Global thermoplastic manufacturer chooses Datacolor to manage color matching workflow

Blue plastic pellets used for manufacturing

SEKISUI Polymer Innovations, LLC, a global thermoplastics leader that serves a diverse spectrum of major industries including aviation, transportation, and medical devices, was looking for a strategic partner for quality control to improve service to their focus markets and maintain their leading role in manufacturing. The company invests heavily in cutting-edge technology and they were looking to bring more automation and consistency to the workflow.

The Challenges

SEKISUI SPI is world renowned for the high quality of their products and services with focus on niche markets. They are among the few thermoplastic sheet manufacturers that can accomplish small run sizes within very short lead times.

The majority of the company’s customers are from the public transportation and medical sectors. They demand top quality products with tight color specifications that are typically small in order size and time sensitive. SEKISUI SPI has more than 5000 different color standards. The colors specified by customers can have very minor fluctuations within provided requirements.

The inability to predict how reheating plastic sheets will affect the color and gloss properties make color matching even more challenging.

The Solution

Getting the color right on the first try is critical when working with small customer orders that need to be delivered quickly.

Datacolor worked closely with SEKISUI SPI to implement a solution that improves the color management workflow and speeds up the decision making process.

As a result, SEKISUI SPI is able to deliver high quality products with faster turnaround, staying ahead of their competition.

Consistent and repeatable measurement of color standards month after month

Accurate color formulation that meets stringent government regulations

Simple to learn and easy to use system

SEKISUI SPI’s aviation dedicated facility – South Campus – is fully equipped with Datacolor instruments to measure specialty colors.

“Our design team is very happy with Datacolor’s performance on colors that are very common in the aviation industry. We feel we can get more accurate readings and reach the conclusion faster,” – says Humenick. “Datacolor solutions are straightforward and easy to use. SEKISUI SPI’s new employees trained on the equipment are quickly able to learn how to use the machines, becoming effective and productive users in very little time.”

sekisui logo

“The installation was easy and smooth, the Datacolor team was on top of it” – “Just excellent.”

Tom Kisiel, Color Specialist

Another Datacolor advantage is its people – providing excellent service and timely support. SEKISUI SPI knows they can always confidently rely on Datacolor’s team for help. Phil Ruggiero from Datacolor was the applications engineer who ensured the installation went well and all deadlines were met. Sean Thornton, Datacolor’s agent in the Northeast USA, supported the project from the very beginning acting as a liaison between SEKISUI SPI and Datacolor Sales & Support. The successful implementation was heavily dependent on the team and the outstanding work of other Datacolor employees.

Discover digital color control at every step of your process.

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SEKISUI SPI operates using three main principles that differentiate them from other manufacturers in the thermoplastics industry. Their commitment to excellent service, speed, and superiority has earned them the leading position in the markets they serve. Datacolor plays an important role helping SEKISUI SPI achieve their goals.

“With Datacolor’s solution we can quickly determine whether the color of products we are producing are accurate.”

Jeff Humenick, Plant Manager SEKISUI SPI’s South Campus

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Datacolor Spectro 1000 benchtop spectrophotometer.

Spectro 1000 Family

Spectro 1000 delivers the highest precision in Datacolor’s fleet of benchtop Spectrophotometers and is designed for high efficiency and confidence in color formulation and quality control.