders from Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer. A 92-mm model was installed in Nesquehoning and a 70-mm unit at a plant in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

In addition, A. Schulman Inc., Akron, Ohio, has started up color-concentrate production in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The plant--Schulman's first in Mexico-- has two lines capable of making 5 million lb/yr of concentrates for film, packaging, consumer, and automotive uses. The facility was recently expanded by 40,000 sq ft.