Feb 25, 2003 09:20 ET

Gage Plans Major Expansion of Refining Services Business

NEW ORLEANS , Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Gage Products Company plans a major expansion of its solvent-recovery and waste-stream management programs for the pharmaceutical, chemical and paint industries.

Gage’s Refining Services Division expects to more than triple its sales to non-automotive customers during the next 12 to 18 months, says Tom Murray group manager of Refining Services Division.

Sales to pharmaceutical, chemical and paint-manufacturing markets are expected to grow from about $400,000 last year to more than $4-million in 2007. During that same five-year period, Gage also expects its total refinery business sales to jump from $2-million to $8-million.

Attending the chemical and pharmaceutical industries’ annual INFORMEX conference, Feb. 25-28 in New Orleans, Murray predicts that non-automotive markets will account for 40 percent or more of the division’s total revenue within five years. Last year, Gage’s non-automotive sales from refining services accounted for less than 10 percent of the division’s total revenue.

“The paint-solvent recovery and closed-loop recycling programs Gage provides to the auto industry will continue to generate 50 percent or more of refining-services group sales, but we are seeing a growing interest in our services from other industries as well,” Murray says.

“Government regulation and concerns about the environment in North America, as well as other parts of the world, will continue to have a significant, positive impact on our sales over the next several years,” the Gage executive explains.

Headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, Mich., Gage is a privately held business with more than two decades of experience in the management of recyclable liquid-waste streams. The company is an official sponsor of the INFORMEX media center and an exhibitor at the show (Booth #0737).

Multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art refining facilities enable the company to provide turnkey, waste-optimizing solutions for customers in a variety of industries.

Paint manufacturers, as well as chemical and pharmaceutical companies, produce highly complex streams of spent solvents and other liquid wastes that are among the most closely regulated-and-monitored by federal and state authorities. Regulatory scrutiny reaches down to the disposition of even trace amounts of many compounds.

Murray notes that Gage provides its customers with a number of valuable services. Gage, for example, takes over the management of a company’s solvent waste material, then recycles and refines it into original quality products. Recycled solvents often are returned or sold back for re-use by the customer.

“We handle liquid-waste streams expertly and routinely so that our customers can focus on their own core business,” Murray says. “As a company, we are dedicated to improving the environment. We convert waste material into useful commodities, and we are recognized as pioneers in the development of ‘sustainable’ closed-loop recycling processes that incorporate innovative, cost-saving technology."

Gage’s unique, environmentally-friendly service offers a variety of customer benefits, including:

• An overall reduction in cost compared to traditional waste-disposal services,
• Assured compliance with federal, state and local environmental regulations,
• Reduced need for “virgin” raw materials by recycling and returning solvents from the customer’s own waste stream, and
• Enhancement of the customer’s reputation as a responsible corporate citizen.

“We’re a chemical company, not a waste company,” Murray says. “We have a pro-active attitude toward the management of waste materials. We remove waste as quickly as possible to reduce risk caused by the onsite storage of hazardous liquid waste. But for us, the process isn’t complete until these hazardous materials are recycled and manufactured into new products.”

Gage not only helps its customers safely manage their waste materials, the company also helps them save money in the process.

For example, Gage recently was asked by a pharmaceutical company to manage a hazardous-waste stream consisting mainly of the solvent ethyl acetate. Gage removed and processed an average of 18,000 gallons of waste per week for a period of nine months, saving this customer more than $216,000 in disposal costs.

Gage maintains the highest quality standards and meets the most rigorous regulatory requirements. To assure finished product integrity, the company does not co-mingle its customers’ waste streams and assures that there will be no cross-contamination from previously processed waste-stream residue.

“This is important,” Murray explains, “because companies that generate spent-solvent streams are responsible for the care, handling and re-use of those materials from ‘cradle to grave.’ Our program significantly reduces liability for our customers.”

Headquartered in Ferndale, Michigan, Gage also has operations in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil and Mexico. The company is a leader in the field of sustainable manufacturing and solvent remanufacturing systems. Its paint-system solvent-recovery processes are used in a majority of North America’s automotive assembly plants and have attracted the attention of European and Asia-Pacific manufacturers as well. Additional information on Gage is available on the Internet at www.gageproducts.com.

CONTACT: Tom Murray of Gage Products Company, Phone: 248-691-6737, Email: tmurray@gageproducts.com ; or Media Contact: Larry Weis of AutoCom Associates, +1-248-647-8621, E-Mail: lweis@usautocom.com , for Gage Products Company