The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) is a premier destination for industry professionals and auto enthusiasts from around the world. This yearly event is attended by millions of people who come to Detroit to view the vehicle introductions and concept vehicles from all leading manufacturers. The show ran from January 11th to the 24th in Detroit, Michigan.
NAIAS kicked off the festivities with the Charity Preview event. We were personally proud to be a sponsor of 2016 AUTOGLOW: The 25th presented by Ford Motor Company. This event was held at Ford Field on the 15th, and supported children’s charities through The Children’s Center. For over 85 years The Children’s Center has been providing therapeutic mental and behavioral health services to families and children to help them overcome emotional and intellectual challenges they may suffer as a result of trauma from abuse, neglect, or poverty. Each year over 7,500 children and families from the greater Detroit area receive services through The Children’s Centersupported children’s charities
Our sponsorship helps to provide the resources the center needs to support group play therapy and art supplies for children who have suffered trauma that they cannot verbalize.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of AutoGlow and, since its beginnings in 1976, the Charity Preview has raised over $100 million for the children of Southeastern Michigan. We were happy to attend and support this exclusive and high-profile fundraising event to champion the children of Michigan and empower their future.
Gage Products has been in business since 1936, and in these almost 80 years and 3 generations of family ownership, we have celebrated many holiday seasons. What we have learned is that the holidays are a time for family and friends. As a family-owned company, our family and friends include the men and women we work with every day. Without the support and dedication of our employees, Gage couldn’t reach the quality and service standards we are committed to uphold.
Every year we host a holiday celebration to show our sincerest appreciation for our work family. This year we will be celebrating on Dec. 11 with our annual Gage Holiday Party. It’s a fun event where everyone has a chance to relax and unwind with good food and good company. The holiday party is our way of saying thank you for all the hard work and dedication our employees give to make Gage’s products and services the best in the industry.
Over the past year we continued our commitment to delivering customer-driven products that meet the most demanding requirements. Our customer service team is empowered to apply their knowledge, skill and creativity to apply the standardized tools and documented practices that improve customer satisfaction. We consistently meet or exceed environmental laws and with the Gage Production System we will continue to be the world’s preferred supplier of chemical related products and processes. Operations in North America, Brazil, and Europe support the global effort of high-quality manufacturing.
As we close out another year, it’s the perfect time to extend our heartfelt thanks to our employees and our loyal customers.
From our family to yours we hope you all have a happy and healthy holiday season!
In order to promote improvements in public health and environmental quality, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recognizes projects that “eliminate or reduce the generation of pollutants or wastes at the source or projects that conserve natural resources.” The Pollution Prevention Award was recently presented to the General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City for its Purge Thinner Reduction Project.
The goal of this project was to find ways to reduce the amount of the thinner used to clear paint lines when changing colors. The plant began the project by forming a Purge Reduction Committee that examined and analyzed the current process and materials. In monthly meetings they looked at how the thinner was used to determine where reductions could be made without sacrificing quality or productivity.
By switching thinners from the one they were using to Gage purge solvents, they realized the savings and benefits almost immediately. Our high-performance formulations are designed to improve the quality of paint applications using less solvent than is required by other products. Using the new product reduced paint per vehicle as well as lowered material and waste disposal costs. And, best of all, environmental compliance is increased and less thinner is needed to complete the purge process.
By reevaluating the process of purging the paint line piping between color changes and switching to Gage purge solvents, GM decreased thinner use by 101,894 gal, lowered VOC emissions by 92,700 pounds, and saved $405,500 over 12 months.
Using Gage purge solvents improved efficiencies at the Chevy Malibu and Buick Lacrosse assembly plant and resulted in clean, efficient, and fast color changes. Process variability and system costs were reduced which maximized the plant’s efficiency while minimizing wastes.
Gage develops high-quality solvent solutions and specializes in:
• Uniquely designed purge solvents • Solvent recovery and solvent blending solutions • High performance blended solvent and water borne purge solutions
We are continually working to shrink the environmental impact of our products and are proud to have been involved with the GM Purge Thinner Reduction Project and the recognition it received through this award. For more information on our sustainable products check out our website.
At Gage, we follow some straightforward ideals: quality, reliability, innovation, customer focus, and environmental stewardship. With the opening of our new Gage Innovation Center we have put all of these concepts into overdrive to strengthen our commitment to vehicle manufacturers and the automotive and industrial suppliers we serve.
Our commitment to advancing research and development efforts for new products and continued growth is evident in our new center. This multi-million dollar facility, located at our 12-acre Ferndale headquarters site, is important for many reasons: It lets us bring the Quality Control (QC) and Research & Development (R&D) departments together under the same roof for easier collaboration and in-house testing. We celebrated the official opening on Oct. 15th with community leaders, state and local officials, and, of course, all of our valued employees.
One of the most exciting aspects of this new center is the state-of-the-art laboratory outfitted with highly technical equipment. Our scientists now have access to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry equipment, both of which are critical to the multitude of tests we run. In the past, it was also time consuming to deliver reports and findings across departments — the new computerized, integrated information system allows technicians to share QC and R&D testing results much more quickly and efficiently.
