Chinaplas 2016: DuPont to build its largest compounding plant in China

US-headquartered DuPont Performance Materials is building a new plant in Guangming, Shenzhen, known as Apollo. It will produce the company’s Zytel nylon, Zytel HTN nylon, Crastin PBT thermoplastic resin, Delrin acetal resin, Bynel adhesive resin, Fusabond functional polymers and more. The former Shenzhen plant, which was set up some 18 years ago, will be shut down and production will be shifted to Apollo, which will be inaugurated at the end of June, said Philippe Hanck, Business Director, Asia Pacific, speaking to journalists a day before Chinaplas on 24 April.

“It will be the largest compounding plant for the company globally. The constructed area is quite significant and there is quite a lot of space available for future expansion,” said Hanck, adding that the company does not reveal capacity figures.

“Furthermore the new facility will feature new types of extruders and equipment for compounding and will allow for flexibility, stability, quality of materials and faster turnaround time,” he rounded up. Meanwhile, Hanck said that he gets asked why the company is building a new plant in China, given the slowdown in China. “I agree that there is a slowdown and lower GDP forecast for China, but DuPont’s growth is not linked to the overall world or China growth. We are working in industries that are growing, such as packaging and automotive sectors,” he emphasised.

“Though it went through the ups and downs last year, the automotive sector is still growing with new technology and developments, like turbocharged engines, and it allows us to decouple our growth in much of the markets we are currently working in, like the mobile phone industry.”

Hanck also said that the new plant is essential to service customers in a majority of locally produced products. “China represents at least half of the volumes we sell in this region and we sell in China to serve local customers. Germany, Japan and the US have many end users that specify our materials for products that are sold in China, so we also serve the global market,” he added. DuPont has a compounding plant in Singapore that also caters to the Asian market.