Press Releases
Abakan takes a giant step towards market entry
April 08, 2011
MIAMI, FLORIDA -- Abakan Inc.’s subsidiary MesoCoat Inc. has started construction on a new 11,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in Euclid, Ohio. The $6-million plant will provide new space for manufacturing, testing and commercializing a series of groundbreaking new products. Its construction is a major leap forward for Abakan as it develops its portfolio of anti-corrosion and wear protection coatings.
"Bringing our products to market is our top priority," said Abakan CEO Robert Miller. "This plant demonstrates our commitment to providing customers with revolutionary solutions to some of their toughest operational problems."
The plant will include a ‘CermaClad’ production line that will manufacture up to 10,000 square meters per year of corrosion and wear-resistant clad tubes, pipes and plates. These products will substantially increase the durability and longevity of components in a variety of critical applications, including deep-sea oil production and nuclear power generation. The plant will employ state-of-art blasting, application and testing equipment to make these advanced coated goods, which provide substantial cost and time advantages over current alternatives. The plant will also be equipped with a thermal spray system to commercialize Mesocoat’s PComP™ family of products and qualify them for use in the aerospace, oil and gas, mining, and chemical processing industries.
"Through the opening of this plant, we are leveraging our deep industry knowledge and product innovation to build new long-term customer relationships," said MesoCoat CEO Andrew Sherman. "This facility is the first in a series of six manufacturing plants scheduled over the next four to five years in the U.S, Canada, South America and Asia."
Workers broke ground on the Euclid plant April 7, 2011. MesoCoat expects to complete construction by August, 2011. Installation and setup of production equipment will take a further two months, with full-scale production commencing by late 2011. Provisions have been made for an early 2012 expansion to double the size of the plant, substantially adding to the 30,000 sq. ft. of research and development space already operated by MesoCoat.
CermaClad™ is a high-speed cladding process that shields large surface areas against highly abrasive and corrosive environments, where corrosion and wear limit the life of metal. It clads 15-100 times faster, is more cost-effective and offers better metallurgical properties than competitive weld or laser cladding processes. CermaClad™ utilizes a high-intensity light source, which is effectively an artificial sun, to rapidly fuse protective alloys, metals and ceramic coatings onto steel pipes, plates and bars. The speed of this process ensures that metal cladding can match the line speed of steel mills, reducing lead times for internally clad pipes and tubes, plates and bars by 75 to 80%. That is a substantial improvement over current industry standards. PComP™ life-extending nanocomposite ceramic-metallic (cermet) coatings are a direct replacement for several expensive and toxic platings and sprays, including hard chrome and carbide materials.
About Abakan Inc.
Abakan Inc. is a publicly traded company that invests in companies that have developed transformational technologies on the cusp of commercial applications. Miami based, Abakan is the largest shareholder in Powdermet and MesoCoat, each of which is an Ohio based nanotechnology material science company involved in technology development that has received numerous awards and grants. Powdermet is focused on metal formulations as well as advanced energy management solutions while MesoCoat is focused on the development of advanced coating solutions. Powdermet has won over 80 government-sponsored Phase 1, 2 and 3 grant programs since 1996 and MesoCoat is the recipient of three prestigious R&D 100 awards, a Technology Innovation Program Award (TIP) for 100 year life coatings by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the NorTech Innovation Award for high performance environmentally friendly coating materials.
Forward-Looking Statements
A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including technological obsolescence, market acceptance of future products, competitive market conditions, and the sufficiency of capital resources. The actual results Abakan may achieve could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Abakan encourages the public to read the information provided here in conjunction with its most recent filings on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Abakan’s public filings may be viewed at www.sec.gov.
Abakan Inc.
www.abakaninc.com
Robert Miller, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (786) 206-5368
Email: [email protected]