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About Us
The year...1922.
 As Dr. Andrew Szegvari prepared to display his new liquid latex process for making rubber goods at an exhibit in Paris, he needed an extremely fine sulfur dispersion to complete the vulcanizing process. Conventional ball milling methods in 1922 would have taken as long as a week to obtain the fineness he required.The problem…not enough time.
Szegvari hit upon the idea of using pebbles, a gallon can, a drill press, and a special agitator he designed for the drill bit to achieve a fine dispersion. In less than an hour, he invented an apparatus that would produce exactly what he needed.
That first apparatus, employing the dynamics of grinding media in random motion, marked the beginning of a new media milling technology, a process now known as Attritor grinding and dispersing.
In 1946, Dr. Szegvari founded Union Process, operating in a small plant in downtown Akron, Ohio.The new company’s mission was to develop grinding and dispersing technology to help customers make fine dispersions quickly, reliably, and inexpensively.
The original Szegvari Attritor®, a batch machine, evolved into new machine designs—Continuous Attritors for online production, Circulation Attritors for very narrow particle size distribution and even small media mills for grinding to submicron or nano-range particles.
After more than 20 years of constant growth, the company moved in 1968 to its present location, a custom-built research, design, and production center just outside of Akron.This Midwest location provides convenient access for customers who choose to visit the Union Process headquarters.
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Union Process today.
 Scores of patents, refinements and advancements later, Union Process milling technology now plays a vital role for many Fortune 500 companies in a wide array of industries including chemicals and tungsten carbide. In addition, the foremost chocolate and confectionary processors, ink, paper, agricultural flowables, metal, magnetic oxide, coal, mineral, rubber, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and ceramic producers all employ Union Process milling technology.
Union Process maintains a global network of licensees and agents with the expertise to assess, analyze, sell and service customers’ needs.
Whether it is manufacturing innovative laboratory mills for R & D or producing large mills capable of grinding tons of material per hour, Union Process is dedicated to remaining on the forefront of milling technology.
Today, in addition to building its line of grinding and dispersing equipment, Union Process maintains a tolling processing plant and research lab that helps companies develop and produce their products. |
After accepting the reins of the
family-owned company in 1980 from his father and founder of Union
Process, Andrew Szegvari (see History), Harvard graduate Arno
Szegvari has continued the company's tradition of innovation
by expanding the Union Process line into Dry Grinding Attritors
and metal-free systems for ceramic and other special applications.
More recently, Mr. Szegvari's vision led to Union Process' introduction
of a unique line of Small Media Mills to complement its world
renowned line of Attritor Grinding Mills.
Arno Szegvari
President
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The Union Process sales team
is led by Robert E. Schilling, P.E., National Sales Manager,
a seasoned sales engineer with over 20 years experience in
the engineering field. Assisting Mr. Schilling is Emery C.
Li, Assistant Sales Manger. Mr. Li, a graduate of The University
of Michigan, has a diverse background including laboratory
processing and pilot plant work with Union Process. Ms. Jackie Tasker assists
Mr. Szegvari in international sales.
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Margaret Yang, Technical
Director, heads the Union Process Laboratory/Technical department
which includes state-of-the-art laboratory testing facility
as well as a pilot plant to accommodate larger, more extensive
testing. The Lab/Tech department consults with customers to
determine which Union Process mill will best meet their needs
and performs lab or pilot plant tests to assure that the desired
results will be attained. With over 50 years of experience
in producing wet and dry grinding Attritor mills and small
medial mills, including the Deltamill and HQ Mill, chances
are that Union Process has the equipment and expertise needed.
To schedule a lab test, customers submit
a small sample of the material that they are interested in
size reducing.
The customer fills out a questionnaire with relevant
information and specific requirements. (You can view this
questionnaire
in the product section of this web site.) Once the
Lab team receives the sample and performs a test run, a comprehensive
report detailing all the test data, processing recommendations,
and recommended production equipment is issued to the
client.
At this point, customers may choose to
proceed to the Union Process Pilot Plant where large quantities
of their
product may be manufactured for test marketing purposes
or to conduct scale-up tests for production.
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 Left to Right: Greg Woods,
Andy Bridges, Tim Moore,
Margaret Yang, Aaron
Stalnaker,
Anita Goins, Chuck Major,
Bob
Freeman |
Engineering plays
a vital role in the introduction of new mills and the modifying
of existing mills to handle specific applications. Once a mill
has been designed, the production team goes to work manufacturing
the mill to engineering specifications. Customers may specify
various options that may be required on any individual mill.
Great care is given to assure that each mill that ships from
Union Process has been manufactured to the highest quality
specifications that have made the Union Process Attritor name
known throughout the world.
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 Seated (left to right): Craig McCaulley,
Michele Hemberger, Rick Wochele
Standing (left to right): Mike Cramer,
Bill Earlenbaugh, Tom Mihavics, Randy Jessop, Kurt Preston |
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