Page 52 - Plastics News June 2017

BUSINESS NEWS

Toyota Boshoku to partner with Jindal Films to invest $ 120 mn

Mitsui Chemicals to set up polyester plant in US

utomotive component manufacturer Toyota Boshoku, indal Films Americas (JFA), a part of the India-based
Apart of the Toyota group, will partner with Mitsui JBC Jindal Group, is expanding the product offering to
Chemicals to commercialize a high impact-resistant plastic include polyester films by setting up a polyester plant
as a resin modifier. at LaGrange (Georgia, USA) with investment of $ 120
million. JFA is a manufacturer high performance films for
Under a recently concluded license agreement, Mitsui flexible packaging and labelling.The planned polyester
Chemicals will use Toyota Boshoku’s patented technology plant, expected to become operational by early 2019,
to manufacture and market the plastic from 2018. The will have capacity of 65,000 metric tonnes of film.
agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed
in November 2016, as reported bychemanager-online.com. The plant would be composed of two lines, enabling
Developed by Toyota Boshoku and Toyota Central R&D Jindal Films to provide a product offering of both thin
specialty and thick specialty films.

“We are very excited to introduce the plans to expand
our capabilities into polyester film in the Americas,”
said Marcelo Passos, executive vice president and CEO of
Jindal Films Americas. As Jindal Films Americas initiates
the plans to expand into polyester films, Jindal Films
Europe is considering a similar expansion in its region.

This announcement comes on the heels of the unveiling
of the new metalliser in LaGrange, a capability which

Labs, the material is a polymer alloy made from PA 11,
PP and a Mitsui Chemicals’ compatibilizer. By controlling
the phase structure of the PA and PP at the nano-level,
an efficient impact absorbing structure is created that is
claimed to achieve top level impact resistance. Toyota
Boshoku has developed a method of using the plastic as
a resin modifier, not just for interior car parts such as
seating and door trims but also for other automotive parts
that demand high impact resistance. The parts maker is part of the previously announced relocation and
believes its technology can contribute to increased safety expansion of the Georgia facilities. This current
in cars but also expects increasing applications in other expansion project is expected to be completed by
non-automotive applications. first quarter 2018, doubling the current capacity of
the Americas division of Jindal Films, which primarily
Mitsui Chemicals said it plans to also sell the plastic in focuses on the flexible packaging andlabelling industries.
the industrial and consumer goods markets and will use its Jindal Films, a part of the BC Jindal Group, manufactures
technical expertise and sales channels in the years ahead
to expand the material’s use as a modifier. specialty biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films.

Plastics News | June 2017 52