Expansions: Greene Tweed to set up facility in South Korea; Jaewon Industrial to establish US$100 mn chemical recycling plant in US

US-based manufacturer of thermoplastics, composites, seals, and engineered components Greene Tweed has announced its investment plans for a new manufacturing facility in Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the facility is planned for June, with construction estimated to be completed in early 2024. The new facility will combine Greene Tweed’s proven and tested technologies with advances in automation. While the facility may eventually produce additional product lines, the new capacity will initially be dedicated to Greene Tweed’s Chemraz product line, a leading brand for sealing solutions to semiconductor, energy, and industrial markets.

“The facility will focus on creating value and improving delivery time to customers. Over the last few years, the instability in the global supply chain has been every customer’s top priority. Greene Tweed continues to prioritize our customers’ needs by investing in technology and operation efficiency. We are excited to continue growing our capacity and capability to better support the global demand for our products,” says Thyag Sadasiwan, Business Unit Director - Chemraz.

Greene Tweed is investing in Korea to support the continued growth of the global semiconductor industry. The company plans to manufacture some of its widely adopted and advanced elastomer seals. The facility is expected to start production in early 2024. The new manufacturing site will enable Greene Tweed to increase global capacity, enhance its business continuity plans, and help improve lead times and responsiveness for their global customers.

"Greene Tweed has a history of investing to support future growth that enables the company's long-term operational capabilities & continued innovation, and increases our capacity to facilitate our customers' growth. This new Korean manufacturing site will help enable our customers’ technology roadmaps and growth plans,” said Magen Buterbaugh, President and CEO.

The announcement of the investment was made by Allon Bloch, Chairman of Greene Tweed, at a forum hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce’s US-Korea Business Council, with Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea recently.

Meanwhile in other news, chemical firm Jaewon Industrial, based in Yeosu, South Korea, will open a new chemical recycling plant in the US to serve lithium-ion battery manufacturers and the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain. JWA Co. Ltd is the company's US battery and EV market subsidiary.

JWA will invest US$102 million to locate its first operations in Indiana, buying 30 acres of land at 100 East in Kokomo, Indiana state.

The first phase of construction will involve building a 65,000-sq-ft facility to disperse conductive slurry and the construction of a recycling facility.

The recycling facility for n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) will enable JWA to recycle up to 100,000 tonnes of NMP once at full capacity.

The second phase of construction will include building a second, 150,000-sq-ft facility to disperse conductive slurry.

JWA plans to break ground in June and begin operations next year serving battery manufacturers in Indiana, including Stellantis' and Samsung SDI's new gigafactory jv, and across the US.

Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers said, "With the addition of JWA, Hoosiers will be supporting the full lifecycle of energy storage and electric vehicle production, from R&D to production to recycling, helping usher in the global energy transition and shared sustainability goals."

Jaewon Industrial CEO Jaewon Shim said, "By establishing a presence in Indiana, we hope to help secure Indiana as the centre of the North American secondary battery and semi-conductor supply chains. Jaewon Industrial is also committed to investing in R&D as well as innovation of leading environmentally-friendly solutions for businesses."

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