Xaloy new research center to bring jobs to Ohio

The facility will create 29 R&D and manufacturing jobs after it opens early next year; the company's goal is to become a pioneer of sustainable solutions.

Austintown, Ohio-based Xaloy Holdings LLC will invest $7.47 million in a research and development facility to expand production capacity and focus more on sustainability issues for injection molders and extruders.

State, regional and local agencies in Ohio also offered $2.2 million in grants to secure the project, which will create 29 jobs when it opens in the first quarter of 2024.

Founded in 1929, Xaloy manufactures machinery components and equipment and offers one of the largest portfolios of screw and barrel designs. The Xaloy brand pioneered the use of bimetallic materials to minimize wear, boost output and improve quality.

Now company officials are focused on playing new roles in research, product and process development to drive growth for the plastics industry, according to Xaloy Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering Cheryl Sayer.

The 11,000-square-foot Xaloy Innovation Center will be established at the west end of the building at the company's Austintown headquarters. Eight employees will staff the innovation center and 21 additional manufacturing positions will be filled to make products designed and developed by the R&D team.

"Our goal is to become the pioneers of sustainable solutions," Sayer said in an email. "The Xaloy Innovation Center will allow us to develop new products and processes for plastification of bio resins, compostable resins, post-consumer regrind, and newly engineered resins that reduce scrap and increase output thereby reducing energy utilization and carbon footprint."

Sayer described Xaloy as a key enabler of technological and engineering advances in the polymer processing industry for 94 years and she said that legacy continues.

"Our success will enable our customers to meet their own sustainability targets," Sayer said, noting the industry is undergoing change driven by environmental responsibility, social awareness and government legislation.

"The Xaloy Innovation Center will allow us to lead the way to a more sustainable future." Sayer said.

The facility will have equipment for rheology, measuring, analysis and additive manufacturing as well as injection molding and extrusion machines, design and simulation software and laser technology.

The staff will study the rheology and unique characteristics of new feed streams to ensure a homogeneous melt for the most difficult-to-process resins, Sayer said.

Two other areas of focus will be development of new corrosion and wear resistant inlays to reduce wear and decrease torque, which decreases energy use, and advanced manufacturing capabilities to reduce material consumption and carbon footprint.

The center's staff also will collaborate with experts and research universities on plastics industry challenges.

"We believe the Innovation Center will set a new standard in the industry while strengthening Ohio's position as a pioneer for innovative solutions and advanced manufacturing," Sayer said.

Ohio officials said Xaloy's new R&D center demonstrates the confidence companies have in the state's workforce to keep their business on the cutting edge.

"This facility will explore ways to develop and recycle post-consumer resin that can change the future of the polymer industry with talent from the Mahoning Valley." Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in a release.

Owned by Altair Investments Inc. since December 2020, Xaloy operates a 194,000-square-foot screw and barrel factory in Austintown that has large induction furnaces to make bimetallic barrels.

Xaloy's previous owner, Westlake, Ohio-based Nordson Corp., opened the site in 2016 with plans to centralize Xaloy operations that had been in Youngstown, Ohio, and New Castle, Pa., along with Pulaski, Va.

The Pulaski site remains open.

Xaloy also has a manufacturing plant in Chonburi, Thailand, as well as numerous sales offices.

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