Company History
The ENTEK story began in 1984 when ENTEK's founder, Jim Young, developed a better way to manufacture battery separators for the maintenance-free automotive battery market. Young's invention was a machine that automated the process by enveloping the battery separator with highly-filled sheet. To prove out his new invention, Jim built a machine, put it in the back of his van and drove from Oregon to San Francisco to demonstrate it at a show. Within a year Jim had a patent and a customer a big customer - AC/Delco, a division of General Motors (GM). His new manufacturing process was on its way to becoming a key component of the success of the long-life, maintenance-free battery.

Building a Better Extruder - And a Turnkey Manufacturing Operation
AC/Delco contracted Young to produce the new material and ship it to them complete. Thus, ENTEK was born - and the new company began operations in Lebanon, Oregon in 1986. ENTEK began by purchasing commercially-available twin-screw extruders to produce the silica/polymer mixture. The highly abrasive material formulation - a mixture of silica, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, oil, and other chemicals - was a challenge to produce, and none of the extruders ENTEK used were up to the task. The company's engineers custom-designed parts and developed coatings for the extruders' "wear parts" (screws, barrels, etc.) to maximize uptime and keep up with production demands.

With a customer as big as AC/Delco, production demands were high, and downtime was not an option. Eventually, ENTEK designed and built its own custom twin-screw extruders for its own use, machines specifically designed to process these challenging material formulations. ENTEK Manufacturing, Inc. was established initially as a sister company to ENTEK International, to provide machinery and all turnkey engineering support. In the 1990's, ENTEK Manufacturing began marketing its E-MAX™ extruders to the outside world for a variety of applications.

Today, ENTEK is committed to continuing its dynamic growth by helping customers meet or exceed their business objectives, worldwide. We encourage extruders and compounders around the world to contact us to experience for themselves, the ENTEK difference.