Nine months after a fire razed its bio-based lubricants production facility in Plainfield, Iowa, Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing Inc. has found a new home in the Cedar Falls, Iowa, Industrial Park.
In the aftermath of the March 20 blaze, the soy-based lubricant manufacturer set up a temporary office in Plainfield and shifted lubricants blending to a facility in Waterloo, Iowa, but has now moved a step closer to a permanent address, ELM Chairman and co-founder Lou Honary told Lube Report.
The new location changes the environment from a post-fire temporary location to a more stable production facility, said Honary. This provides more stability for our employees, and the production remains close to resources of the University of Northern Iowa NABL Center.
Honary said that the Cedar Falls facility has a one-year lease. Looking at ELMs future, he stated that the company is ultimately trying to acquire, be acquired or merge with another manufacturer.
Alan Burgess, ELMs technical manager, said, The company was able to maintain its customers and provide products by outsourcing its grease blending operations. But we were blending our liquid lubricants in a temporary location that did not have adequate heat and resources. The new facility is more centrally located and will be used to blend the companys large array of bio-based lubricants and specialty products. The company said it plans to continue contract manufacturing of its grease products until it makes a decision on expanding the manufacturing resources at the Cedar Falls facility.
ELM said its storage facilities, in two tank farms at the Plainfield facility, are still operational because the fire left the tank farms unscathed. Although the storage facilities have access to rail transport, the company will use tankers to transport base oil materials to the new Cedar Falls location. The tank farms provide more than six million pounds of storage along with rail siding.