Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get training for your chemical manufacturing company staff from the industry's biggest players

The giants in the chemical industry have amassed years of experience in chemical processing and manufacturing, and are great resources for keeping up-to-date with training. Take advantage of their industry know-how by utilizing their training services and events.

I recommend: Visit the Application Training and Education section of Dow Corning's website. Dow will provide you with custom training tailored to your business's needs. Cowell Chemical offers several services including teaching your staff how to improve your manufacturing processes.

Attend chemical industry training events for toll manufacturing companies

Training events are an excellent way to learn about the latest trends. Through workshops, training sessions and seminars you and your team can learn a lot about a wide range of subjects affecting chemical manufacturing. Event attendance is also a great way to bring your team closer together and boost morale.

I recommend: Sign up to attend the SOCMA CONNECT Washington Fly-In training event at the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Association website, or read the synopses of past events. Visit the American Chemistry Council website to see the group's upcoming training conferences and workshops. You can also review the topics covered by past events.

Find custom chemical manufacturers training materials online

Supplement your employee training and education with online training materials. Online training is not only a cost-effective and convenient option, but provides you and your staff with resources that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I recommend: ChemicalAlliance.org offers four PowerPoint training courses on its website, free of charge. The courses cover topics ranging from security issues to pollution control in a chemical manufacturing and processing setting. Order the "Essentials of Chemical Engineering for Operators" training course from ASME International. The course is nine-chapters long and covers such toll chemical manufacturing topics as chemical reactions, thermodynamics and process control.

1. Type of chemical you want
2. Capabilities of the chemical manufacturing company
3. Required quantity of the chemical
4. Required confidentiality about the chemical formulae and processes

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Contact a toll manufacturing company specialized in pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing

For a pharmaceutical company, toll manufacturers can synthesize and produce the chemicals as per customers' requirements. Confidentiality about the chemical formulae and process is very important for pharmaceutical companies.

I recommend: ChemDiv is a contract research organization serving pharmaceutical companies. INDOFINE Chemical Company is a reputable chemical manufacturing company that provides toll manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry. Aurora Fine Chemicals, another major chemical company, offers custom synthesis services to the pharmaceutical industry using exclusive chemical manufacturing software.

Search for a reputable toll manufacturer specialized in lubricant manufacturing

Apart from pharmaceutical companies, toll manufacturers also serve lubricant companies. The requirements for lubricant companies are more quantity driven and the quality standards are less stringent compared to the pharmaceutical industry.

I recommend: Lubrizol is a reputable specialty chemical manufacturing company that also offers toll manufacturing services. You can check out services offered by Magnablend, a company specialized in custom chemical manufacturing, blending and packaging. Findett, a subsidiary of SantoLubes, is another custom toll manufacturer.

Search for toll manufacturing companies that serve other industries

You can opt for general chemical toll manufacturers that can supply various toll manufacturing services to produce other chemicals such as metalworking fluids, aromatic chemicals and plastic chemicals.

I recommend: MPG Industries, a reputable toll manufacturer, supplies various industrial chemicals such as coolants, cutting oils and additives to the metalworking industry. Teknor Apex Company is a reputable chemical toll manufacturer that specializes in rubber mixing, plastics compounding and blending of coolants and additives. MFG Chemical, a reputable manufacturer of specialty surfactants, offers toll processing services for various processes including blending, chlorination, polyesterification and phosphation.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Sign a confidentiality agreement with the chemical toll manufacturers to maintain the confidentiality about your chemical formulae and processes.
• •  You can refer to the previous customers' feedbacks or testimonials to gauge the credibility of the toll manufacturer.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Shielding

Shielding is a process that allows evaporating up to 8 microns of aluminum. The typical thickness of evaporated aluminum for light reflectors and chrome decorative coatings is approximately 1000 angstroms. Shielding is done by vacuum metallizing.

I recommend: You can read through an explanation about shielding at Omega Shielding Products, a certified manufacturer of EMI shielding and RFI shielding products.

Electroplating

Electroplating is a process in which a layer of a metal is deposited on metallic or non metallic electrodes by electrolysis in an electric cell. The process of electroplating is also used in vacuum metallizing.

I recommend: You can read through an explanation of the electroplating process at Finishing.com, an informative website for the finishing industry.

PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition)

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) covers a group of surface coating technologies that are extremely useful for various applications, such as vacuum metallizing, decorative coating, tool coating and other equipment coating functions.

I recommend: AZoM, an online knowledge resource, provides primary materials information for the engineering professional.

Vacuum thermal evaporation

In a vacuum thermal evaporation deposition process, heating is done until evaporation of the material is deposited on the desired surface.

I recommend: Oxford Vacuum Science, a supplier of vacuum products, offers detailed information about thermal evaporation processes.

CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition)

CVD is characterized by uniform vacuum metalized coatings. It provides hardness, wear and corrosion resistance to various products, such as nozzles, rolls and forming tools.

I recommend: You can learn more about chemical vapor deposition at Hsin-Tien Chiu, an informative website. For more information on CVD process, you can read through Corrosion Doctors’ website.

Vacuum deposition

Vacuum deposition is useful for depositing coating on a material at sub-atmospheric pressure on a solid surface.

I recommend: You can read through the dictionary of descriptive terminology by CoOL (Conservation OnLine), a project of the Preservation Department of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources. In addition, you can read through the glossary of terms and acronyms for vacuum coating technology at Society of Vacuum Coaters (PDF).