Silicones Supply Increasing in Japan and South Korea with Recent Expansion
Wacker Chemie AG recently started up two new production facilities for specialty silicones in Japan and South Korea. According to Wacker Chemie, the expansion strengthens the company’s activities in the Asian growth market. The new plants, located in Tsukuba, Japan, and in Jincheon, South Korea, will serve the growing demand from the automotive and construction industries for these products.
“With the expansion of our production facilities in Japan and South Korea, we are strengthening our position as a market and technology leader for high-quality silicone solutions in the important Asian growth market,” said Christian Kirsten, WACKER Executive Board member responsible for the group’s silicones business, at the opening. “The additional capacity will help us meet growing demand, especially from the local automotive and construction industries. By doing so we continue to drive our specialties strategy in the silicones sector.”
Asia is already one of WACKER’s most important sales regions. “We generate more than 40 percent of our sales in Asia. Our business activities in Japan and South Korea are major contributors”, emphasized WACKER’s executive board member Angela Wörl, who is responsible for the Asia region. “The new production lines in Tsukuba and in Jincheon support our strategy to locate our manufacturing capabilities close to our customers in the region.”
Tsukuba: Focus on E-Mobility
The capacity expansion at WACKER’s production site in Tsukuba is targeting customers from the automotive industry, especially in the field of electromobility. The newly built plant hosts a production line for manufacturing silicone-based thermal interface materials (TIM). These materials are basically silicone elastomers that have been modified with various additives and fillers during compounding to render them thermally conductive.
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Source: Adhesives Magazine