Greatly improved sales at ENTEK Extruders have led to a substantial increase in hiring at the company. According to company officials, the company’s workforce has been increased by 40% since March 2010, and sales at the end of 2010 were dramatically higher than 2009 in all areas, including twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts. In addition, the company is pleased to announce it has been named to the “100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon” list by Oregon Business magazine for the second year in a row. This list, published annually by Oregon Business, recognizes large, medium and small companies for excellence in retention and rewards, work environment, decision-making and trust, performance management, career development and learning. ENTEK made the list in the medium-sized companies category, which recognized companies with 35-99 employees.

Hiring to Meet Demand Employees have been added in virtually all departments at ENTEK according to John Effmann, Director of Sales and Marketing. “Engineers, machinists, assemblers, and purchasing agents, to name a few,” have recently joined the company, he said. “Business volume increased exponentially for us in 2010 and we had to ramp up our workforce to keep up with the demand.” ENTEK had one of its best unit sales years ever in 2010, with turnkey manufacturing plant services, complete extrusion systems, twin-screw extruders and replacement wear parts combining to provide record growth numbers for the company. “We all know that 2009 was a difficult year, and we certainly never want to go through that again as a company,” said Effmann. “But we experienced a tremendous bounce-back in sales in 2010, and so far it is continuing strong in 2011 as well.” Effmann noted several interesting statistics regarding 2010 sales at ENTEK: -40% of the company’s orders were from new customers; -the company sold 6x more twin-screw extruders in 2010 than in 2009; -general compounding applications for a wide variety of materials and formulations led the way for new machinery applications, including biopolymers; and -international activity was up for the company, including increased business in the UK and Ireland, and the ASEAN countries Replacement Wear Parts Business is Booming Sales at ENTEK Plus, ENTEK’s wear parts/services business, have been very strong, a tribute Effmann attributes largely to the company’s lean manufacturing efforts that were implemented starting in 2007. “Our lean efforts continue to pay off, and we especially see that in our wear parts business,” he said. Three years ago, ENTEK’s machine shop added numerous machine tools in an effort to ramp up capacity. Since then, the company has increased its parts manufacturing capacity by a factor of 5.

ENTEK Plus manufactures aftermarket replacement wear parts for both ENTEK and non-ENTEK brand twin-screw extruders. “While our lean program is implemented across all departments company-wide, our machine shop has been dramatically affected and this has been key to increasing our parts output,” said Effmann. Since the formation of ENTEK Plus in December 2008, the business unit has rolled out numerous new parts and services to help customers improve their operations and increase productivity. Some of these include: -conical barrels for PVC extrusion that feature higher performance and longer life than other barrels; -screw elements for processing highly abrasive and corrosive materials; -new for 2011: powder metal screw element recycling program, gearbox repair and rebuild program, and parts stocking programs for customers have all been added.