By Van Wade

Orange Leader

 

Cloeren Incorporated has been a superb fixture in Orange dating back to 1975 when Peter Cloeren Sr. founded the company and hired its first employees in 1980.

The company has expanded ever so rapidly since.

Cloeren started as an engineering design company to provide technical service to the plastics industry.

It’s specialized products include extrusion feedblocks, extrusion dies and ancillary equipment.

In 1983, Cloeren developed the multi-plane Feedblock for four or more layers and it was quickly adopted to become the industry standard and in 1984 the first Cloeren manufacturing plant was established in Orange.

In 1990, Cloeren got into the extrusion die business by introducing its Epoch Two-Stage Preland Die and a patent was granted to Cloeren in 1993.

In 1992, the company commercialized the first Flexible Lip and Edge Bead Reduction Die for extrusion coating and laminating.

Cloeren also introduced the first Internally Deckled System for cast film and thin sheet applications.

As business picked up, so did expansion.

In 1994, Cloeren expanded internationally with the opening of Cloeren Japan Ltd. and Cloeren Europe and in 1997 became the largest die manufacturer in the world with the purchase of Production Components in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

In 1998, Cloeren started its third manufacturing facility in Orange and in 1999 established a sales and service office in Southeast Asia.

In 2002, Cloeren was granted its 25th U.S. Patent for Polymer Processing Equipment and Design and also introduced the world’s first commercial NanoLayer Feedblock for barrier coextrusion.

In 2003, Cloeren opened its second office in Nagoya, Japan. In 2006, the company opened up a fourth manufacturing facility in Marshall, Texas and in 2009 kept growing overseas by creating a sales office in Beijing.

In 2010, Cloeren established service in Shanghai. In 2012, they expanded sales in Europe with an office in Germany and went on to expand its facilities in Orange in 2013.

In the last three years, Cloeren strengthened its European market by increasing its investment in EMO GesmbH, an extrusion die maker in Micheldorf, Austria and in 2017 purchased the remaining shares of EMO GesmbH to giving them a manufacturing, service and repair facility in Europe.