In demanding markets, quality is no longer just a number on a data sheet; it must be repeatable and traceable throughout production. Orion announced on September 16, 2026 that its Berre-l’Étang plant in France had earned IATF 16949 certification for automotive quality-management systems.
According to the company, the site upcycles acetylene by-product gas into acetylene black used as a conductive additive in applications including lithium-ion batteries and high-voltage wire and cable. Orion also describes a wet-beading process intended to reduce dust and improve handling.
The supply-chain message
The certification is not approval of a specific product or a guarantee of performance in every application. It relates to the maturity of the quality system—auditing, training, risk control and continual improvement. That distinction matters: industrial material selection should combine product data with evidence that a supplier can reproduce the required result consistently.
What buyers should verify
Useful checks include batch certificates, sampling methods, acceptance limits, traceability, storage conditions and the process for handling non-conformity. In conductive applications, small variations in dispersion or structure can influence the finished result, so testing in the customer’s actual formulation remains essential.
Image: AI-generated editorial illustration; it does not depict the source company’s facilities.
Source publication date: 2026-09-16
Primary source: investor.orioncarbons.com