Expansions: Sekisui to expand PVOH capacity; Henkel builds adhesives plant in South Korea

Sekisui Specialty Chemicals says that it is beginning feasibility studies for expansion of its Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVOH) supply network in order to meet the growing needs of its downstream customers.

It already operates three world scale PVOH units globally, with two in the US and one in Spain, and plans to make investments to expand its operations and help support customer growth.

When completed, the investments will increase Sekisui's PVOH capacity by as much as 25%.

“Sekisui Specialty Chemicals is a global leader in the production of high-quality polyvinyl alcohol needed to meet today's highly technical application requirements," said Cory Sikora, President of Sekisui Specialty Chemicals. "With our current footprint and growth opportunities, we believe that Sekisui is well positioned to expand and meet customer needs, particularly in the western hemisphere, which today relies heavily on PVOH imports from Asia."

In other news, Henkel Korea has announced the completion of its EUR35 million Songdo plant within the Songdo High-tech Industrial Cluster in Incheon, which will become the Asia-Pacific production hub for high-impact electronics solutions of the Adhesive Technologies business unit. After undergoing trial production and quality verification since last year, the plant began production in the second half 2022.

Henkel’s Songdo plant has been designed for the production of adhesive solutions for semiconductor packaging, electronic components and device assembly for electric vehicles, electronic devices, and electronic materials as well as to increase sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions.

Henkel Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority in April 2019 for the project and started construction work in the same year. With a total floor area of 10,144 sq m and in a two-storey building, the plant is said to implement an advanced smart factory system (SFS), enhancing process monitoring, data collection and troubleshooting.

“The opening of our state-of-the-art Songdo plant is a milestone for our Adhesive Technologies business to further expand our capabilities to create value for our broad global customer base in electronics with high-impact solutions for major industry trends such as connectivity and sustainability,” said Jan-Dirk Auris, Executive Vice President Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “In addition, the new facility demonstrates our ambition to further drive the implementation of Industry 4.0 across our production network while at the same time significantly reducing our environmental footprint.”

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