Due to a rising demand for compounded plastics in APAC, Covestro recently started up two polycarbonate compounding production lines at its Greater Noida plant near New Delhi.
Covestro
Covestro expanding PC compounding operations in India
The surge in demand is being attributed to an expanding market for automotive applications, as well as for new solutions in the electrical and electronic industries.
In addition to its extensive polycarbonate portfolio, the company now has more than double the plastic finishing capacity there than before. The company confirms that encouragement to expand operations in the region came largely from the Indian government's ‘Make in India’ policy.
Dr Nicolas Stoeckel, Head of Operations in the Engineering Plastics segment, said: "We have invested in compounding capacity from Germany to China to India to further improve our competitiveness and customer focus. With the recent expansion in Greater Noida – a key component of our Engineering Plastics Business Entity's global footprint – we continue to build capacity to better serve our customers in the region."
Congratulating the team on reaching this milestone, Anand Srinivasan, Managing Director of Covestro (India) Pvt. Ltd., added: "This investment in new production technology reflects our growth as a company and is further evidence of our commitment to provide continuous and flexible supply to our customers. We continue to work closely with them by anticipating their needs, monitoring market trends and maintaining a local presence. I want to thank our team for their dedication in achieving this important milestone."
The decision to expand compounding in India was made in 2017 and implemented as planned despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The achievement is the first project worldwide under Covestro’s Blue Print concept for compounding, which involves standardising the design of its compounding lines and enabling the company to build new lines faster and more cost-effectively.