NEWS Warning of PA 66 shortages
Growing tightness in the polyamide 66 market is putting automotive injection moulders that use the material in “serious difficulty”, according to GPA (Groupe- ment Plasturgie Automobile — the association of French automotive plastic parts makers). It adds that the price of PA 66 has increased by more than 40% since 2017. The organisation said in a
statement that force majeure has been declared by a number of PA 66 producers which have imposed quotas on their customers. The current situation is caused by limited production capacity for the PA 66 feedstock adiponitrile, it said. The GPA says its members
are asking PA 66 producers to increase production in order to secure the supply
Saint- Gobain US project
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has broken ground on an expansion of its site in Beaverton, Michigan, which will create 60 jobs for skilled workers when it opens in December 2019. The project will increase capacity for single use systems for drugs and vaccines. The expansion will add space to host extrusion, moulding and assembly in an ISO Class 7 production area. �
www.saint-gobain.com
4 PA 66 is used in automotive parts like cylinder head covers
chain. It is also asking carmakers to help the situation, in particular by shortening their approval processes for new materials. Armelle DuMont, Manag-
ing Director of the GPA, said: “These shortages of materi- als mean that supplies to certain members of the GPA will dry up at the start of 2019, a situation that could
put the complete production chain in peril.” He noted that only 55% of Europe’s PA 66 production capacity is currently available. “Hasn’t the time come to speed up investments in Europe and renovate the existing lines?” US-based integrated PA
66 producer Ascend Performance Materials responded with a statement
in which it said the com- pounding facility of Britannia Techno Polymer in Tilburg, Netherlands, which it recently acquired, is running at full capacity. Two of its US facilities are producing at optimal levels, it added, and although its Pensacola site remains under force majeure, its production is around 90% of capacity. Ascend also has adiponi-
trile expansion projects, with 40,000 tpa set to start up soon and a further 180,000 tpa expansion by 2022. “We plan to continue adding capacity to relieve the bulk of constraints felt in the market,” said Ascend. The company stressed
that PA 66 is still the “material of choice… in a number of industries.” �
www.autoplasticgate.fr �
www.ascendmaterials.com
Hasco boosts hot runner division
Hasco, the supplier to mould makers, is investing in further expansion of its hot runner capacities. The German company
said that the process of restructuring and expanding its Hot Runner division over the past three years has led to a large number of new employees being taken on, investments being made in machinery and plants and the product portfolio extended. “These measures have led to a clear growth in sales and hence to a strengthening of the company’s market position in the highly competitive hot runner market,” it said.
INJECTION WORLD | October 2018 It has recently added a
high-precision NLX-series lathe from DMG Mori and a Studer cylindrical grinding machine at its Guntramsdorf site in Austria. This opens up
more machining options to produce complex precision components for hot runner nozzles and shorten delivery times. �
www.hasco.com
An NLX-series lathe from DMG Mori has been installed by the Hasco team
www.injectionworld.com
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