MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siemens says that its digital industries business is teaming up with Lianhetech Seal Sands (Middlesbrough, UK), a contract manufacturer of fine chemicals for use in the crop protection, pharmaceutical, and performance chemicals industries, to double the overall capacity of the Lianhetech plant at Seal Sands near Middlesbrough. Lianhetech Seal Sands is a subsidiary of Lianhetech (Taizhou, China), said Chemweek.
Lianhetech has committed to a multimillion-pound expansion of its site and the collaboration with Siemens will help it to carry out digitization on a large-scale expansion at the site, which will enable Lianhetech to create a digital production facility that uses data to drive decision making and share real-time information with its customers; double its fine chemical manufacturing capacity to meet demand from customers in the UK, Europe, and worldwide; improve production efficiency and quality; and futureproof the plant, which employs more than 350 people, Siemens says.
Lianhetech is taking a modular approach to design and commissioning of the project to achieve its target opening of May 2021, Siemens says. There are also longer-term plans to expand into other parts of the site, which could quadruple production capacity, it says. The development is expected to create 80 jobs, Siemens says.
"For decades the industry has become increasingly reliant on a supply chain from the east—China and India—which has led to a huge decline in UK manufacturing,” says Julian Lightwing, operations director at Lianhetech Seal Sands. He notes that “we currently have four production buildings, the large expansion on the existing site, and land we can expand onto. It means we can start from scratch at grassroots level to create a digital enterprise building, and involve Siemens from day one."
Siemens has a long-standing relationship with the Seal Sands facility through the site's previous owner Fine Organics, prior to its acquisition by Lianhetech two years ago.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC