Engel announces EUR11m investment in expansion robot plant

In response to steadily rising demand globally for production robots and integrated system solutions, injection moulding machine manufacturer Engel is spending EUR11m to update and expand its plant in Dietach, Austria, said Sustainableplastics.

Founded in 1980, the Dietach plant today develops and produces the viper linear robot, the e-pic pick-and-place robot and the pic A sprue picker. The production and logistics area, as well as the apprentice workshop and the office building, will be expanded and modernised, creating at a total of over 3000m2 in usable floor space. The project will be executed in two construction phases, starting in May 2023.

The extra space is sorely needed, as the company alreadysells well over half of all injection moulding machines complete with integrated automation technology - and the trend is continuing to grow, according to Dr. Stefan Engleder, CEO of the Engel Group.

The project will include modernising the flow assembly line, enabling the company to respond more flexibly to specific customer requests and short-term order changes without prolonging lead times, he added.

By spring 2024, the production, logistics and apprentice workshop areas will have been completed. A new photovoltaic system will be installed so that in Dietich, like at the other two production sites in Austria, solar power will supply the energy needed to operate.

The office building is also being enlarged, in order to accommodate the additional personnel needed in the future. The Dietach location is already looking for mechatronics engineers, commissioning engineers, software engineers, development engineers, and more.

We remind, in a move aimed to expand its offerings in process automation, injection molding machine maker Engel has acquired the majority interest in Poland-based TMA Automation. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

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India has announced an extension on the deadline for the implementation of the quality certifications mandated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on purified terephthalic acid (PTA) imports, said BIS.gov.

The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, via an order issued on 21 December 2022, set 22 June 2023 as the implementation date for the certification to come into effect.

The deadline was previously set for 22 December 2022.

We remind, India has decided to extend once again the deadline for import certification of various chemicals to March-April 2023, giving in to pressure from domestic end-user industries that rely on imported raw materials. The mandatory Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certification was expanded to cover more chemicals and petrochemical imports in 2019 as a non-tariff barrier against inferior imports.

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The European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM) and VinylPlus, the sustainability program of the European PVC industry, have a new face at the helm: In the future, Dr. Karl-Martin Schellerer, Managing Director of Westlake Vinnolit, will continue to drive the industry’s sustainability efforts at European level, said Westlakevinnolit.

He succeeds Stefan Sommer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vynova Holding. Dr. Karl-Martin Schellerer has already been heavily involved in the boards of ECVM and VinylPlus since 2018.

PVC is one of the world’s most widely used plastics with a wide range of durable applications such as window frames, pipes, flooring, cables or automotive interior and a number of life-saving medical applications. PVC can be recycled multiple times. VinylPlus aims to make the entire PVC value chain even more sustainable and further improve the circularity of PVC products.

We remind, Westlake Vinnolit continues to expand its lower-carbon GreenVin product line: Effective immediately, the company also offers GreenVin bio-attributed PVC based on renewable ethylene. Westlake Vinnolit’s lower-carbon GreenVin® product line continues to expand: in addition to GreenVin® PVC, with approximately 25% CO2 savings through the use of renewable electricity (Guarantees of Origin with quality label) in the Westlake Vinnolit production chain, GreenVin bio-attributed PVC is now also available. GreenVin® bio-attributed PVC is produced with renewable electricity and ISCC PLUS-certified renewable ethylene from biomass. The CO2 savings of GreenVin® bio-attributed PVC is about 90%, compared to conventionally produced Vinnolit PVC.

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Showa Denko has decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Asian Paints Limited, a leading paint and decor company in India, said the company.

In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts to be used for the company’s VAM production.

In order to strengthen its petrochemicals business’s tolerance to price fluctuation and earnings stability, SDK has been striving to improve the makeup of its organic chemicals sector by expanding the lineup of high-value-added products including derivatives, and expanding business to license SDK’s technologies to produce organic chemicals. Licensing of the technology to produce VAM of this time follows the same licensing to Shenghong Refining Petrochemical (Lian Yun Gang) Co., Ltd., China, in 2019.

VAM is a colorless transparent liquid used as raw material for wide-ranging products including adhesives and synthetic resins. SDK has been producing VAM at its Oita Petrochemical Complex for more than 40 years. As a part of the licensing package of this time, SDK will provide Asian Paints with its technical know-how about safe and stable operation of the VAM plant, which SDK accumulated through operation of many years, through KBR.

In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts for the company’s VAM production facility. We expect SDK’s catalysts will improve performance of the Asian Paints’ new plant.

We remind, Showa Denko Materials Co Ltd announces the decision to expand its production capacity of copper-clad laminates for semiconductor package substrates by introducing a production line and additional equipment by 2025 at its Shimodate Works and Group company Showa Denko Semiconductor Materials (Taiwan) Co Ltd (SDSMT). Showa Denko Materials plans to invest approximately Yen 10 bn to meet the rapidly growing demand for semiconductor package substrates, driven by the increasing use of semiconductors for communications infrastructure supporting 5G and post-5G networks. This expansion is expected to roughly double Showa Denko Materials Group's current output capacity of the product.
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Showa Denko K.K. decided to increase its production capacity for VGCFTM (vapor grown carbon fiber), which is added to cathodes and anodes of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) to improve electrical conductivity, said the company.

In the LIB market, where the demand for the product is rapidly increasing, especially the demand for LIBs to be used in xEVs (electric vehicles including hybrid vehicles) is growing very rapidly. VGCFTM is an essential material for LIBs. As a result, the demand for VGCFTM is rapidly growing especially among LIB manufacturers who provide European car manufacturers with LIBs. Aiming to respond to such a rapidly growing demand, SDK has decided to increase its capacity to produce VGCFTM. SDK will start to operate the expanded VGCFTM production facilities in October 2023. The expanded facilities, which are located in Kawasaki Plant, will have a capacity to produce 400 tons of VGCFTM per year, which is 33% more than the current capacity of 300 tons per year.

Repetition of charging and discharging gradually makes it difficult for lithium ion to move about, and causes deterioration of LIBs’ performance including a decrease in changing capacity. However, application of fibriform VGCFTM to cathodes and anodes of LIBs maintains movableness of lithium ion, thereby controlling deterioration of LIBs’ performance. Since VGCFTM is a fibriform material with high dispersiveness, addition of small amount of VGCFTM increases LIBs’ capacity and extends the life of LIBs. Furthermore, since VGCFTM has high heat conductivity, it improves LIBs’ heat management by accelerating heat dissipation from electrodes. As a result of these advantages, application of VGCFTM extends LIBs’ life, and is expected to contribute to reduction of CO2 emission throughout the life cycle of LIBs.

The Showa Denko Group produces various materials for LIBs including VGCFTM; aluminum laminate film “SPALFTM 1; binder for anode PolysolTM 2; and anode materials. The Group will continue contributing to sustainable development of global society through provision of products that help energy conservation and reduction of environmental burden.

We remind, Showa Denko K.K. decided to license its technology to produce vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) to Asian Paints Limited, a leading paint and decor company in India , under a formal alliance agreement between SDK and KBR, a global engineering and technology solutions company based in the U.S.. In addition, SDK will provide Asian Paints with catalysts to be used for the company’s VAM production.

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