By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

To outsiders, Conductive Composites seems like an extremely secretive business. Tucked away in the far corner of Cleveland, Utah, Conductive Composites creates conductivity-based polymer and composite solutions for a wide variety of applications across the United States.

The company opened its doors to local business owners and community members on Wednesday, Feb. 19 as it provided the Emery County Business Chamber with an in-depth look at what they offer.

Opening their presentation, Executive Vice President Justin Orth joked,” We use a series of different gases, and we make bombs!” This prompted laughter from attendees before he quickly corrected,” Just Kidding! That’s what everyone thinks we do out here, so we’ll try to dispel some of those myths.”

In reality, the company uses a series of gases and metals to create adhesives, gaskets, paints and various other products. To make this possible, the company utilizes a carbon monoxide plant to tap into the natural gases prevalent in Emery County.

“I think everyone has the notion that we’re a top-secret government facility that you need to have clearance to get to,” said Clark Anderson, the director of sales for the company. “If you step back to 1984, our founder one day discovered the science or the technology behind what really is Conductive Composites, and the conductive group today. And so technically, we say we’ve been in business since 1984. I’d say 2002 is when we really started producing our product and commercializing the business.”

Anderson continued explaining,” The main thing we’re focused on are the defense and Commercial markets. We put a lot of emphasis into this plant, specifically in securing it and ensuring that it’s a good place for people to work. The vision of the Conductive Group is to be the best employer in the Carbon and Emery areas. We have a couple of competitors, but we feel that if someone were to come to work for us, we’d want them to see a vision and see a long-term growth plan. A career more than just a short-term dead-end job.”

One aspect of Conductive Composites that stands out is its dedication to patriotism. “We don’t sacrifice our values just to get a dealer to receive a purchase order. We will be sure to use high scrutiny when working with customers to ensure that what we create doesn’t just get diluted and disseminated to potential enemies.”

But what does the company do? Attendees learned that Conductive Composites focuses on lightweight, highly conductive composite materials. These can include metal-coated fibers, branched nickel strands, and ready-to-use integrated products. These products are then used in the creation of SATCOM dishes, X-ray machines, and even aircraft.

Working in both the commercial and defense markets, Custom Composites holds 26 separate patents and trade secrets.

“The conductive Composites line is really made up of two core products. First would be a continuous long fiber toe of carbon fiber. They’re usually 12,000 filaments, which isn’t very large. Like, maybe a half a centimeter or so in width, but that goes through a chemical vapor deposition, which is a fancy term for bonding the nickel plating on it by covering it or spraying it. You’re bonding that chemical to the carbon fiber, which allows for a strength that really isn’t found anywhere else,” said Anderson.

The other core line is the Faraday products, which include paints and carrying cases. “What we bring to the market is a really easy-to-use solution that functions and performs as well, if not better, but it provides you with physical security against some of these spaces.”

One attendee asked why the company had decided to build in Emery County, and Anderson replied,” Our CEO actually went to USU Eastern for a little bit. I think what ended up happening was this was an area where we saw a need for a business to come in and provide opportunities. We saw an area where there wasn’t as much opportunity job-wise, and also, there was space where we could be able to create a location that was away from everything else. We’re in this area where we can create. We can create the distance that we need to to do what we need to.”

Attendees then split into groups to explore the facility, with no recording devices allowed to limit the risk of exposing trade secrets.

More information on Conductive Composites can be found on its website here.