--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Using improved manufacturing materials is a good way for companies to help improve their bottom lines. This is especially true of the trucking and maritime industries, where vehicle and machinery weight directly impacts fuel expenditures.

“Reducing the weight of trucks by just 10% translates into potential savings of about $37 billion each year,” says Wayne Rodrigue, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Texas-based Exousia Advanced Materials. “If we are able to make truck bodies and cargo boxes lighter, our economy will experience enormous freight-load savings along with huge reductions in fuel consumption.”

Exousia is leading the way with an eco-friendly manufacturing alternative for the trucking, transportation, and maritime industries. RPA™ Resin is a proprietary, high performance polymer that successfully bonds plastic and rubber. The result is a thermoplastic blend that demonstrates improved tensile strength and elongation capability. An advanced composite material based on RPA, TuffCore is a structural component used to create high-strength sheets and cores.

“TuffCore-based truck bodies and trailers have been shown to decrease fuel costs by up to 30%,” says Mr. Rodrigue. “For marine businesses, TuffCore means increased strength and reduced weight for boat decks, pontoons, house and deck boats, with the material proven to stand up better in marine environment than traditional products.”

The material—which contains neither oils nor plasticizers that leach out of materials and cause them to go brittle—actually grows tougher as it gets colder, enabling truck and trailer bodies that use TuffCore to last years longer than those made from traditional materials. Making this polymer solution even more environmentally attractive, TuffCore eliminates the need for a host of wood treatments, fungicides, insecticides, or preservatives. Exousia recently signed an exclusive national distributorship agreement with Universal Forest Products (UFPI) to sell TuffCore to industries including cargo trailer manufacturing, concrete forms, and shipping containers, among others.

“Especially during challenging economic times small businesses might be looking for ways to tighten their belts by improving efficiencies,” says Mr. Rodrigue. “An environmentally friendly materials alternative that helps lightens the load and decreases fuel consumption while providing greater strength and durability is a solution that’s good for the roads, good for the environment, and good for the pocket book.” Visit www.IRGnews.com/coi/EXOU to learn more.

IRG
Mike Graff, 212-825-3210