Business

Tuesday August 21, 2012

Emery Oleochemicals plans US$25mil factory expansion


PETALING JAYA: Emery Oleochemicals (M) Sdn Bhd is growing further with the 20 million euro (US$25mil) expansion of its manufacturing facility and construction of a new technical development centre (TDC) in Loxstedt, Germany.

“With this expansion, we aim to support both existing and new customers by increasing our Loxstedt capacity and focus on strategic product development works. We see a steady annual growth in plastic additives consumption of 4% to 5% worldwide making our Loxstedt expansion integral and timely,” said group chief executive officer Kongkrapan Intarajang in a statement.

Emery Oleochemicals is a 50:50 joint venture between Sime Darby Plantation and PTT Chemical International Pte Ltd.

Headquartered in Malaysia, the company generates US$1.2bil revenue in 2011 from manufacturing plants spanning three continents – Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe.

With the addition of the Loxstedt TDC, Emery Oleochemicals looks to increase its existing natural-based product portfolio that includes highly-specialised additives for the plastics, coatings and lubricant industries.

“Emery Oleochemicals’ global expansion into green polymer additives is about driving new levels of optimisation through the development of new and improved formulations and by increasing capacity to meet customers’ demands.

“By leveraging on our collective knowhow, we aspire to develop high-performance solutions enabling customers to focus on their highest strategic priorities,” said Kongkrapan after the company’s ground-breaking ceremony recently.

Scheduled for completion by end-2013, the company said the expansion project brought together over 70 years of pioneering technology and knowhow to drive innovation in polymer product development.

It said the marketplace would further benefit from advancements in customisable higher-end product development as the company sought to leverage on the success of its globally-recognised high-performance plastic additive brands, LOXIOL® and EDENOL®.

The company said the Loxstedt TDC is designed to serve as the global centre of excellence for Emery Oleochemicals’ green polymer additives business. It will provide customers with value-added services by streamlining resources and integrating the global network for application development.

“To be fitted out with state-of-the-art lab equipment, it will be staffed by a dedicated team and will also be supported by existing technical service centres located throughout the company’s global operations,” it said.

The Loxstedt manufacturing facility expansion, on the other hand, will encompass substantial technological enhancement of its current infrastructure. This project comes on the heels of the recent commissioning of Loxstedt’s new sister manufacturing site in Telok Panglima Garang, near Banting.

Touted to be Asia-Pacific’s first fully integrated and largest green polymer additives plant, the Malaysian manufacturing operations will enable the company to extend its geographical reach in the Asean region.

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