Press Releases
Abakan - Planned PComP™ Thermal Spray Powder Production Ramp-Up Exceeds Target
May 5, 2015
MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - May 5, 2015) - Abakan Inc. (OTCQB: ABKI) ("Abakan"), an emerging leader in the advanced coatings and metal formulations markets, proudly announces that it has surpassed the initial goal for Phase I scale-up of its PComP™ thermal spray powder production, from 6,000 pounds/year to 36,000 pounds/year. Abakan has actually increased its PComP production capacity to 60,000 pounds/year. At the current sales price, Abakan's 60,000 pounds/year production could translate to approximately $5M in annual thermal spray powder sales and help facilitate Abakan's expansion of its PComP thermal spray coating services business, which could add an additional $1.5M in annual revenues by fully utilizing our existing thermal spray cell and adding another eight hour shift.
"PComP thermal spray coatings have shown superior performance in a variety of applications, including oil and gas, mining, industrial, infrastructure, steel, and others. PComP coatings are unique in their structure and properties, which lead to industry leading life and lowest life-cycle costs. PComP coatings can significantly reduce downtime and maintenance costs, while maintaining cost structures similar to current coatings, which can result in higher revenues for our customers. We believe these factors will ultimately turn early adoption of our products into potentially massive sales. We are excited about increasing current production capability to 60,000 pounds/year, as the demand for our PComP materials is on the increase. We expect to start Phase II of our production ramp-up, which includes the construction of our new 320,000 pounds/year production facility this year, in order to further increase our production capability and meet this growing demand. A 320,000 pounds/year PComP powder production capability, and expanded coating services, could lead to approximately $25M in annual revenues for Abakan. Important to note is that 320,000 pounds/year represents less than 1.0% of total global thermal spray powder production demand, which means that there is still a real opportunity for Abakan to continue to grow from our superior products," said Abakan CEO, Mr. Robert Miller.
According to various market intelligence entities, the thermal spray market has been growing at 6 to 7% annually for the past 5 years and is expected to continue to grow at a similar rate for the next five years. Best estimates suggest that the global thermal spray coating market is approximately $10 billion annually, with North America representing approximately 20 to 25% of the global market. The thermal spray market can be further sub-divided into thermal spray coating powders which represent 20% of the global thermal spray coating market, to which market MesoCoat's PComP thermal spray powder caters, and thermal spray coating systems represent 5% of that market, while the rest of the market represents thermal spray coating and finishing services. Recent M&A activity in the thermal spray coating industry -- Lincoln Electric's acquisition of Nanosteel's thermal spray coating products; Oerlikons's acquisition of Metco from Sulzer; and Precision Castpart's acquisition of SW United Industries -- is a clear testament to both the growing market and the increased need for thermal spray coatings.
About PComP Long-Life Thermal Spray Coatings
PComPs are cermets fabricated into a hierarchical structure, developed with microstructures, engineered at the nano-, micro- and meso- scale, to offer revolutionary performance and cost breakthroughs. These materials are formed with a nanocomposite core and binder coating, which are made using a combination of low friction, high wear resistance and excellent corrosion resistant materials. The nano-composite core provides high wear resistance, low friction and light weight, and the binders provide corrosion resistance, toughness, ductility, resiliency, and improved deposition efficiency. This combination results in a high toughness, ductile-phased toughened structure of high hardness tiles separated by ductile binder laminates.
Important to note is that PComP is a manufacturing methodology and not merely a product, which means that, with the PComP manufacturing methodology, Abakan can combine a variety of materials that usually do not go-well together; leading to the best-in-class corrosion- and wear-protection. PComP cermet coatings can replace electrolytic hard chrome, electroplating, spray and fuse, and thermal spray carbides to impart wear and corrosion resistance, and reduce friction in sliding wear applications. PComP coatings are easy and fast to apply, and machine to tight tolerances for dimensional restoration of OEM or worn E&P components. The PComP family of coating materials has been designed to act as drop-in replacements for thermal spray powders and will work with today's existing application systems. To learn more about our PComP coatings please feel free to reach us by phone (216) 453-0866 or email ([email protected]).
About Abakan Inc.
Abakan develops, manufactures, and markets advanced nanocomposite materials, innovative fabricated metal products and highly engineered metal composites for applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical, mining, aerospace and defense, energy, infrastructure and processing industries. Abakan’s technology portfolio currently includes high-speed, large-area metal cladding technology; long-life nanocomposite anti-corrosion and wear coating materials. Abakan's products have demonstrated longer life, higher productivity and extremely high strength-to-weight ratios compared to competing technologies. The Abakan group of companies has been honored by The Wall Street Journal as the #1 Manufacturing Innovation across the globe, by Pipeline Industries Guild as the Top Subsea Pipeline Technology, by Forbes as the #1 Most Promising Material Science Company in the United States, by American Metals Market with the Steel Excellence Award, by Inc. 500 as one of the Fastest Growing Manufacturing Company in the U.S., and has received numerous other trade, industry and technology awards including five R&D 100 Awards and a Technology Innovation Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Over $50 million has been invested in product development and testing by federal agencies, national labs and our companies in order to deliver products that offer improved performance over the current state of art. Abakan has successfully introduced its PComP™ W for metal asset protection and life extension in the oil and gas and mining industries, and is currently focusing on the scale-up and commercialization of its highly disruptive metal cladding products for the oil and gas, oil sands, and mining industries. Abakan currently operates from multiple locations in United States, and intends to expand global operations in Canada, South-east Asia, Mexico and South America.
Forward-Looking Statements
A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including technological obsolescence, market acceptance of future products, competitive market conditions, and the sufficiency of capital resources. The actual results Abakan may achieve could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Abakan encourages the public to read the information provided here in conjunction with its most recent filings on Form 10-K,Form 10-Q and 8-K. Abakan’s public filings may be viewed at www.sec.gov.
Abakan Inc.
Robert Miller, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 786-206-5368
Email: [email protected]
www.abakaninc.com
Investor Relations
Surety Financial Group, LLC
Phone: 410-833-0078
www.suretyfingroup.com