Asahi Kasei Plastics Invests $5 Million In New Compounding Line & Projects

FOWLERVILLE, Mich., March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc. announces they are proceeding with a $5 million investment in a new compounding line and plant improvements to accommodate increased business in all markets.  A $3 million investment in a large compounding extruder and peripheral equipment is in process and a $2 million investment in new projects including plant upgrades is planned for 2013. The new equipment is expected to be operational by the end of 2013 providing a 30% capacity increase for their advanced line of Thermylene® brand specialty polypropylene products and a 10% capacity increase over all product lines.

 "This $5 million investment is in addition to the $15 million invested in the last 5 years for new equipment and continuous improvement," said Prasad Puttagunta, vice president operations, Asahi Kasei Plastics.  "We are very excited about the growth our company is experiencing – we are ahead of the market recovery growth rate and many of the product development investments we have made over the years are now paying dividends with increased business in new areas," said Puttagunta.  "The additional capacity will ensure that we have a robust supply chain to support the growth of our customers."

 "This is a very exciting time for us," said John Moyer, president of Asahi Kasei Plastics.  "We are continuing to increase capacity in our plant to support business demand and we are receiving very strong support to pursue expanding our business and production capabilities in other regions in North America," said Moyer.

Asahi Kasei Plastics Expands As Business Grows Worldwide

 "In 2012 we added staff in our manufacturing facility to be able to run 7 days a week, and the operations team worked on several projects to improve utilization of the plant," said Puttagunta.  "We also opened new sales offices in Mexico and China and established distributorships in Brazil and Germany in 2012," said Ramesh Iyer, vice president commercial operations, Asahi Kasei Plastics.  In 2011, Asahi Kasei Plastics invested $5.5 million in a new compounding line to increase capacity for their Leona™ and Xyron™ engineering products and an additional line for expanded R & D services.

Award Winning Automotive Applications Are Driving Recent Growth

"Much of this growth is due to advancing our Thermylene® line  and Leona™  line of products for cost-effective light weighting applications, for high performance in automotive under-the-hood and structural and impact resistance applications," added Iyer.  "Interest in our new Thermylene® I Long Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene for impact performance is driving growth and so is our new and advanced Leona™ resin (unique polyamide with 60% glass) to provide a Class "A" surface without paint," said Iyer.  Asahi Kasei Plastics won the SPE® Innovation Award in 2012 for  "Most Innovative Use of Plastics" in the materials category for their new and advanced Leona™ used in the Ford® Escape, Ford® Fusion and Lincoln MKZ air register vanes. In 2011, they were a winner with the Chrysler Group LLC, in the Body Exterior category, with their Thermylene® products in the Dodge RamBox® assembly. 

About Asahi Kasei Plastics

This Michigan based subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Chemicals Co. boasts one of the largest manufacturing facilities for the company outside of Japan. Additionally, Asahi Kasei Plastics is the largest glass reinforced polypropylene manufacturer in North America.  With sales growing globally, their unique product portfolio is solving complex engineering problems.

Asahi Kasei Plastics provides customized resin solutions globally.  Their product lines include THERMYLENE^® (polypropylene), LEONA™ (nylon 66, 66+6i), THERMYLON^® (nylon 6, 66), TENAC™ (acetal) and XYRON™ (modified polyphenylene ether – mPPE), STYLAC™ (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene – ABS).

Thermylene^®, Thermylon^® are registered trademarks of Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc.

Leona™, Tenac™, Xyron™, Stylac™ are trademarks of Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation.

You can learn more at asahikaseiplastics.com

For latest news and updates, follow Twitter www.twitter.com/asahi_kasei_inc.

SOURCE Asahi Kasei Plastics

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