American Spraytech
New Jersey filler grows its campus and expands production capabilities
(L to R) Manufacturing Manager Andrew Harcarik, Operations Engineer Leandro Neves and Plant Maintenance Manager Mark Nicolas
are all smiles outside of AST’s new Annex Building and expanded tank farm. The Annex houses its fifth filling line with room to grow for an
additional line.
Aerosol filler American Spraytech (AST), located in Branchburg,
NJ, specializes in mid-sized runs of personal care
cosmetics and over-the-counter drugs/medical devices.
The original plant was established in 1982 as PEL Associates,
Inc. American Spraytech acquired the plant in 2003 and with
the completion of its newest production facility in the summer of
42 Spray January 2018
2016, what began as a 25,000 square foot building with two
propellant tanks has expanded to a 200,000 square foot campus
encompassing six buildings and twelve propellant tanks. The
plant has the advantage of being located in the heart of NJ’s
pharma corridor, and is less than an hour from the cosmetic
capital of New York City. It serves customers from across the U.S.
and Europe.
The original name for the company was
“American Aerosol”, but Bill Lueschen—
who founded the plant in 1982 and served
as AST’s Director of R&D until he passed
away in 2013—suggested “American Spraytech”
instead, to highlight the technology
involved and not just the filling aspect of
the business. The Willliam J. Lueschen
Center for Innovation was dedicated in
December of 2013.
In its first year (2003), AST filled one
million cans and subsequently saw 10-15%
growth year-on-year until 2011 when it was
filling just about 15 million cans annually.
That number jumped to nearly 21 million
cans in 2012 and nearly 50 million cans in
2016.
SPRAY visited with AST in November to
witness the growth firsthand. The campus
consists of six buildings (four owned and
two leased) all on the same street: Meister
Avenue.
A corner of AST’s Stability & Testing Lab, part of its duplex R&I lab facility.