Arkansas’ first nanomanufacturing facility to open in Springdale

Duralor, a company once interested in being based in Fort Smith, is set to open on May 29 Arkansas’ first nanomanufacturing facility in the Springdale Technology Park.

The new 8,500-square-foot building will house Duralor’s headquarters, manufacturing operations and joint research operations, according to a statement from the company. Duralor uses nanotechnology — the manipulation of materials at the extreme microscopic levels — to create compounds that allow cutting tools to cut more precise and to last longer. According to Duralor, TuffTek-coated tools outperformed traditional coatings by 300% or more and provided a 50% reduction in the time required to cut each shaft, thus reducing labor costs.

Duralor manufactures cubic boron nitride (cBN) coatings for cutting-tool applications currently in use with a global automotive manufacturer and in the heavy-machinery industry under the product name TuffTek. Diamonds are the only cutting surface harder than cBN, but are unsuitable for hardened steel machining.

The core technology behind TuffTek was exclusively licensed from the University of Arkansas in 2002 by Duralor’s parent company, NanoMech, a Fayetteville-based technology company. The technology is covered by multiple patents and patents pending. Pinnacle Investments, an Arkansas-based global technology venture firm, helped gather funding 2008 for both NanoMech and Duralor.

“For our economy to thrive, we must have a strong high technology manufacturing base and knowledge-based jobs to complement the large service economy,” Bob Reed, president of Duralor, noted in the statement. “Duralor’s products strengthen that base by providing Arkansas with high-paying engineering and technology-related jobs, as well as 21st century manufacturing processes.”
 
During the next five years, Duralor could potentially employ more than 100. NanoMech could add as many as 200.

Once interested in moving to Fort Smith, Duralor settled in Springdale after city and chamber officials there showed a strong interest in recruiting advanced manufacturing companies built around university research.

“NanoMech and Duralor are prime examples of Arkansas’s capacity for translating university-based fundamental science into high-value products and employment,” Jerry Adams, CEO of the Arkansas Research Alliance, noted in the Duralor press release.