Page 16 - Plastics News September 2017

COMPANY NEWS

Birla Carbon's greenfi eld plant commences operations in China

irla Carbon has started operations at its 1.2 Lakh (India), besides laboratories across its manufacturing units
Btonnes carbon black project in China. The AdityaBirla providing for continuous R&D. The automotive market
Company aims to tap the automotive market of China. The inChina is a vibrant one with every global major working
Jining plant will produce traditional ASTM (American to succeed in this market. As a carbon black leader, Birla
Society for Testing and Materials) grades and specifi c Birla Carbon is committed to fulfi l the needs of its customers
Carbon grades for customers in China. Birla Carbon said in the country, Birla Carbon CEO Misra said. “China is an
the capacity of the plant will be expanded to 2.4 lakh important market for Birla Carbon in Far East Asia. Many
tonnes in phase II. The greenfi eld project in Jining, the of our customers are based out of china with operations
company's largest engagement in China, was inaugurated across the rest of Asia. With the Jining facility, we now
by Birla Carbon CEO Santrupt Misra in the presence of have the opportunity to address the needs of our Chinese
senior Chinese customers from within China," Sanjeev Sood, President,
offi cials. South-East and Far-East Asia region, Birla Carbon and
" W e a r e Country Head, Aditya Birla Group Affairs, Thailand said.
delighted to
have taken
the right step Asahi Kasei to build plastic
to invest in
compounds plant in China
a meaningful
way in this
country. The
sahi Kasei Corp is expanding production of plastic
Jining plant Acompounds in China, the Tokyo-based speciality
is ahead of its chemicals company Asahi Kasei (China) will build a
time, whether new plant to manufacture the compounds Thermylene
it be the manufacturing processes involved or the brand polypropylene, Leona nylon 6/6, and other
environmental standards, it follows," Aditya Birla plastic compounds — in Changshu. Start-up for
Group Kumar Chairman Mangalam Birla said.The new the plant with a capacity of 28,000 metric tons per
production plant will exclusively cater to the Chinese year is set for early 2020. The move is in response
customer base and will accommodate the growing to growing auto production in
demands for superior quality, technical solutions and China, which reached a record
performance, it said. The ASTM grades will focus on the high in 2016, and is projected
tyre industry while many of the Birla Carbon grades will to continue to rise. Under its “Cs
support mechanical rubber goods and other customer for Tomorrow 2018” medium-
requirements. term management initiative,
Further, the company said its plant will be 'energy Asahi Kasei is advancing a
positive'. The plant has its own energy management strategic global expansion of its
engineering plastics business in the material sector
system. The cogen facility will generate high pressure
centered on auto applications.
steam and electricity which will fi rst cater to captive
consumption and have surplus electricity exported to state Asahi Kasei currently has plastic compounds
grid. Birla Carbon has footprint across 12 countries with 16 manufacturing and sales facilities in Japan, China,
manufacturing facilities. It provides a complete portfolio Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Mexico and
of products across ASTM grades to meet the specifi c end Germany. The Japanese supplier said it would continue
requirements across tyres, rubber, plastics, coatings, to examine additional avenues for optimization of its
inks and other niche industries. The company also has plastic compounds manufacturing network in China,
two technology centers at Marietta (USA) and Taloja including the possibility of toll compounding.

Plastics News | September 2017 16