Document k6eBmLZVoYXQ7Vmnbg1Qw4ZVn

FILE NAME: Supradur (SUPR) DATE: 0000 DOC#: SUPR002 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Undated Notes Name Firm Comments Skip Calviero (engineer) Supradur Mfg- Corp. Wind Gap, PA 215-863-4101 May 2?, 1986 They are the only US m pgr of A-C products, roofing and siding only. The plant was huilt in 1946, now employs 100. He confirms that a Canadian firm bought the equipment at the New Orleans A-C plant and now produces A-C sheet in Canada; he says their business is weak, and appears not to have cut into Supradur' much. AF substitute products for A-C sheet "are now available... in our warehouse" Supradur has arranged vT/Europeans to sell their AF cement cellulosic sheet products in the USA. Supradur spent several million trying to de velop its own AF lines, has now opted to license the technology. This en tails erection of a new process line, something they had hoped to avoid by using some fiber from DuPont in exist ing machinery. In order to comply with OSHA citations last year, the company agreed to go asbestos free in two years (June 1988). They are now arranging the financing and making decisions on exactly what product and process they will use. They expect to expand product lines to..include the now-discredited fiber-cement sheets other than siding products. In other words, they will produce 4' X 8 ' sheets as well as siding products. They plan to have the new machine in place within one year and phase down the A-C siding process within the following year, while debugging the new equipment. Calviero was very forthcoming, and I assured him we would not use his name or state anything in a way to needlessly cause him personal problems. I did explain that we would probably push for an immediate ban by EPA on A-C sheet products, but that we would have no objections to EPA allowing Supradur until June I988 to complete its substitution program. A-C sheet is probably the most prominent single use of asbestos in the world today. Its use in developing countries is virtually uncontrolled and exposures are upwards of 100 f/cc when machining A-C products. It is thus of worldwide- importance to get the EPA to ban it along with A-C pipe and get people abroad looking into alternative materials.