Axion boosts production in Texas and Ohio

Axion International Holdings Inc., Zanesville, Ohio, which produces Ecotrax composite rail ties/sleepers and Struxure composite building products from recycled plastics, has increased its production output, adding manufacturing and fabrication capabilities and capacity at its facilities in Waco, Texas, and Zanesville, Ohio.

Axion says its Waco facility has been steadily increasing production during the past six months to meet the growing demand for its engineered products. The company says it has been consistently improving the monthly recycled-plastic throughput at the Texas plant from 1.5 million to more than 2 million pounds (1,000 tons), a company record.

The company says to continue to meet its current demand, production output needs to remain above the 1,000-tons-per-month level.

“Recent production gains are attributed primarily to improvements in raw material sourcing and the addition, training and stabilization of a fourth shift,” says Ron Hensen, manager of Axion’s Waco facility.

The Waco facility is now operating 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Axion says its rate of regrind from unusable output, another factor and performance indicator that typically escalates during production increases, has been reduced by 18 percent over the same period.

In Waco, construction mat fabrication continues at an increased rate, matching the doubling in other areas of the business. Related fabrication capabilities have been brought online for the company’s Ecotrax rail division to meet an increase in demand for pre-plated rail ties.

Axion also is adding cutting and plating of tunnel ties at the Waco plant, which is a new operation that has been designed to meet growing demand for domestic transits and railroads.

Axion’s Zanesville operation started processing high-density polyethylene plastic (HDPE) in baled bottles to support the extrusion and mat fabrication processes late last year. Meanwhile, plastic reprocessing capacity at the Ohio plant has tripled. Most of the reprocessed plastic is being used as raw material for production of Axion’s construction mats, which are manufactured using two types of extrusion lines: continuous extrusion for small- and medium-sized profiles and molded extrusion for larger profiles.

In early February Axion began fabricating laminated and heavy mats at its Zanesville facility, two types of construction mats in its Struxure line. Laminated mat fabrication is expanding to keep pace with growing order quantities. The company also is increasing construction mat inventory levels in Waco and Zanesville to serve large customers. Given the demand across its Ecotrax composite rail tie and Struxure construction mat lines, Axion has begun preparation for another doubling of production capacity before the end of 2015.

“Adding capacity at both facilities has been and continues to be a key goal, and we have more than doubled our yield in less than one year as we’ve significantly reduced our rate of unusable output,” says R. Russell Hall, Axion’s vice president of operation systems and quality. “We are also focusing on fabrication and services that further distinguish Axion, which is a customer-driven emphasis that facilitates growth efficiently.”