May 19 2007
BASF today celebrated the inauguration of its engineering plastics compounding plant at its Pudong site in Shanghai, China. The new facility came on stream in March 2007 and is a world-scale plant with an annual capacity of 45,000 metric tons. It is one of the most modern compounding plants in the world today, with the highest environmental standards and the most efficient production capabilities available.
“Our strategy is clear: We want to continue expanding our position as one of the leading producers of engineering plastics in the growing markets of Asia and to be the preferred business partner for our customers,” said Dr. Harald Lauke, President of BASF’s Performance Polymers division. “With this new compounding plant, we show our solid commitment to our customers in China and Asia Pacific. We gain flexibility to better serve our customers by reacting more rapidly to their needs and by ensuring a stable supply at short lead times close to the point of consumption.”
In the next 10 years, the Asia Pacific market for engineering plastics is expected to grow on average by about seven percent per year. In China this growth is expected to be higher.
“We have ambitious targets in Asia Pacific: by 2010, we aim to achieve 20 percent of our group sales and earnings in the chemicals businesses in Asia Pacific; 70 percent of those sales are to come from local production,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft, responsible for Asia. “This new plant will make a powerful contribution to these targets.”
Alongside this new plant in Shanghai, BASF has similar compounding facilities in Malaysia and Korea, which are part of BASF’s global network of engineering plastics and compounding plants. This network covers other countries in Europe, North and Central America. With the new plant, BASF’s total compounding capacity in Asia exceeds 100,000 metric tons per annum.
BASF has also set up a Technical Center for engineering plastics in Shanghai, where its engineers design and optimize new engineering plastic parts in close cooperation with customers. The development support ranges from computer aided engineering in the initial design phase to component tests in the trial and launch phase. Further services comprise a state-of-the-art molding laboratory offering processing seminars to customers. This Technical Center in Shanghai is part of BASF’s global and Asian network for engineering plastics – other such centers operate in Greater Nagoya in Japan and Seoul in South Korea.
Engineering plastics are used, for example, in automotive construction as well as the electrical and electronics industries. Some innovative applications include, component mounts, seat structures, oil sump modules, electronic control units, sensors, air intake manifolds, cylinder head covers, air spring and cooling elements as well as roof frames and highly integrated laser-structured electronic devices.