This new facility also allows us to add new capabilities. We are now able to:
• Perform aromatic and detailed hydrocarbon analysis for fuels • Determine compound identifications through use of a mass spectrometry upgrade • Execute critical testing on up to 50 distinct fuel properties • Increase storage capacity for customer-product test samples
As one of our missions is for continuous improvement, this new Innovation Center gives our QC technicians better control and focus on the 500+ tests that we run each week. Performing all the tests in our own laboratory, without needing to outsource, lets us deliver results in 1-2 days. If re-testing is necessary, it can begin right away. The benefit greatly enhances the service we provide for our customers.
This new Innovation Center is an investment in our future so that we can expand our capabilities and develop new products while continuing to offer outstanding customer service. Gage is certified for ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 and the new Gage Innovation Center laboratory is in the process of certifying to ISO 17025 standards.
To learn more about our expanded and upgraded facilities and capabilities, feel free to contact us. We’d love to share our new innovations with you!
As the experts in paint system cleaning solutions, it’s only natural that we offer paint line cleaning products and services to ensure that paint systems continue to run efficiently. In addition to keeping the systems running at optimal levels, using our paint line cleaning services restores the system to original design specifications and our turnkey program ensures that used chemicals are recycled safely.
Gage Products’ on-site paint line cleaning program utilizes our proprietary Cobra® and Hydra® line cleaning solutions. These paint cleaners restore paint circulation lines to as-new condition, that is, taking the lines back to ‘Bare Metal Clean.’ With in-plant monitoring and annual cleaning, our clients have seen 30% less dirt in the paint, reducing product waste considerably. The correct maintenance of paint lines improves productivity and the quality of finished products.
Both the Hydra® and Cobra® cleaning products use a scrubbing action to remove the paint that has adhered to the pipe walls over time. The Hydra® cleaner is designed for waterborne systems and the Cobra® works on solventborne lines. These custom designed products remove residue and supply and return piping to Bare Metal Clean specs with just one cleaning cycle!
Both Hydra™ and Cobra® are technology-blind meaning that these efficient cleaners will work for any paint chemistry, formulation, or color. Gage’s On-Site Service Program results in improved productivity and efficiency, a reduction of product waste, lower VOC emissions, and overall cost savings. In industry it isn’t always easy being green, but with our paint cleaning services we are able to make the process greener for all. Contact us to learn more about our outstanding products and services.
Our Mission: Gage Products Company’s mission is to be the world’s preferred supplier of chemical related products and processes by:
Delivering superior value to all stakeholders
Developing and utilizing the knowledge, skills and creativity of our people
Demonstrating responsible behavior toward ourselves, our community and our environment
Gage Products Company is excited to announce our new, state-of-the-art laboratory, which is set to open in August. This new lab will be our dedicated in-house product development facility and will allow us to improve our quality control and analytical capabilities for our customers. We built this new lab to increase our internal capabilities and streamline our current processes to enhance new product development to better service our customers. It will also help grow new opportunities by developing an innovations center and help Gage Products Company meet the needs of chemical and automotive industries for today and the future.
We are thoroughly committed to reducing our environmental footprint through sustainable practices that support the needs of today and for future generations. Our products are all designed, formulated, and manufactured with the care of our natural resources in mind.
Our solutions are known for providing customers with unique and innovative custom technology. We are a prominent supplier of high performance solvent blends, test fuels, calibration fluids, paint line cleaning programs and specialty product solutions for various applications. We firmly believe, as we continue our mission to be the world’s preferred supplier of chemical related products and processes, that we can also build a better world. Our purge solvents are developed with recovery in mind and our closed loop remanufacturing process allows us to recycle solvents and chemical waste resulting in millions of gallons being remanufactured. Additionally, our chemical recycling, fractional distillation, and toll remanufacturing help us to build a more sustainable future.
Since our business opened in Ferndale in 1936, we have dedicated ourselves to earning the trust and respect of our customers, partners and neighbors, which has helped our company grow locally and globally. Gage Products Company now spans three continents and we will continue to grow through careful planning, forward thinking, product integrity and solid customer and community partnerships.
To learn more about Gage Products Company and our new lab, visit our website. We also post more company updates and industry news on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages.
At Gage Products we have been providing our customers with the best chemical related products and for over 75 years we have focused on pioneering new technology and techniques to do so. We are a fully licensed Resource Conservation and Recovery Act facility that remanufactures chemical waste and “off-spec” solvent streams to original product specifications. We have been recycling solvents and chemical waste for over 25 years and were pioneers in developing a sustainable closed-loop recycling systems and toll blending capabilities. We’ve spotlighted these capabilities and their benefits in the recent USA Today’s Green Living Guide on page 49. This process helps to reduce costs and increase effective resource management. To date, we have successfully and safely recycled and remanufactured over 100 million gallons of liquid organic materials at our facility since we began our sustainable manufacturing program.
