Blending Specialists ABS Relaunching Thoreson McCosh Dryer Line

For Advanced Blending Solutions (ABS), this week’s NPE2024 show gives it the opportunity to showcase new technologies not only in its well-known blending product line but in dryers as well. ABS bought long-time drying specialist Thoreson McCosh in June 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then has spent the last four years in R&D to breath new life into the company’s product offerings.

Says Brent Berquist, ABS’ vice president of sales and marketing, “Thoreson McCosh has been in business supplying dryers and other auxiliaries since 1947. They are one of the industry’s stalwarts in resin drying. They were among one of the first to develop a machine-mounted dryer. Previously, materials were dried in an oven then manually carried to the machine. Fact is, Bob Thoreson and Jerry Muntz had built a solid and very sustainable business, but their business model was a bit different than ours. Under (ABS CEO) Mike Rasner, our model is to build the best. So, in Thoreson McCosh, we saw a gem, and felt we could breathe new life into it.”

Six months after the acquisition, ABS moved manufacturing of the Thoreson McCosh units to its plant in Wallace, Michigan. The first thing it did was digitize Thoreson McCosh’s engineering drawings, then took a deep dive on the functionality and aesthetics of the equipment. Berquist recalls, “Even though a lot of the equipment had been out in the field for 20 and 30 years, and it stood the test of time. Still, the product line was equipped with more modern technology, like variable speed drives. We also updated the control panels, standardizing on Allen Bradley MicroLogix.”

ABS then examined opportunities to improve hardware components, starting with the hopper. The internals were redesigned to improve the flow dynamics of the material to minimize hangups. The hopper doors are now double-wall insulated. ABS made both the drying and desiccant regeneration process more energy efficient. And the exterior dryer skins now have diamond pattern.

The product line will range from a few pounds an hour to what Berquist half-jokingly says is, “how much to you want to do?” He elaborates, “There's no ceiling for us. At ABS, we’re accustomed to developing solutions based on what the customer wants.” The technology platform is a triple-bed desiccant.

“That’s the secret sauce we have,” Berquist states. “With a twin-tower design, you have one in use, and then you have the other one that’s in regeneration mode, and they flip back and forth. With our triple-bed desiccant, one is in use, one is in regeneration and the third is cooling down. It’s a much more efficient system.”

Thoreson McCosh will be run as a subsidiary of Advanced Blending Solutions LLC. Says Berquist, “The Thoreson McCosh name has value and I think we'd we be doing ourselves a disservice if we walked away from that name.”

The Thoreson McCosh acquisition also fills a hole in ABS’ product line. CEO Rasner’s career in plastics started in film extrusion with Pechiney Plastics Packaging, and most of ABS’ installations are for extrusion operations. Says Berquist, “When I came on in 2010, our customers for the most part were in film.  Subsequently, we found out we have solutions for compounding. But we haven’t had a strong presence in injection molding and blow molding, and Thoreson McCosh is our way to get into those plants and on the extrusion side where ABS is strong. Over the years, we have bought many dryers from other suppliers. Now we can come to the entire processing market as a one-stop solution.”

One thing that will be missing from the ABS-Thoreson McCosh combination after NPE2024 is Muntz, a former owner of Thoreson McCosh who’s been with the company since 1993. Muntz is retiring after the show. Says Berquist, “He will be sorely missed.”