Asahi Kasei Plastics Appoints Nitriflex as Distributor in Brazil

Five Strategic Locations Will Warehouse Inventories and Provide R & D Support

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Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc.

Oct 20, 2011, 01:53 ET

FOWLERVILLE, Mich., Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc. announces the appointment of Nitriflex da Amazonia, a Brampac Company, as their distribution partner for markets in Brazil. Nitriflex will market and distribute Asahi Kasei Plastics resin brands to their customer base and develop new business. Nitriflex da Amazonia, their partner company with over 25 years of polymer compounding and application engineering experience, is dedicating a team of engineers to advance application development for Asahi Kasei LEONA™ and THERMYLON® nylons, THERMYLENE® polypropylenes, TENAC™ acetals and XYRON™ modified polyphenylene ether (mPPE) resins. Nitriflex will warehouse inventories of Asahi Kasei products for samples to be available quickly for enhanced R & D support. Nitriflex has five strategically located warehouses and offices in Brazil including Sao Paulo, Parana, Rio Grande Do Sul, Minas Gerais, and Amazonas.

Asahi Kasei Resin Brands Enhance Nitriflex Competitive Edge
"Asahi Kasei's unique line of resins will round off our Nitriflex product line enabling us to better service our customers with optimum polymeric solutions in a number of industries," said Danny Siekierski, vice president operations at Brampac. Nitriflex manufactures ABS, polycarbonate (PC), acrylics and custom blends. "We are looking forward to offering our customers proven lighter weight options for replacing nylon in automotive under the hood applications such as air intake manifolds with Asahi Kasei Thermylene® advanced polypropylenes," continued Siekierski. "Asahi Kasei's Thermylene® SWP (Stress Whitening Prevention) line is enhancing furniture quality and adding value in a number of applications and Asahi Kasei's Thermylene® P8 short glass fiber technology is replacing long glass fiber applications because it is easier to process – especially in intricate injection molding applications – and offers comparable quality with a cost effective advantage," said Antonio Pedro Machado, innovation and market development manager at Nitriflex. "Asahi Kasei resins for electrical vehicle batteries, including XYRON™ EV, is another promising resin technology poised for growth," added Celso Zilves, managing director at Nitriflex.

"We are proud to have the polymer application engineering experience, expertise and support Nitriflex brings to Asahi Kasei Plastics," said John Moyer, president Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc. "We are honored to have them as our distributor and look forward to a great future together advancing innovation in the plastics industry."

Nitriflex da Amazonia, established in 1984, has operations in Manaus and Sao Paulo, Brazil. They provide resins and thermoplastic compounds to the automotive, electronics, white goods and general industrial markets. Their mission is bringing innovation which adds value to their customers' products through quality, flexibility and immediate service. Nitriflex is part of the Brampac Group of companies, established in 1956 formed by a group of companies doing business in Brazil and worldwide, in the sectors of chemical, plastics, elastomers and partner companies in pharmaceutical and packaging services. The Brampac Group includes Nitriflex SA, Nitriflex da Amazonia, Nitriflex Distribuidora, Cromitec and partner companies PLM Plastic Solutions, Motech Film and Globe Quimica. Brampac annual sales are $250 million worldwide. www.nitriflex.ind.br and www.brampac.com.br

Asahi Kasei Plastics provides customized resin solutions worldwide to multiple markets. Their brands, including LEONA™ and THERMYLON® nylon, THERMYLENE® polypropylene, TENAC™ acetal and XYRON™ modified polyphenylene ether (mPPE) and more are specially formulated to solve complex engineering problems. Their markets include automotive, commercial transportation, furniture, pool and spa, water treatment, electronics, lawn and garden, and power generation including performance polymers for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind energy applications. The Michigan based company is one of the largest Asahi Kasei facilities outside of Japan and is expanding sales globally, in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, India and Europe. They are in the top 5% of compounding companies in the United States and one of the largest glass filled PP (polypropylene) compounders in the world. "Today, we have a unique product mix, between our engineering resins and compounded polypropylenes, that no other compounder in the world has," said Moyer. www.asahikaseiplastics.com

Asahi Kasei Plastics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation (AKCC). AKCC is a leading producer of high performance engineered thermoplastics, petrochemicals and monomers and performance chemicals. Their product portfolio serves a diverse range of markets including energy, consumer products, home construction & materials, health care and many others. Internationally, Asahi Kasei has over $19 billion in annual sales and nearly 30,000 employees. For latest news and updates, follow Twitter www.twitter.com/asahi_kasei_inc.

Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc., 900 E. Van Riper, Fowlerville, MI 48836 USA, 517.223.5221

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