Nov 20 2013
Abakan Inc. ("Abakan"), an emerging leader in the advanced coatings and metal formulations markets, today announced completion of Phase I of its PComP nanocomposite coatings growth and expansion strategy, which involved installing additional powder microencapsulation equipment to double throughput.
Phase II, expected to be completed by the end of 2013, will add more nanoparticle production equipment and sintering furnaces to expand production of this highly engineered product to 18 tons per year. Phases III and IV are scheduled to expand production to 60, and then 180 tons per year over the next twelve months. Further growth and expansion plans over the next 3 years call for the acquisition of up to 10 US based thermal spray production businesses, that will have a total of 30 to 40 spray booths, that service the growing oil and gas sector, each coating cell can generate up to $5 million in revenues.
"PComP nanocomposite coating materials have proven their ability to extend component lifetimes while improving efficiencies and economics of the coating process. These advantages are now attracting the attention of large oilfield equipment manufacturers for replacing chrome and improving life of drilling and flow control components. Current capacity is sold out for the foreseeable future, making it extremely important that we scale-up production to fulfill customer requirements," said Abakan CEO, Robert Miller. "Our long term strategy is to transform the productivity of the metal coatings industry through the introduction of our scalable, productivity and performance-leading PComP nanocomposite materials. Execution of this strategy calls for both building our own and acquiring metal finishing shops, improving their productivity and profitability through the introduction of better products through advanced technology.
The initial scaling up of powder production capacity of PComP thermal coating powders is to be financed by the proceeds of a recently closed secured term loan and exchange agreement and a demand note in the net amount of $1.22 million in new debt.
About Abakan Inc.
Abakan develops, manufactures, and markets advanced nanocomposite materials, innovative fabricated metal products and highly engineered metal composites for applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical, mining, aerospace and defense, energy, infrastructure and processing industries. Abakan's technology portfolio currently includes high-speed, large-area metal cladding technology; long-life nanocomposite anti-corrosion and-wear coating materials; and high-strength, lightweight metal composites. Abakan's products have demonstrated longer life, higher productivity and extremely high strength-to-weight ratios compared to competing technologies. The Abakan group of companies has been honored by The Wall Street Journal as the #1 Manufacturing Innovation across the globe, by Pipeline Industries Guild as the Top Subsea Pipeline Technology, by Forbes as the #1 Most Promising Material Science Company in the United States, by American Metals Market with the Steel Excellence Award, by Inc. 500 as one of the Fastest Growing Manufacturing Company in the U.S., and has received numerous other trade, industry and technology awards including five R&D 100 Awards and a Technology Innovation Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Over $50 million has been invested in product development and testing by federal agencies, national labs and our companies in order to deliver products that offer improved performance over the current state of art. Abakan has successfully introduced its metal coatings for metal asset protection and life extension in the oil and gas and mining industries, and is currently focusing on the scale-up and commercialization of its highly disruptive metal cladding products for the oil and gas, oil sands, mining and chemical industries. Abakan currently operates from multiple locations in United States and Canada, and intends to expand global operations in South America, Canada, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific.