Tough Enough to Protect the Power Grid

May 26, 2016

CLEVELAND – Southern States LLC, a Georgia manufacturer of products for the electric utility industry, recently selected PolyOne’s industry- leading GlasArmor™ continuous glass-fiber composite panels to create its new custom Ballisti-Wall® and Ballisti-Cover® ballistic-resistant solutions. The two products protect and camouflage utility substations and other critical facilities and equipment to mitigate physical attacks.

Southern States saw an opportunity to provide a unique solution to its utility customers, who were under pressure to comply with new physical security mandates from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)1. To meet the FERC requirements, each utility company was required to perform a risk assessment of their systems, identify the most critical assets within the power grid, and then propose and implement a plan to protect them.

“PolyOne enabled us to quickly meet our utility customers’ growing demand for improved, customized physical asset protection,” said Dave Lombardo, general manager, Service Division, Southern States LLC. “The GlasArmor sheet technology meshed well with our performance and timeframe requirements. To date, we have worked with PolyOne on several projects, and look forward to continuing this extremely valuable and collaborative relationship.”

PolyOne and Southern States worked together to develop a modular design that made it easy to customize solutions for each application and at the same time meet customers’ tight delivery requirements. This approach also enabled fabrication of GlasArmor panels with minimal disruption to existing production schedules.

“The Southern States ballistic solutions are key elements in meeting the needs of utilities as they work to improve the security of critical assets,” said Craig Nikrant, president, Specialty Engineered Materials at PolyOne. “We are proud to work with them to help protect our nation’s infrastructure from physical threats.”

Southern States ballistic-resistant solutions incorporate three layers of GlasArmor panels to achieve Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Level 8 protection. Level 8 specifies protection against a 7.62 mm rifle using a lead core, full metal jacket 0.308 caliber copper military ball. Using GlasArmor panels, Ballisti-Wall®  and Ballisti-Cover® successfully encapsulate the bullet and prevent any ricochet that could be harmful to individuals or assets of the utilities.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Southern States offers standalone walls and custom-fit panels to protect utility substations and other assets. BallistiWall®  and BallistiCover®  are registered trademarks of Southern States.

About PolyOne
PolyOne Corporation, with 2015 revenues of $3.4 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. The company is dedicated to serving customers in diverse industries around the globe, by creating value through collaboration, innovation and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Guided by its Core Values, Sustainability Promise and No Surprises Pledge^SM, PolyOne is committed to its customers, employees, communities and shareholders through ethical, sustainable and fiscally responsible principles. For more information, visit www.polyone.com.

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Image Courtesy of Southern States LLC

EDITORS: For a high-resolution image, please click here: Southern States
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Media contact
Michelle Maniscalco
Marketing Communications Manager, North America
PolyOne Corporation
+1 440-930-1988
michelle.maniscalco@avient.com