AOC facility renovations strengthens U.K. composites backing
Since the purchase of its Haverhill facility in 2022, AOC’s team has been upgrading equipment, processes and layout, in addition to building its certifications, to enhance its industry support.
Chris Allan, plant manager of AOC Haverhill. Source (All Images) | AOC
After the acquisition of the Haverhill site in 2022, AOC (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) has been in the process of making major upgrades to the facility’s installations and process operations. Meanwhile, the site has obtained several environmental certifications, indicative of AOC’s commitment to sustainability and to supporting the U.K. composites market.
AOC has a long track record of serving customers with diverse composites applications and end uses. While quality products have been supplied from multiple sites around the world, AOC says that Haverhill specifically extendd its U.K. manufacturing footprint.
The AOC engineering team is presently working on changing the Haverhill site layout and process flow, in order to ensure safe and responsible operations, and enlarge the plant’s capabilities, all to enable the introduction of novel products. This requires installation of multiple new storage tanks for raw materials and finished products, extending process automation, the replacement of several older buildings, the construction of new warehouses and improvements of plant infrastructure.
Construction of new building and tanks is to commence later this year.
“For AOC, the U.K. is a very important market, so we want to ensure that we have the right products and services locally available for our customers,” explains Fons Harbers, vice president marketing and sales, AOC EMEA. “They need security of supply of quality products, so they can rely on us for building their business.”
The Haverhill team has also been working on upgrading systems and working processes. After an initial ISO 9001 quality re-certification earlier this year, the plant has also obtained ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 environmental certifications.
