BASF has announced plans to exit hedimerandpolyamideresinbusi- ness due to the North American
market decline over the past 15 years
driven by excess market capacity and a
decline in key markets including printing.
The decision will result in the closure of
the dimer and resin production unit at
BASF’s Kankakee, Illinois, location.
BASF will work with customers directly on exit stock materials and support
the transition to new suppliers through
the end of 2015. BASF is also evaluating the sale of intellectual property associated with the dimer and polyamide
resin business. Trade names of products manufactured at Kankakee include
Empol, Genamid, Versadyme, Versamid,
Versamine and Versacure.
“This decision has been difficult because it impacts employees in Kankakee
and our dimer and polyamide customers,”
said Gerry Podesta, senior vice president
for Dispersions and Pigments in North
America. “We will take steps to ensure a
smooth transition for customers and provide support to employees during this time.”
BASF will continue to operate the
Kankakee site which supplies customers with products for the Nutrition and
Health and Care Chemicals Divisions of
the company.
Approximately 50 positions – both
manufacturing and commercial roles –
will be affected. BASF currently has more
than 200 employees and contractors
working in Kankakee. The site joined
BASF Corporation with the acquisition
of Cognis in 2010 and has been manufacturing products since 1948.
Sun Chemical Develops
Spanish-Language Website
Sun Chemical has improved its recently
launched customer-focused global website at http://es.sunchemical.com by adding Spanish language pages.
Now customers that speak Spanish have
native language pages to better meet their
needs. Based on analytics of website visi-
tors with browser settings in Spanish, Sun
Chemical translated most viewed pages on
the website and tailored the experience for
products and services that are most relevant
to its Spanish speaking customers.
Union Colours Forms UC
Pigments (India)
Union Colours – the international division of Longyu Pigments & Chemicals
Corporation, the largest pigment producer in China – has continued to expand
activities in India, both as a supplier of
organic pigments from their Chinese and
South African manufacturing facilities,
but also as a consumer of Indian pigment
intermediates. The company formed UC
Pigments (India) Private Limited.
Over the last year Union Colours
opened the Vapi (Gujarat) Technical
Center to serve local clients with technical service and product development,
they also opened an office in Mumbai to
improve regional communications, now
the company has formed UC Pigments
(India), a regional entity to further support its clients in India.
Bayer Celebrates 50 Years
of HDI Production in
Leverkusen
Bayer MaterialScience, which is now operating under the new name Covestro, is
celebrating a major anniversary: 50 years
of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI)
production in Leverkusen. The site is
home to the world’s largest production facility for this coating raw material and the
company’s other coating polyisocyanates.
HDI from Leverkusen is used primarily
for high-quality automotive and industrial coatings. They protect car bodywork
and the cars of Germany’s ICE high-speed
trains, and can withstand even the harsh
climate conditions to which aircraft such
as the Airbus A380 are subjected.
“As mobility increases, this calls
for high-performance and durable
coatings that are also environmentally
friendly,” said Daniel Meyer, head of
the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties
Business Unit at Bayer MaterialScience
and Covestro. “Polyurethane coatings
fulfill these requirements precisely and
have established a firm place, particu-
larly in glossy topcoats.”
Chemours Consolidates and
Strengthens TiO2 Business
The Chemours Company, a global
chemical company with leading market
positions in titanium technologies, fluo-roproducts and chemical solutions, has
announced two decisions that are elements of the company’s five-point transformation plan.
The company will close its Edge
Moor manufacturing site located outside Wilmington, Delaware, which produces titanium dioxide (TiO2) and will
shut down a TiO2 line (line 3) at its
Johnsonville plant in New Johnsonville,
Tennessee. Together, these actions will
eliminate roughly 150,000 metric tons
of TiO2 capacity while refocusing TiO2
production at four manufacturing sites
that employ the full range of Chemours
TiO2 technology strengths.
The Edge Moor plant has approximately 200 employees and 130 contractors. Chemours will redeploy employees
wherever possible and where redeployment is not possible employees will receive severance benefits.
As part of the company’s transformation plan, these closures are expected to result in a $45 million annual net
cost reduction. The company will incur
non-cash charges of approximately
$110 million related to the facility
closing in the third quarter. Additional
restructuring and other charges related
to severance, decommissioning and site
redevelopment are expected to be in
the range of $75 million to $85 million
and incurred during the next two-to-three years. CW
BASF to Exit Dimer and
Polyamide Resin Business
