Aug 28 2013
Integral Technologies, Inc., an emerging leader in hybrid conductive plastics, and wholly owned subsidiary ElectriPlast Corp, announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) with chemical leader BASF Corporation to jointly explore the North American market for ElectriPlast’s patented line of conductive thermoplastics.
The two companies will approach key OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturers with opportunities for conductive thermoplastics as a lightweight material alternative to metals. Integral is the original researcher, developer and owner of the intellectual property surrounding the ElectriPlast® technology, and markets the ElectriPlast product line through Integral’s wholly owned subsidiary, ElectriPlast Corp. BASF currently supplies Integral with resins used in the compounding of the ElectriPlast product line.
A world leader in engineering plastics, BASF and ElectriPlast will jointly explore the potential to utilize ElectriPlast materials as a lightweight solution for applications requiring electrical shielding, while reducing weight to help meet CAFE requirements initially targeting a broad array of automotive applications. “We see the conductive plastics market as a potentially important growth opportunity and the ElectriPlast technology as a leader in this developing industry” said Scott Schlicker, Automotive Powertrain Market Segment Manager for BASF.
The LOI with BASF represents Integral’s further expansion into major markets with a recognized global leader in BASF and follows an internal technical evaluation, testing and molding by BASF. “This exciting relationship is consistent with our business model to collaborate with leading technology innovators to develop new product applications for ElectriPlast and license our intellectual property for its manufacture and commercialization across many industries,” said Herbert Reedman, ElectriPlast President & CEO. ”BASF is one of the world’s largest chemical companies with a reputation for quality and high performance products. We appreciate that BASF understands the uniqueness of the revolutionary technology behind our conductive resins, and we recognize the value to Integral to potentially have such a respected strategic partner like BASF with its multitude of global marketing channels. We look forward to the continued broadening of our product offerings using BASF materials.”
The BASF announcement follows two earlier announcements by Integral in June of this year; the signing of a co-development agreement with Delphi Automotive PLC to jointly develop wire and cable insulation applications using ElectriPlast® conductive resin technology, and the announcement of a 10-year sales and manufacturing agreement with Hanwha L&C of South Korea to license ElectriPlast® technology in Asia. “We have made great strides this year and look forward to building off this momentum in the months ahead,” said Doug Bathauer, CEO of Integral Technologies. “ElectriPlast is a disruptive technology that is changing the way industry approaches materials, design, and manufacturing. We see ourselves playing a significant role in today’s rapidly growing lightweighting industry. We’re thrilled to be aligned with industry leaders, Delphi, BASF and Hanwha. We now have several key relationships primed to help us expand our operations both domestically and internationally.”