Canadian Plastics

U.S. extrusion industry veterans form new single-screw extruder company

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US Extruders Inc., headquartered in Westerly, R.I., is a new start-up founded by industry veterans Bill Kramer and Dan Schilke. Kramer was a co-founder of extruder maker American Kuhne in 1997.

There’s a new extruder manufacturer in town, formed by several former employees of extrusion equipment maker American Kuhne Inc.

US Extruders Inc., headquartered in Westerly, R.I., is a new start-up founded by industry veterans Bill Kramer and Dan Schilke. Kramer, one of the leading extruder and barrier screw designers in the industry, formed American Kuhne in 1997 with the late Ed Steward in partnership with Kuhne GmbH and its president, Peter Kuhne. Schilke, meanwhile, is American Kuhne’s former managing director.

Bill Kramer, left, and Dan Schilke. Photo Credit: US Extruders Inc.

In addition to Kramer and Schilke, the employee-owned US Extruders boasts a number of other extrusion professionals, including screw designer and process engineer Kevin Slusarz; extrusion engineer Jeff Lawton; sales professional Doug Johnson; Mike Perri, purchasing and inventory specialist; and Eric Adair, communications professional.

According to Kramer – who serves as the company’s president – US Extruders is committed to the goal of developing a new generation of highly engineered, custom single-screw extrusion systems. “Our team realized that with our talent, building a new extrusion company was viable and would fill a demand in the marketplace,” Kramer said. “We won’t just be selling machines – we’ll be making lasting relationships with our customers and solving their extrusion needs with integrity, quality, and ’made-in-America’ machinery.”

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The company has crafted what Kramer describes as a “plain language guarantee” that delivers to the customer a promise to “build the machine you want, on time, with the performance you expect and backed by our full support.” The US Extruder total guarantee includes a five-year warranty on the machine supported by comprehensive service, free startup and training, and life-time process support, Kramer said.

US Extruders is hitting the ground running with an extensive customer support structure, extruder repair and restoration services, and a manufacturing and laboratory facility. “The laboratory facility will be equipped for screw design demonstrations, running lab trials, and complete extruder wet tests,” Kramer said. “The company will employ a straightforward order process from the initial specifications/needs analysis meeting through the design engineering and manufacturing to the final on-time delivery and process support.”

2.5 inch extruder model.

All screws are designed in-house by Kevin Slusarz to work best with the machine and specific process which include blow molding, blown and cast film, compounding, extrusion coating, fibre, medical, pipe and profile, reclaim, sheet, tubing, and wire and cable. The company’s extruders will range from 1 to 8 inch barrel diameters.

US Extruders has already secured booth space at the NPE show in May 2018, where it will exhibit on the first floor of the south hall at booth S32133.

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