Expansions: Ensinger opens machine shop in Bangalore; Covestro inaugurates polyester resins line in Germany

Plastics processor Ensinger has recently opened a machine shop in Bangalore, India, expanding its local offering to include the machining of customer-specific plastic components. The facility complements the company’s existing sales presence in India, strengthening local value creation and customer proximity. Ensinger plans to employ more than 50 people at the new site.

Established in 2012, Ensinger India distributes engineering and high-performance plastics across India through its sales office in Thane and its stock shapes warehouse in Bhiwandi, both in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The new machine shop is located in Bangalore’s High Tech Aerospace & Defence Park. By adding local machining in Bangalore to its existing distribution network in India, Ensinger aims to offer customers greater flexibility and responsiveness. Target sectors include aerospace and defence, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, oil and gas, medical technology, pharmaceutical processing, and food and beverage equipment.

Sivakumar Chokkalingam, Managing Director of Ensinger India, says: “The new machine shop brings our material knowledge and machining expertise together. As a one-stop shop for stock shapes and machined components in India, we can respond more directly to our customers’ requirements.”

Ensinger India Engineering Plastics Pvt. Ltd. has achieved AS9100 certification for its Bangalore site. The certified scope covers the manufacture of precision-machined engineering and high-performance plastic products for aerospace, defence and general industrial applications.

In other news, German materials firm Covestro inaugurated a new production line for polyester resins at its Meppen site in Germany. The opening comes in response to rising demand for high-performance polyester resins across Europe. Coatings formulators are reformulating to meet ever-tighter regulatory requirements, while packaging and industrial markets demand consistent quality, reliable availability, and simpler supply chains.

The multi-year investment project adds an extra reactor line, bringing additional capacity in the double-digit kiloton range. The new line is built on Meppen's established, GMP-compliant manufacturing infrastructure to support the requirements of food-contact related applications. The new reactor is designed to run a broad range of chemistries, giving Covestro the flexibility to produce high-molecular-weight and standard polyester grades, alkyds, and acrylic resins. These product lines serve can, coil, industrial coating, and adhesive applications, and are sold under the brand names Uralac, Uradil, Hybrane and NeoRez. This new line can also produce intermediates for polyurethane dispersions.

The investment goes beyond adding a reactor line. Existing facilities have been modernized with a new truck filling system, a fully automated drum filling line, and a heat recovery installation that improves energy efficiency by recapturing process heat. The total investment is in the multi million-euro range.

Alongside the modernisation and capacity expansion, the team at the site is also growing: due to higher demand for products manufactured in Meppen, some additional positions in production, filling, and shipping are currently being filled.

With this investment, Covestro says it is strengthening the role of the Meppen site as a reliable, long-term partner for polyester specialties in Europe.

The Meppen plant has been part of Covestro since 2021, when the site was acquired as part of the purchase of the Resins & Functional Materials business from the Dutch company Royal DSM. The production site has been in operation since 1956. More than 100 employees, including apprentices, produce high-quality resins, including polyesters, alkyds, acrylates, and polyurethane dispersions, for customers in the paints, coatings, and packaging industries.

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