Henkel opens in China the largest adhesives factory in the world

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Henkel has inaugurated the world’s largest adhesives factory in Shanghai, China. With this new production facility the company says it is expanding its production capacity in a major emerging market and will deliver its adhesive technologies more quickly to the growing number of customers based in China and the Asian region, as per GV.

The new factory comprises 150,000 square meters of space and is now the central production site for the company's industrial adhesives in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

Customers being served by the new adhesives plant include enterprises in the automotive industry and various consumer goods sectors. Annual output is forecast to reach up to 428,000 t of adhesives. Henkel has invested more than EUR50 million in the plant and will employ about 600 people there.

"This new adhesives factory will contribute significantly to the achievement of our strategy 2016: It will enable our Adhesives business to expand and leverage its global reach, and win market share in emerging markets," said Kasper Rorsted, Chairman of the Management Board of the Henkel Group.

According to Henkel, the company is already generating 45 % of its total sales in emerging markets and 55 % of its employees are based in these countries. One of Henkel’s financial targets for the year 2016 is to increase the sales generated in emerging markets to EUR 10 billion while aiming for total sales of EUR 20 billion.

As a supplier to many different industries, Henkel already opened its first production facility in China back in 1990, just two years after entering the market. From that first factory the company served industrial customers who had begun at this early stage to establish their own manufacturing operations in China. Ever since then, Henkel has continued to produce adhesives in this East Asian country with constantly rising sales.

As MRC reported earlier, Altana, specializing in the production of materials for the automotive and other industries, has recently acquired the business of special coatings from Henkel Group.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Hamburg-based German company Velox GmbH will be the preferred distributor for the ABS/SAN-based modifier product range from Spanish company Elix Polymers, S. L., Tarragona, and licensed distributor in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, as well as Switzerland, reported GV.

The modifier range offers various advantages, including improved impact resistance for PC, PBT, PVC and SMA blends, increased mechanical properties of ABS and PC/ABS, improved flow and dimensional stability, superior heat distortion and thermoformability to opaque PVC as well as ABS compounds, as anti-dripping additive for flame retardant ABS, PC/ABS, and HIPS, as intermediate for the production of polymer blends, and as base resin for colour concentrates (ABS, SAN, PVC, PC).

Furthermore, Velox has signed a distribution partnership with the US company FRX Polymers for its Nofia polymeric phosphorus-based flame retardant solutions for PC, PC/ABS, PU, TPU, polyester as well as unsaturated polyester and epoxy resins. Nofia homopolymers, copolymers, and oligomers are non-migrating, halogen-free polymers that are transparent, have outstanding flame retardant properties, and a high melt flow. The products will be distributed by Velox in the UK, France, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

We remind that as MRC informed previously, in March 2013, Arkema appointed Velox, as its exclusive distributor for the medical business development in Europe. Besides, in June, Styron Europe, the global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber, appointed Velox, as the European distributor for medical product offerings from Styron. Velox, a supplier and marketer of raw materials specialties will represent products for Styron medical applications, including CALIBRE MEGARAD polycarbonate resins and MAGNUM ABS Resins.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Polymers and high-performance plastic maker Bayer MaterialScience has just announced the debottlenecking of its MDI production facility at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai (BISS) in Caojing, Shanghai, according to GV.

The production capacity of the current facility will increase from 350,000 t/y to 500,000 t/y by mid-2014.

"MDI is an important raw material for the production of polyurethane rigid foam, which is an effective insulation material for buildings and refrigerators. The debottlenecking will allow the company to further expand its business in China, which is one of the largest markets in the world for Bayer MaterialScience," said Wolfgang Miebach, President of Bayer MaterialScience China.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, last year, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) bought the polycarbonate sheet business of Arkema Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the French firm Arkema Group. The transaction included the acquisition of Arkema’s Tuffak brand, which is used in such markets as aerospace, transportation and heavy equipment.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., BMS is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with approximately 14,800 employees at 30 production sites around the world. The company’s 2011 sales in North America were USD2.9 billion.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- SeaWorld San Diego announced today it has eliminated polystyrene foam tableware and plastic flatware at its restaurants and employee cafeterias, as per KPBS. Polystyrene foam products are not biodegradable. They pile up in landfills or get scattered on beaches or oceans, harming marine life, SeaWorld officials said.

SeaWorld says the conservation move will have a positive impact because it serves millions of meals in the park each year. "SeaWorld is proud to be a responsible steward of the environment, not just here in our park, but in the oceans and the world we share,'' said John Reilly, president of the park. "We hope our actions will inspire others to take similar steps that, combined, can make a huge difference.''

The park stopped handing out plastic shopping bags two years ago. SeaWorld now uses bowls and plates made of molded fibers, flatware made of cornstarch and hot cups from recycled paper. All are biodegradable.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Relocating production of 31 items from Taiwan to Mainland China is prohibited. Ethylene was one of them. It has now been excluded from Taiwan’s list of those products, the production of which may be relocated to China in order to save costs. According to Plastemart, Taiwan's Executive Yuan or Cabinet decided on Sept. 16 to lift bans against ethylene plants and allow related production to be relocated to Mainland China. The possible reason could be that Taiwanese companies have experienced difficulties setting up gas and petrochemical plants at home, as they continue to be faced with opposition from local residents and environmentalists.

The Cabinet has decided that Taiwanese shareholders must retain over 50% stake in the mainland production facilities. The headquarters must be based in Taiwan and the company must not relocate its cash to China; furthermore the company must not lay off its Taiwan-based employees and Taiwan must be the priority market for the company's products.

MRC