DowDuPont to invest $100 million to expand speciality materials capacity

DowDuPont has announced its intentions to invest around $100 million (approx. £70.3 million GBP) to expand manufacturing capacity for the production of speciality materials at its plant in Texas.

It says investments will incrementally expand production capacity, as well as modernising facilities, to support global growth of specialty materials manufactured at the Sabine River Works (SRW) site, specifically its Surlyn, Nucrel, Fusabond and Vamac product lines.

Additionally, the company says it is evaluating longer-term plans to invest in a new facility to further support market growth.

The joint investment will support customer growth of both the Packaging and Speciality Plastics (P&SP) business of DowDuPont’s Materials Science Division (to be named Dow), as well as the Transportation and Advanced Polymers (T&AP) business of its Speciality Products Division (to be named DuPont).

“This is another great example of the power of our historic merger and our ability to quickly respond to customers’ growing needs,” said Diego Donoso, Business President for Dow Packaging and Speciality Plastics.

“We see tremendous potential to deliver more supply of these iconic speciality products to our customers in the food packaging and consumer goods markets.”

The added capacity is expected to come online in several phases starting in 2020 and will enable both divisions to meet growing demand for Surlyn, Nucrel, Fusabond (P&SP) and Vamac (T&AP) speciality materials used for applications in food packaging, transportation and consumer goods.

“With this increased capacity, we will be able to support growth in the automotive space at a time when customer demand for our advanced polymers is very strong,” said Randy Stone, Business President for DuPont Transportation and Advanced Polymers.

“This investment will enable us to continue to deliver innovative solutions that serve high-growth end markets and reinforces our commitment to enhancing our leadership position in these key market segments.”