Earlier this month, Continuum Powders held the grand opening for its global headquarters in Texas, calling this new environmentally friendly manufacturing facility North America’s “largest” and most comprehensive sustainable metal powder production site. The event offered attendees, including myself, the opportunity to celebrate the new 35,000+ square-foot facility, and see the company’s proprietary, one-step plasma atomization technology up close.
Continuum’s Asia-Pacific Production & Sales Center is located in Singapore, while the US Technology Center is in Cloverdale, California. The new global headquarters and Center for Sustainable Materials is strategically located in Houston, which CEO Rob Higby referred to as the “Silicone Valley of sustainability.” This positions the company to hire the best staff, and collaborate more closely with industry leaders. The new facility is pursuing green certification goals, and because it’s creating new jobs and developing partnerships with local businesses, it’s also bringing economic benefits to the area.
“Our mission is simple: producing the highest quality, most sustainable metal powder in the world,” Higby said before the official ribbon cutting ceremony.
CEO Rob Higby addressing the crowd. Image: Sarah Saunders
Continuum is a portfolio company of global private equity and infrastructure investment firm Ara Partners, which is focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy. I noticed a few team members from Ara in attendance at the event.
“Ara Partners is proud to support Continuum Powders in its efforts to decarbonize metal powder production. The new Houston facility is a key step in our shared mission to transform industrial practices for a more sustainable future,” Cory Steffek, Partner at Ara Partners, said in a press release.
Higby, who took the reins as CEO this summer after the company’s rebranding, reminded the assembled guests—including suppliers, customers, investors, and a few government officials—of Continuum’s roots. He referred to the firm’s previous life as Molyworks as the first of three phases, when the Greyhound M2P (melt-to-powder) system was first being developed. The second phase was highlighted by the opening of the Singapore office in 2018, and phase three is commercialization and investments.
Image: Continuum Powders
Continuum says that this new facility is one of the world’s lowest-emission powder production sites, and has integrated renewable energy sources into its operations. In fact, Higby announced at the grand opening that the company’s newest carbon footprint is a 99.7% reduction in greenhouse gases. The single-step Greyhound platform streamlines the process of turning alloyed metal waste-stream products into high-quality powder. Plus, because the M2P system enables a cradle-to-cradle process, the need for product handling, transportation, primary melting, and long bar processing operations is majorly reduced, as is environmental impact, thanks to less mining of elemental metal resources. It’s clear the company is serious about decarbonizing the manufacturing sector.
“We’re passionate about what we do here, and we offer a compelling value proposition for our customers,” Higby stated.
Rizk Ghafari, the Chief Operating Officer, shared that some of Continuum’s suppliers and partners “who we grab the scrap metal from” are located just 30 miles away.
COO Rizik Ghafari. Image: Sarah Saunders
“We don’t want to depend on mining. We want to reduce the carbon footprint, and produce the highest quality powder we possibly can,” Ghafari continued. “This is why we selected Texas as the headquarters for our company, because of the reach to our suppliers, because of the talent and skill level that we have here, because of the many things we can do here in the great state of Texas. I am extremely ecstatic about what we have in front of you.”
Betty Russo, Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office under Gov. Greg Abbott. Image: Sarah Saunders
Ghafari then introduced Betty Russo, Community Relations Specialist – East Texas, from the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office under Governor Greg Abbott, who told the company that its “presence will impact the state as a whole.”
“The operations here will support advanced manufacturing and open career pathways,” Russo continued.
The Center for Sustainable Materials marks a major milestone, expanding the company’s capacity to deliver high-quality metal powders for advanced manufacturing. The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured (L-R) Cory Steffek of Ara Partners; Betty Russo from the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office under Governor Greg Abbott; Rob Higby, CEO of Continuum Powders; and Rizk Ghafari, COO of Continuum Powders. A special acknowledgment was given to Sara Jones, Deputy Regional Director for Southeast Texas from U.S. Senator John Cornyn’s office, for attending and sharing the Senator’s support. Image: Continuum Powders
After the official ribbon cutting took place, we broke up into small groups for a tour of the factory. Ghafari said this would allow everyone “to see the flow and what differentiates us from others – our innovation.” In order to protect Continuum’s intellectual property, no photos could be taken in the factory, and everyone had to sign an NDA ahead of time.
My tour guide was Dan Whitlock, the Director of Operations for Continuum Powders in Cloverdale. He took us to see the company’s “vacuum-tight system,” which uses Continuum’s M2P technology; he referred to the streamlined process as “high-tech blacksmithing.” Whitlock explained that because the company uses pre-alloyed materials, “the output chemistry is what we put in the front end.” 50-60 kg of scrap metal at one time can go into the Greyhound metal atomizer, which uses a plasma torch to melt the metals down.
Image: Continuum Powders
An inductive stir coil accelerates the melting process and blends everything together. When the molten stream comes out the other end, it meets argon and atomizes into full-spectrum powder, which means there are different sizes. Any solids remaining after the process are captured in a wet scrubber at the end of the process. Whitlock said that while managing different feedstock forms is challenging, “it’s also a huge advantage.” The full-spectrum powder then goes into a hopper to be separated into three product portions, and a recycling batch.
In the next room, we got a closer look at the machine controls, which feature video display screens that show the internal process. You could actually see the molten steam pouring out to be atomized into metal powder. Two operators run each Greyhound system, and a joystick is used to manually move the plasma torch to ensure that “the feeds are in the right place,” as Whitlock explained. He told us that Continuum has to precisely control the process parameters to ensure a high powder yield, because each alloy has a different viscosity when it’s molten.
Designed for point-of-need applications, Continuum Powders’ Greyhound M2P 3.0 features a compact foundry design that can be deployed locally and scaled rapidly for integration into metal-based, advanced manufacturing processes. The technology simplifies supply chain logistics and enhances operational efficiency while supporting manufacturers’ sustainability and decarbonization goals. Image: Continuum Powders
“Traceability is critical, and it starts with the chemistry form suppliers,” Whitlock explained.
When Continuum is looking to buy scrap metal, it checks the chemistry test reports for the material first. If these are satisfactory, the purchase is made. Once the scrap is delivered, the material is tested again, weighed, and then assigned a material ID. A label is printed for each batch of material, and barcode scanners are used to track the batches, thus ensuring traceability.
Something else that’s of critical importance is data, and Whitlock said he’s able to check in on any of the company’s foundries around the world, and their data, from his desk. The first thing that happens each day in Houston is a check of all the facility’s machines to make sure everything is running as it should.
“A manufacturing operation without good data is not good.”
Image: Continuum Powders
Another room on the tour had plenty of space for finished goods storage. Whitlock noted that there’s room to add four more bays for four additional foundries as needed. We also visited the R&D lab, which is where material testing is conducted for powder performance factors, including density, flow, and morphology. Whitlock told me later that Continuum works with high-temperature alloys, most of which are Inconel-based, like Inconel 625 and Inconel 718. I asked if other materials were planned for the future, and he said the company first looks into if there’s sufficient demand for a new material, and also if they can get suitable feedstock for it.
“We have to think about a range of form factors, including size, price, and potential applications,” he said.
At the end of my group’s tour, before we joined the celebratory cocktail party, we also visited the Innovation Station, where Whitlock quickly demonstrated how the company uses Hololens units for immersive communication with its teams around the world.
While it does have two other locations, including one in Asia, Continuum Powders builds its deployable Greyhound M2P systems in the U.S. It has room to grow in the new Texas headquarters, which it will likely need in the future if it wants to succeed in its mission of producing the world’s highest quality, most sustainable metal powder.
Image: Sarah Saunders
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