LANGHORNE, PA -- Eastern Catalytic, a manufacturer of catalytic converters and related emission control components, announced this week that it has made a substantial new investment in its R&D and testing programs. In addition to increasing its in-house capabilities, Eastern has also appointed emissions and catalytic technology expert, Rob Marino, as its director of testing and certification. Marino will head up Eastern’s R&D testing lab and product development department.

The announcement was made by George Schafer, president of Eastern Manufacturing, who noted, “Rob Marino comes to us with over 30 years experience in the engine emissions testing and control industry. With his knowledge and guidance and our new capabilities, we’ll be able to bring new products to market faster and at a lower cost.”

Marino holds two U.S. patents for catalytic converter technology and is the inventor of the first Level 2 Diesel catalytic converter verified in the U.S. He was most recently director of new product development for ESW America. Prior to that he owned and operated G&M - Air Testing Services, a vehicle and engine emission testing contract facility.

Eastern’s newly expanded facility is capable of reproducing EPA and CARB emissions testing procedures such as the EPA-Federal Test Procedure (FTP-CVS-75), and will also enable testing for quality assurance and quality control processes, verifying vendor supplied products, and new product development.

Eastern said it has made the investment in expanding R&D, not only to continually improve product quality and speed to market, but also to meet the demand for new catalytic converter products.

For more information about Eastern Catalytic, go to:http://www.easterncatalytic.com.