Purging Compounds for Automotive

The automotive industry is one of the most competitive and cost-conscious markets for plastics manufacturers. You need to keep costs down, but cutting corners leads to costly scrap.

We understand what you’re dealing with. Asaclean® has been helping automotive suppliers improve scrap and downtime for over 25 years.

Let’s examine some of the challenges in automotive and show you ways Asaclean® can help.

You are in one of the most competitive markets and are fighting for an edge to secure contracts with OEM’s.

You need to produce large parts with incredibly high standards. Whether you’re running railcars of polypropylene or ABS for door panels center consoles, polycarbonate for lighting, or anything in-between, you’re trying to keep your scrap-rates incredibly low while producing a staggering volume of parts. Hot runner color changes aren’t easy and valve gates have their share of challenges. Supply chain issues and JIT-delivery requirements ramp up the pressure even more.

OEM’s have annual cost reduction programs which in turn means you have to find production and process efficiency improvements every year. This pits you against your competitors to drive down costs. If you secure a contract, your OEM constantly asks for you to get the job done cheaper and has very strict product qualifications.

car part

How can you maximize efficiencies while dramatically cutting costs?

We know you must be incredibly price-conscious, but if you cut corners to keep costs down, you might end up with defects and customer complaints that can jeopardize your contracts moving forward.

This puts you in a very difficult spot. Fortunately, we understand what you’re dealing with.

Asaclean® Purging Compounds have been the top choice in the automotive industry for more than twenty-five years. Here’s why.

44%

On average, Asaclean®’s Automotive customers save 44% on reduced scrap & downtime.

Why Asaclean® Purging Compounds are the Best Choice for Automotive Suppliers

Keep OEMs happy with lead times and help your company at the same time

inside view of car engine

1. Superior Performance

Asaclean® offers an unrivaled product lineup designed with automotive challenges in mind.

For Automotive, Asaclean® Purging Compounds:

Excel in hot runner color changes
Great performance in valve gate cleaning
Easily assist in difficult material changes
Dramatically reduce scrap and defects
Remove contamination
Are incredibly easy-to-use

car bumpers

Asaclean® offers Purging Compounds engineered for your specific resins, processing temperatures, and applications. We have solutions to all your processing needs.

There is an added bonus with Asaclean®. When you reduce scrap-rates and achieve faster changeovers, your customers will receive their orders in less time.

This is a win-win.

We had a great experience with Asaclean®! We’ve always struggled with cleaning the valve gates, but your purge cleaned them out quickly. We were pleasantly surprised to see the purge easily displaced by our production resin (PP) within a few shots.”

Ramon , Molding Supervisor, Tier-One Automotive Supplier, Mexico

2. Competitive Pricing & Dramatic Cost Savings

Automotive prospects usually have three things in mind when they call us:

car headlight

Faster color changeovers, reducing scrap rates, and pricing.

If you’re reading this, pricing is probably one of your top concerns as well.

Fortunately for you, Asaclean® offers affordable, high-performance options specific to the needs of automotive suppliers. If pricing is your top concern, we have solutions for you.

But maybe you think your plant can’t afford Asaclean®. We frequently hear from Process Engineers & Buyers who don’t think they can afford purging compounds. Some think regrind and virgin resin are better options. There’s a good chance you can’t afford not to use Asaclean®. Let’s clear up a common misconception about purging.

Cost-per-Purge vs. Cost-per-Pound

If you think you’re saving your company money by using cheap alternatives to Asaclean®, think again. Virgin resin and regrind are not designed to clean your machine or your hot runner. If pricing seems too good to be true, it probably is. Your performance will suffer. Using these will lead to slower changeovers and increased scrap cutting into your already tight margins and will seriously jeopardize delivery times.

Asaclean® may cost more than your production resin, but if you must use 3-5x the amount of product for changeovers and increase scrap and defects, you aren’t saving anything.

The cost-per-purge greatly exceeds your cost-per-lb or purging material.

We have had a significant reduction in purging/set-up time as well as contamination and scrap. Asaclean® is currently saving us $75,000 per year in scrap and purging time. Savings is expected to increase to $150,000 per year once Asaclean® is implemented plant-wide."

Roger , Plant Manager, Tier-One Automotive Supplier, Wisconsin

3. Unrivaled Technical & Product Support

We are not just an MRO supplier. We consider ourselves an extension of your team. Our sole focus is helping your team make better parts for less money. We take pride in helping automotive suppliers save.

From a buying standpoint, one thing that really sticks out about AKAC is the fact that they truly are solutions providers. They help us solve the problem. They have provided technical support, training, and product support followed.”

Ray R. , Supply Chain Manager, Washington

Asaclean®’s automotive grades come with a dedicated Purging Expert with processing experience. When you start working with Asaclean®, your Expert will:

Work with you to identify inefficiencies
Offer a free sample of Asaclean® that makes sense for your needs
Conduct a Cost Savings Analysis to estimate your savings with Asaclean®
Create a custom Asaclean® Purge Program
Visit your plant to meet your team & train your shifts to maximize savings
Be available both in-person or virtually for any questions or troubleshooting

These value-adds are all complimentary and are considered part of Asaclean®’s services.

Implementing an Asaclean® Purge Program will have an immediate impact on your cost savings.

Consider this example provided to us by a Tier-1 customer making door panels.

They relied on regrind for changeovers and pulled screws once their defect rates started to climb. They reached out to us and we immediately visited their plant and helped them set up a preventative maintenance program to reduce their scrap-rate. The results were immediate. They reduced their defect rates to 0.05% and 0.59% on their two most troublesome presses.

We helped this large molder save several hundreds of thousands of dollars with the help of our Purging Expert. They couldn’t afford not to use Asaclean®.

We are available for complimentary on-site visits on short notice, and are here for you around the clock. If you’re dealing with something urgent, we also offer free virtual support via Skype, Teams, or the service of your choice.

If you have new hires, we want to make sure they receive the same level of training that the rest of your team benefits from during in-person visits. Let us know and we will train them immediately so you continue to see the same high level of Asaclean® performance.

4. Robust Supply Chain & JIT-Delivery

Automotive manufacturers are acutely aware of the headaches associated with supply chain issues. Resin and other supply shortages can completely sabotage your ability to succeed.

workers in a warehouse

If you choose Asaclean®, you won’t have to worry about supply chain issues.

All our grades are in stock at multiple, strategically placed warehouses throughout North America. We offer JIT and same day shipment. We are flexible and sensitive to your needs.

As part of Asahi Kasei, we have a robust network of production facilities and warehouses and incredibly consistent product quality. We work closely with APNA, Sage Automotive, and other sister companies in the automotive space to continuously improve how we can serve your market. If you choose Asaclean®, you are choosing a reliable automotive partner invested in your success.