MOSCOW (MRC) -- In order to further strengthen its polystyrene (PS) business in North America, Styrolution has announced it plans to consolidate PS capacity in the region, reported the company in its statement.
In addition, Styrolution will accelerate growth in styrenic specialties through an expansion of its offering for high-performance transparent styrenics, by providing local supply in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Part of Styrolution's Triple Shift growth strategy, these measures will further enhance the company's position as the global leader in styrenics.
Thus, in order to strengthen the long-term economic sustainability of Styrolution's polystyrene business in North America, the company plans to mothball its PS plant located in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts by the end of the year. This comes following years of overcapacity in the North American PS market which have also impacted Styrolution, making it necessary for the company to take action to secure this business for the future. The plant accounts for 150,000 t (330 million pounds) of PS production capacity. The company will continue to serve the North American PS market from its best-in-class plants in Decatur and Channahon, USA and Altamira, Mexico with the same quality, reliability and delivery standards customers have come to expect from Styrolution.
Also, by the end of third quarter of 2014, Styrolution will commence production of high-performance transparent specialty, NAS (SMMA) at the company's plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Currently, NAS is supplied to the EMEA region from Indian Orchard and compounded locally into the transparent product Zylar. NAS to be produced at Decatur, Alabama site. Styrolution plans to shift NAS production from Indian Orchard, Massachusetts to its site in Decatur, Alabama where the company will convert a general purpose polystyrene line into a swing line to also produce NAS. The transfer of NAS production from Indian Orchard to Decatur is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter, 2014.
Besides, Styrolution is committed to providing customers additional supply options for both specialty and standard products from at least two sites. Offering local supply of NAS and Zylar in EMEA and the Americas is one of several expanded supply options announced over the past 18 months. These options include availability of Luran S grades from Styrolution's Ulsan, South Korea, Altamira, Mexico and Ludwigshafen sites; AMSAN-based, high-heat (HH) products, such as Luran HH and Novodur HH grades from the company's sites in Altamira and Ludwigshafen; and a proposed joint venture with Braskem to produce ABS and SAN specialties in Brazil.
Thus, Styrolution's Triple Shift growth strategy, calls for a focus on styrenic specialties and Standard ABS, emerging markets and higher-growth industries. The initiatives announced strengthen Styrolution's global position in styrenic specialties while improving production efficiencies for polystyrene in North America.
As MRC wrote earlier, in December 2013, Styrolution announced measures to better serve customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). New initiatives include the optimization of Styrolution's production network in Germany and the opening of a regional specialties logistics center. These measures enable Styrolution to offer customers greater flexibility, long-term and secure supply, and lot-to-lot consistency. They also extend Styrolution's regional reach and further strengthen its leading market position in the region's key focus industries, such as automotive, healthcare and diagnostics, and building and construction.
The Styrolution Group GmbH is a global provider of styrenics , headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. The company is a joint venture between BASF (50%) and INEOS (50%), were merged into the main styrene operations of the two partners. Its main focus is on the production of monomer, polystyrene, styrenic specialties, and ABS. The company offers styrene plastics for a variety of everyday products from different industries, such as automotive, electronics, construction, household, leisure, packaging, medicine and health.
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