Interiors giant Faurecia eyes exteriors in N. America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Faurecia, a giant in interior parts, believes there is opportunity in bumper fascias, hoods and front-end modules in North America, said Plasticsnews.

"A couple of automakers are asking us to get in," Heneka said today on the sidelines of the 2013 CAR Management Briefing Seminars here. "We spent the past two weeks in meetings with OEMs on it " - says Mike Heneka, president of Faurecia North America.

"We're No. 1 in exteriors in Europe — we're last in North American exteriors," Heneka says. "It's a very captive market here now, and the automakers would love for us to come in, be it Mexico or the United States."
Producing bumper fascias inside an auto plant, as companies such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda do, is challenging because they require ample space and clean, dust-free environments.

And it's an expensive business to get into, Heneka says, requiring an investment of about $30 million for one plant. It would take more than a single model cycle to pay off an investment.

Bumper fascias are also delicate and would need to be produced near the vehicle assembly line. And that would mean investing in individual plants for single customers in some cases.

"One-customer facilities are always risky," the executive says. "But the auto companies recognize all this, and we're discussing how we could do it."

At the same time, Faurecia has invested in manufacturing of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, and Heneka believes its U.S. customers will now ask for more carbon-fiber body panels as part of their lightweighting challenge.

The supplier additionally envisions expanding into more front-end module production. It is active in that segment in Europe, but barely so in North American yet, Heneka says.

The company last year added USD1.3 billion in North American sales, primarily from interiors. Heneka forecasts North American sales of USD7 billion in 2016.

As MRC wrote before, automotive parts manufacturer Faurecia (EO.FR) said that it has signed a partnership with private company LG Hausys, specialized in construction decoration materials, to produce vehicle interior decoration films.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Daqing Petrochemical has shut a low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant for maintenance turnaround, said Apic-online.

A source in China informed that the plant was shut on August 5, 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream for around two weeks.

Located in Heilongjiang province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 265,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote earlier, Daqing Petrochemical, a subsidiary of CNPC, is expected to start up two new PE production lines, an LLDPE line with a capacity of 250,000 tpa and an HDPE line with a capacity of 300,000 tpa, by late August or early September.

Daqing Petrochemical Company is a regional branch company of Petro-China Company Limited. It is a giant-scale petrochemical complex producing oil products, chemicals, fertilizers and chemical fiber with the major raw materials of crude oil, light hydrocarbon and natural gas from Daqing oilfield.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PolyOne Corporation reported USD1,038 million of revenue for the second quarter of 2013, a 37% increase compared to USD757 million in the second quarter of 2012, said PolyOne in its press-release.

Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations totaled USD0.39 in the second quarter of 2013, compared to USD0.20 in the second quarter of 2012; adjusted earnings per share grew 23% to USD0.37 for the second quarter of 2013 from USD0.30 in the second quarter of 2012.

Total earnings per share for the quarter including the gain from the sale of our non-core resin business was USD1.83 compared to USD0.27 in the same period last year.

"I am pleased to report another outstanding quarter for PolyOne as we not only delivered strong earnings growth but also completed the divestiture of our non-core resin business for a pre-tax gain of USD224 million," said Stephen D. Newlin, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

"While each of our three strategic platforms improved operating income year over year, our specialty platform was once again our engine for growth."

Mr. Newlin went on to say, "Mix improvement continues to be at the heart of our transformation story as we offer increasingly innovative products and solutions in specialty markets. With the addition of Spartech, we have expanded our position in packaging, aerospace, security and other markets. During the second quarter, specialty contributed nearly two-thirds of our segment operating income."

As MRC wrote before, PolyOne sold its vinyl dispersion, blending and suspension resin assets to Mexico-based Mexichem. PolyOne received USD250 million in cash for this deal.

PolyOne Corporation is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Asahi Kasei Chemicals and Mitsubishi Chemical have agreed to begin studies aimed at unifying their respective naphtha crackers in Mizushima, Japan, on a single cracker, said Apic-online.

In 2011, the two companies established Nishi Nippon Ethylene LLP as a limited liability company for the purpose of integrating and unifying the management and operations of their respective crackers in Mizushima. Each company had 500,000 t/y of ethylene capacity at the site.

"The operating climate for petrochemical operations is expected to become increasingly severe with contracting domestic demand expanding supply capacity in the Middle East and China, and expanding supply capacity in the U.S. due to the shale gas revolution," they explained.

Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi plan to finish the feasibility study by the end of March 2014, and anticipate unifying operations in the spring of 2016.

MRC