FSI independent since 1972

St Louis, Missouri is home to Foam Supplies, Inc, a company with patents in key areas in polyurethane technology and processing. Simon Robinson went along in October 2015 to find out more about the firm.

Founded in 1972 as a systems house, Foam Supplies, Inc. (FSI) is one of the longer surviving independent systems houses in the US, said Todd Keske, president of the company.

The firm, which is privately held, employs just over 100 people and is producing around 100 kT/year of polyurethane systems on a single shift basis at its plant in St Louis, Missouri. The company has an additional production facility in Lewisville, Texas.

FSI has built its business positon on key patents in polyurethane foam technology, placing a constant focus on new innovations, including blowing agents and machinery.

“In 1989 we developed our first patents on CFC22-blown foams,” Keske explained.

Keske continued: “Blowing agent technology, and specifically developing new technology, has always been at the core of our culture. It wasn’t designed that way… it just happened. From the beginning, we always looked for new solutions, despite what other companies were doing.”

Blowing Agents

“For instance,” he continued, “as the majors were moving into HCFC-141b systems, we chose a different route. We were one of the first to sell HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane blowing agent) technology into the market, and we were one of the largest purchasers of 134a blowing agent at one time,” Keske said.

“Then we developed ecomate  [based on methyl formate] technology which was patented in 2002,” Keske said.

“That’s three different iterations where we’ve been a leader, a true pioneer in the blowing agent space,” Keske said.

FSI has helped organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] and the World Bank in their efforts to wean the world off CFCs under the Montreal Protocol.

In 2004, FSI established international partnerships to help environmental initiatives and increase its own sales around the world. FSI has distribution partners around the world, as well as production facilities in both India and Asia.

The firm promotes its ecomate technology as an alternative to others because it has no global warming potential, no ozone depletion potential and is VOC exempt.

In addition, its boiling point of around 32°C makes it suitable for use in equatorial and tropical regions, unlike many HCFC and HFC blowing agents, said Keske. Imagine being in a country near the equator and trying to handle something that has a boiling point of 59°F (15°C),” Keske said.

“You would have to chill the blowing agent. How many people are going to invest in insulated blowing agent storage? So many HFCs are out of the question in a number of regions, such as the Middle East,” Keske said.

Looking to the future for blowing agents, Keske said, “we have an exit avenue for current users of HCFCs and HFCs as these blowing agents are phased out around the world. In addition, we have had discussions with other blowing agent manufacturers about helping utilise their technologies and about being a resource for them in market areas where they can grow.”

From Olin to St Louis

FSI was founded by David Keske, who began his career in technical service at Olin. “My father, with great assistance from my mother, authored the manual for the Olin Auto-Froth Gun,” according to his son.

After transitioning to sales, David Keske spotted a market opportunity when Olin decided to only sell directly to large accounts. David Keske began buying in bulk, re-packaging and selling to smaller customers. He soon hired a chemist to reformulate systems when CFC-11 [the main blowing agent at the time] was being phased out. And the business was launched.

Machinery was also part of the mix. “We patented the first air-purge dispensing gun,” said Keske. “It was a very low cost, but reliable, piece of dispensing equipment designed specifically for pour in place rigid foam applications.” FSI is also a GRACO distributor, and has a partnership with SAIP.

Offering machinery, in addition to foam systems, “gives us the understanding and appreciation for our customers’ businesses. When a customer has a problem, we don’t immediately blame the equipment or the chemicals. However, the problem is typically with the equipment, and in most cases, it is from a lack of routine maintenance,” Keske said.

Looking at the systems side of the business, the company serves large and small customers. “We don’t have a minimum order size,” says Keske. “We have customers that make models that use only 5 gallons (20 l)/year of our kitted products. And we also have customers that purchase many millions of pounds per year. That’s a business model which is not good for the very large suppliers.”

All systems go! 

He continued: “I don’t think much of the systems space is a good fit for the majors.  Most systems are not commodity and require a high degree of technical service.  To achieve the best results, systems need to be specially blended for each customer’s unique application. For the very large players, their organisation, structure, size and culture are not oriented to that. When you have a customer buying 100 million pounds per year, that company gets the service. Foam Supplies doesn’t have 100 million pound per year customers, but we are a better fit for the vast majority of foam users who do not purchase that kind of volume.”

“There should be more systems houses in the US,” Keske said. “Look what happened in Europe, where many systems houses have been purchased by large companies. That is not what’s best for the customers. China is actually a better model. There are hundreds of systems houses in China and the industry is still seeing 6%/year growth.”

FSI is also experiencing growth in many markets. As a result, the company recently expanded both production and warehouse space at its St. Louis headquarters. “We sell foam kits as small as 2 gallons (8 l), and we also supplied insulation foam for three of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers [Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt], with each carrier taking about 5 million pounds (2.3kT) of foam each,” said Keske.

“We are in a wide range of markets,” he said, continuing, “commercial foodservice, boating/marine, insulated panels, spray foam, integral skin foams, flexible moulded products, doors, HVAC, refrigerated transport, and others.

The industries are very different, and the foam systems have changed over the years. But the reason for our success is the same as it’s been since my father started the company more than 40 years ago: a constant commitment to customer service and customer success, from the smallest account to the largest.”

And a strategy for the future? “We are going to stick to what we do best, and what we do best is take care of our customers. It’s that simple,” Keske said.