Business View Magazine | February 2019

39 tory, centrally, and ship, globally, from one location.” The biggest threat to the business is when designs change, and no longer need a specialtymaterial. As for competition, the company has distinct ad- vantages in this niche market. It has small, or no, minimum order requirements and the outstanding development and support capabilities draw custom- ers in and keep them loyal. In addition to providing engineering and formulation work to qualifymateri- als, technical support is available for application- based questions, ongoing use, and implementation consulting.Technical data sheets are not available on the Astro Chemical website.This is by design, as they prefer people to call and talk to technical support staff, as oftentimes the need is very specific. Much more than just selling,making, and engineer- ing the product, ongoing customer support is a criti- cal component to the company’s success. Stringent shipping regulations and the chemi- cal industry go hand in glove.According to Arnold, “HAZMAT shipping is a critical capability, and differ- entiates us frommany in our industry. As shipping regulations growmore complex, almost all of our products require some sort of HAZMAT packag- ing and documentation to be compliant. Everyone on our shipping staff is certified to package and document to IATA (air), 49-CFR (ground), and IMDG (ocean) regulations.”All boxes and labels are de- signed in-house, tested, and certified, based around the specific materials being supplied.Astro Chemi- cal ships as a third party on behalf of its customers; about 85 percent goes by cargo aircraft and is drop- shipped directly to jobsites and OEM production facilities around the world. Over the last six years,Astro Chemical has complet- ed several major expansions of its production areas, and added equipment as needed. Going forward, the focus is two-fold. First,maintaining and enhancing the lab capabilities to stay ahead as new test meth- ods and customer requirements emerge. Second is personnel; keeping up with the pace of growth and