Tietek signs supply agreement for crossties.

Ramon Creixell, managing director of Avangard Industries Ltd., and Henry Sullivan, president of TieTek LLC, have announced their commitment to growing their companies' strategic alliance, which was initiated in 2001.

Avangard will procure and pre-process all the thermoplastic raw materials, primarily recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), that TieTek uses.

TieTek, a subsidiary of North American Technologies Group Inc. of Houston, produces composite railroad crossties that use recycled raw materials. The ties can be used in freight and transit applications where they offer "superior durability and improved life cycle economics compared to wood ties," according to TieTek. The company reports that its composite ties are now in commercial service in more than 20 states and six foreign countries.

Avangard has already supplied TieTek with about 20 million pounds of recycled materials and will expand its capacity to supply more than 50 million pounds a year as TieTek quadruples its production capacity. Production from the first of Avangard's two new manufacturing lines at the company's new plant in Marshall, Texas, is scheduled to begin in April.

Houston-based Avangard has 20 years of operational experience in the plastics industry, with facilities in the U.S., Mexico and Central America and global sourcing capabilities for all types of plastics. Avangard will install and operate a new HDPE processing line at its Marshall plant that will be dedicated to generating incremental HDPE volumes needed to support TieTek's production.