Page 22 - Plastics News March 2019

COMPANY NEWS

ExxonMobil adding major Rainer Weingraber to take
polypropylene resin unit in charge at wittmannBattenfield

Louisiana
s of March this year, DI (FH) Rainer Weingraber,
AMBA, has taken over the management of WITTMANN
xxonMobil Chemical Co. plans to build a major BATTENFELD in Kottingbrunn. He succeeds the
Enew polypropylene resin unit in Baton Rouge with company’s long-standing Managing Director and CEO,
annual production capacity of almost 1 billion pounds. Mag. Georg Tinschert, who will retire at the end
Construction on the new PP unit will begin this year, of March.The graduated industrial engineer Rainer
with production set to start in 2021, officials with Irving, Weingraber can look back on many yearsof management
Texas-based ExxonMobil said in a Feb. 28 news release. experience in internationally renowned companies of
The project is expected to internationalrenown, such as DaimlerChrysler, Siemens,
create up to 600 jobs during Magna and, most recently, the HaasGroup, where he
construction and 65 permanent worked as a Managing Director for several years in
jobs once completed. "Growth in Austria as wellas in other countries. Rainer Weingraber
feedstock supply, along with the sees himself primarilyas an all-rounder with a high
increase in global demand for affinity for technology and mechanical engineering in
chemical products, continues to particular. Dr. Werner Wittmann, Managing Partner of
drive our strategic investments the WITTMANN Group, is pleased to have enlisted the
and expansion along the Gulf services of Rainer Weingraber as Managing Director
Coast," ExxonMobil Chemical and CEO of WITTMANN BATTENFELD: “With Rainer
President John Verity said in the release. "We're well Weingraber, the WITTMANN Group will have a top
positioned to meet the demand for these high-performance executive who will give the company new impulses from
products and investing further in Baton Rouge enhances his knowledge and management experience.”
our facility's competitiveness," he added. ExxonMobil's
integrated operations in Baton Rouge include a 502,000
barrel-per-day oil refinery, as well as chemical, lubricants
and PE plants. ExxonMobil has more than 2,500 employees
in the Baton Rouge area.Officials added that PP "is a
versatile material that can help improve the safety and
performance of everyday consumer products and help
improve vehicle fuel efficiency when used to manufacture
lighter-weight auto parts." PP resin availability has been
an issue in North America twice in the last three years.
Production problems at existing PP sites resulted in a need
for large amounts of imported PP in the region in both Werner Wittmann takes this opportunity to thank
2016 and 2018. The Lake Charles PP project is in addition Georg Tinschert, who will terminatehis active career
to ExxonMobil's previously announced plans to invest $20 as Managing Director of WITTMANN BATTENFELD
billion to build and expand manufacturing facilities in the and go intoretirement, for his more than 10 years
U.S. Gulf region as part of its Growing the Gulf initiative. of successful service at the head of the company.
Growing the Gulf projects include a new lubricants Under Georg Tinschert, who was appointed CEO of the
blending, packaging and distribution facility in the Baton company at the end of 2007, WITTMANN BATTENFELD
Rouge area, as well as refining and chemical expansions has experienced an impressive development both
at ExxonMobil's Beaumont and Baytown facilities. Since technologically and economically and is one of the
2017, ExxonMobil has added more than 3 billion pounds of internationally renowned players in the plastics
annual polyethylene resin production capacity, mostly at a industry today. Werner Wittmann is confident that
new facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas. ExxonMobil and other Rainer Weingraber will continue and further strengthen
firms are adding capacity as a result of newfound supplies the company’s positive development.
of natural gas feedstock throughout North America.

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