Cooper Standard of Novi has diversified the reach of its lightweight elastomeric Fortrex material by licensing it to Avon Lake, Ohio-based supplier PolyOne Corp. Cooper Standard will generate revenue and profit from royalty income based on PolyOne’s sale of Fortrex-based polymer formulations to its customers.
Cooper Standard exclusively retains all rights to Fortrex in its product lines, but PolyOne now can sell Fortrex-based formulations into select markets within key consumer and industrial segments, including applications in electrical/electronics, healthcare, and complex industrial products.
Fortrex is an award-winning, lightweight elastomeric material platform developed by Cooper Standard. It offers significant performance advantages over EPDM synthetic rubber, TPV, and many other materials in terms of weight reduction, compression set, weathering, and durability, according to its manufacturer.
“This agreement will accelerate the advancement of Fortrex chemistry into industries outside of automotive, an important step toward our Company’s strategic goal of diverse market growth for our materials science innovations,” says Jeffrey DeBest, president of Cooper Standard’s Advanced Technology Group.
“The versatility of the Fortrex material platform combined with PolyOne’s broad market access and extensive sales force represents a unique opportunity for both companies.”
According to Christopher Pederson, president of specialty engineered materials at PolyOne, “This technology will allow our customers to tap a leading-edge solution for demanding applications and we’re excited to begin adding these new formulations to our expanding specialty elastomer portfolio.”