MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical maker Sabic Innovative Plastics will close its compounding plant in Thorndale, Pa., according to Canplastics.
According to Pittsfield, Mass.-based Sabic, the plant is being shuttered because it is too far away from end users in the Pacific region of the U.S.
The Thorndale facility employs approximately 150 workers, and makes LNP-brand compounds based on polycarbonate, nylon and other engineering resins for use in consumer electronics and similar applications.
"Over the past several years, Sabic’s customer base…is increasingly located in the Pacific, and this trend is expected to accelerate," Sabic said in a statement provided to the Daily Local News, a news agency based in West Chester Pa.
"These customers continue to request local production in the Pacific and shorter lead times to rapidly meet the constant demand for the latest consumer electronic devices. Customer preferences, combined with flat growth for Americas product demand, has been preventing Sabic’s specialty compounding facilities in the Americas from operating at rates approaching full capacity."
Along with expanding output in Asia-Pacific, the US Sabic subsidiary said it could potentially increase production at its sites in Columbus, Ohio / USA and at San Luis Potosi / Mexico. The decision to close Thorndale is not final, a company spokeswoman told local media, adding that the plant could be kept open if it appeared the market in the Americas was improving. Union leaders, however, said they were not optimistic.
SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business is based in Pittsfield, Mass. Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 35 countries and approximately 9,000 employees worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or SABIC, based in Saudi Arabia.
As MRC informed before, Sabic broadened its SABIC PCG portfolio for healthcare with the addition of a new LDPE grade to help the global IV packaging industry benefit from consistent and reliable supply.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. - the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based parent of Sabic IP - then bought GE Plastics in 2007.
MRC