SABIC is to build a new compounding plant in Genk, Belgium. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 110kt SABIC PP compound and 30kt of SABIC Stamax long glass fiber PP. It is expected to come on-stream at the beginning of 2010.- Our new plant represents an important first step in growing SABIC`s worldwide PP compounding capability and will allow SABIC to follow the growth of our large automotive customers in Western and Central Eastern Europe", said Mark Neville, Business Unit Director SABIC PP Automotive. - This plant will be the biggest green field PP compounding plant ever built in Europe and has been designed with fully optimized production and logistics flows in mind. It will also be capable of housing an additional compounding line in the future taking its ultimate capacity in excess of 170Ktes - continued Mark.
- The plant in Genk will also be the home of SABIC`s Compounding Innovation Centre (CIC) with 3 pilot lines designed to speed the development cycle for new products and processes thus improving our responsiveness and flexibility - said Kees Verbraak, Manager Global Technical Marketing for SABIC PP Automotive. - As the business develops we plan to add CICs in other regions of the world - he added.
- SABIC is committed to growing its position in the global automotive industry with its broad portfolio of SABIC PP, SABIC PPcompound and SABIC Stamax long glass fiber products - said Abdulsalam Al-Mazro, VP Polymers, SABIC. - We are responding to an increasingly strong pull from the OEMs and Tiers for raw material suppliers to have global capability. We are, of course, also examining locations for further PP compounding plant expansions worldwide.
