Company weathers storm, comes out ahead
Despite the challenges posed by the winter storm of February 2021, which knocked out operations at its key Houston-area factory for about a month, Ascend Performance Materials recorded substantial growth for the year and expects to continue on that growth trajectory.
The company, No. 6 on the Houston Chronicle’s list of top private companies, makes chemicals, durable engineered materials and manufacturing components that go into everyday products.
Ascend is also pioneering new technologies for industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to the electric vehicle industry.
In 2021, Ascend saw its sales increase to $3.2 billion, up about 75 percent above the previous year.
“Last year for us was an extremely good year despite the fact that we had the challenges associated with the freeze,” CEO Phil McDivitt said.
The winter storm cut off electricity and natural gas to Ascend’s Chocolate Bayou manufacturing plant in Alvin, idling it for weeks.
The company also contended with the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and disruptions to the global supply chain. McDivitt said Ascend’s strategy for the pandemic in its early days laid the foundation for the company’s recovery and growth.
“We are proud to say we didn’t lay off a single employee,” he said. “The company basically just pulled together and rallied.”
Over the past two years, Ascend has been on a buying spree, acquiring Italian manufacturing firms Poliblend and Esseti Plast, a compounding facility in China and Eurostar Engineering Plastics, a French producer of flame-retardant engineered plastics.
In March, the company said it reached agreement to acquire the compounding division of Formulated Polymers Limited, in Chennai, India. In April, Ascend closed the purchase of a producer of high-performance engineered materials in Mexico.
With its acquisitions, Ascend has increased its global workforce to nearly 2,900. It employs more than 700 in the Houston area.
Ascend plans to grow by developing new products. For example, the company recently learned that a material produced in some of its plants, once considered waste, is a key material in new MRNA vaccines.
The company is in talks with pharmaceutical companies to supply this component.
“We see big opportunities in that space,” McDivitt said. “It’s an exciting new platform for us.”