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MANUFACTURING Geon Performance Solutions mixes ‘legacy brand’ with startup ideas

Y B FRANK ESPOSITO

In the words of Tracy Garrison, Geon Performance Solutions is an old company that’s a new startup.

Garrison is the CEO of Geon PS, founded by investment  rm SK Capital Partners when it acquired the Performance Products and Solutions business of PolyOne Corp. for $775 million in October.

What he means by that turn of phrase is that although Geon only o cially opened its doors a few months ago, its namesake brand of PVC compounds has been around for almost 100 years.

“We’re a global leader with a legacy brand,” Garrison said in an interview at the Geon PS headquarters in Avon Lake. Later this year, the  rm will move into new o ces in Westlake.

Geon PS has annual sales of about $800 million and includes one of North America’s largest PVC compounding businesses.  e business also makes polypropylenebased compounds and provides contract manufacturing. It sells mainly into North American construction and automotive end markets.

“We’re working hard for our global brand,” said Garrison, who has more than 25 years of industry experience, most recently as president and CEO of Hexpol Compounding Americas. “We have the  exibility and agility that we didn’t have as a public company. We’re empowered to run fast and grow.”

New York-based SK also owns nylon maker Ascend Performance Ma

Garrison

Shaw

terials and additives supplier SI Group.

“SK steps in with a laser focus on chemicals,” Garrison said. “ ey want to make an ecosystem of great companies all in the same space.”

 e Geon PS product mix features Geon-brand PVC compounds, which  rst were made by rubber supplier B.F. Goodrich. Goodrich launched production of PVC resin and related compounds and end products in the 1920s and began selling the materials to outside customers in the 1940s.

In 1993, Goodrich spun o Geon as a separate business, with the  rm later divesting its PVC resin business. Geon then merged with Cleveland-based M.A. Hanna Co. — a longtime mining  rm that had transitioned into plastics — in 2000 to form PolyOne.

Geon PS now employs 1,100 at 11 production sites: seven in the U.S., two in Canada and single sites in Mexico and China. Garrison said these locations allow the  rm to be close to customers while also targeting new applications.

“We’ve got a well-invested footprint,” he added. “And with new applications and innovation, we can build on other chemistries and markets.”

Chief commercial o cer Larry Shaw said Geon PS “has been invested in R&D and will continue to be.”

Shaw, who joined PolyOne in 2015 and spent 28 years with Dow, said being able to o er polypropylene and other resins outside of PVC is an advantage for the  rm in automotive and other markets.

Sustainability also is important to the new Geon.

“We have a mandate to make sure (sustainability) is a core competency,” Garrison said. “We want to connect to other companies and be right there with them on safety and quality.”

Shaw pointed out that PVC and PP are recycled, and that the  rm’s bioplasticizers also play a role in sustainability.

In addition to sharing o ce space with PolyOne for the time being, PolyOne’s distribution unit will continue to carry Geon compounds. Geon PS also will continue to do toll compounding for PolyOne.

“ is relationship will be good for both organizations,” Garrison said. For 2020, Garrison said, Geon PS “is cautiously optimistic and bullish on some markets.”

“We should see sales growth of GDP or slightly more. We have a lot in the pipeline.”

Frank Esposito is a senior reporter with Plastics News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

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