Our closed-loop remanufacturing process involves removing the recovered purge solvent and paint mixture to the receiving tanks at our remanufacturing plant. We then use an evaporation process that separates the solvent and the paint. The paint waste is repurposed as cement-kiln fuel. The solvent moves along to the distillation process and then the distilled solvent moves to our lab for analysis to ensure solvent quality is the same as raw material quality. It then moves to the purge solvent blending stage and final quality inspection. From there it makes its way once again to the customer’s facility as a virgin quality remanufactured purge solvent blend. This process keeps materials in use that would have otherwise gone to a disposal or landfill facility and helps to reduce VOC’s and HAPS.
Our products are all designed, formulated, and manufactured under the guidance of our own chemical researchers and engineers with the care of our natural resources and our entire planet in mind. By having sustainability ingrained in our process and product mix, environmental management, and corporate culture, we are committed to meet or exceed regulatory standards. We employ the guiding principles of corporate social responsibility to drive continued performance improvement in our programs.
To learn more about our fuels, solvents, and recycling process, visit our website.
For over 25 years, Gage Products has been guided by the principles of corporate social responsibility. For us, it’s really the only way to conduct business and we have committed ourselves to following the principles to improve our company. We have designed, formulated and manufactured all or our products under the guidance of our own chemical researchers and engineers with the care of the natural resources and the environment in mind.
We focus our Corporate Social Responsibility in five areas to help us achieve our goals. The first area is our workplace where we value, respect, and engage with our employees. The second is our supply chain where we actively partner with other suppliers who are focused on providing solution-based alternative options. The third area is our community. We understand that we must work with the community to build trust and we have a long standing tradition of community service and environmental sustainability within our community. Fourth, is the public policy realm where we work to lead the way towards progressive environmental stewardship. Finally, the fifth area is the marketplace where we prove ourselves by meeting the need of our customers.
Using these five areas to guide our company we have implemented sustainability measures, including Gage Product System, Global Quality Management System (QMS ISO 9000), Global Environmental Management System (EMS ISO 14000), and QS leadership initiatives.
At Gage Products we specialize in solvents. We have worked hard to design high performance solvent and water borne purge solutions and all of this is done with our customers in mind. To further our dedication we also offer our customers solvent optimization services. This involves working closely with our clients and providing in-plant technical expertise to monitor performance. We offer on-site support as well as perform a solvent process parameter audit. By inspecting the product and performance systems we are able to help our customers reduce costs and help build a sustainable system for reducing environmental impact.
Solvent sustainability is incredibly important to us and as an industry leader and provider of closed-loop processes for solvent recycling for a variety of applications we are able to help our customers minimize their waste and therefore reduce costs. We have safely recycled over 100 million gallons of solvents and our process allows for the products to be re-used in the same industry. Most importantly, our solvent and sustainability optimization services allow our clients to perform better without sacrificing quality.
To learn more about our solvent optimization services or our closed loop solvent recovery process, visit our website. We are also active on Twitter and LinkedIn where we post more company updates and industry news.
To celebrate Earth Day, we discussed how manufacturers can adopt recycling and sustainability practices in their business in our previous blog. It’s always exciting to spend 24 hours focused on tweeting and talking about “green” initiatives, but with so much going on, it’s easy to miss important events or moments.
To make sure these efforts get proper recognition, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite events from Earth Day 2014 which you can see below.
One of the “largest and liveliest celebrations of Earth Day in the world” takes place annually in Michigan every year—and this time around, Earth Day Fest was held April 25-27 in Rochester. Attendees were able to shop for green products, learn about what it means to live green, and enjoy some amazing entertainment for kids and adults.
On Earth Day, NASA asked for participants from around the globe to help put a twist on a very common trend by taking selfies in nature. On April 22, thousands across the globe took a picture in their local outdoor environment. By uploading their photo to one of the major social media platforms and tagging them with #GlobalSelfie, users could help create an image of Earth from the ground up that will be released in late May.
One of the most important aspects of Earth Day is getting the next generation involved with saving the environment. Green Living Science is an organization whose mission is to “transform Detroit by teaching recycling,” and for Earth Day 2014, they held an essay writing contest asking local kids a very important question: “How do you take care of the Earth?” This year’s winner was Moises Corral, and you can read his essay here.
This is less of an event and more of a movement for the future—because over the next two years, the Earth Day Network is attempting to transform cities across the world. The goal is to help these areas become more sustainable by focusing on energy usage, green buildings, and transportation.
The Detroit Zoo hosted its annual GreenFest celebration the weekend of April 26-27. This festival was a great way for kids and adults to continue the Earth Day celebrations and included earth-friendly crafts, an endangered species scavenger hunt, animal enrichment activities, zookeeper talks, and exhibits.
Earth Day and “green” initiatives are very important to us at Gage—we take building a better future seriously. But we want to know—what were some of your favorite moments from Earth Day 2014? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting at us.
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) is a premier destination for industry professionals and auto enthusiasts from around the world. This yearly event is attended by millions of people who come to Detroit to view the vehicle introductions and concept vehicles from all leading manufacturers. The show ran from January 11th to the 24th in Detroit, Michigan.
