Plastics News 2017 Show Daily - October 19, 2017 - 12

12 * Plastics News, October 19, 2017

FAKUMA SHOW DAILY

Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

Lanxess considering expansion plans to meet growth
By Shahrzad Pourriahi
Plastics News Europe
German specialty chemicals
manufacturer Lanxess AG is
working on capacity expansions
for compounds production and
is likely to announce its plans in
the "very near future," according to Axel Tuchlenski, head of
global product and applications
development at the Lanxess high
performance materials business
unit.
According Tuchlenski, the
company is currently expecting
significant growth and is running
with "very, very high capacity utilization rates."
Without going into further details, the Lanxess official said at
the moment, "the capacity runs
short in
C h i n a
Lanxess AG
and Europe, and
Hall B4
this
is
Booth 4209
where we
work on
expansion plans."
"Whenever there's need for
new capacity, we will install new
capacity. We can expand the existing sites with additional compounding units," Tuchlenski said.
In terms of markets driving the
growth for Lanxess, Tuchlenski
said the automotive industry is
the biggest contributor.
"This is still the most important market for us, but also the
E&E [electric & electronics] industry plays an important role in

Axel Tuchlenski, head of global product and applications development at the Lanxess AG's high performance
materials business unit.
our business," Tuchlenski said.
Commenting on the key strategies of Lanxess, Tuchlenski said
CEO Matthias Zachert has two
top priorities - one being the
successful integration of U.S. firm
Chemtura, which Lanxess acquired in April, and digitalization.
The integration, explained

Temperature control.
Individual.
Flexible.
Best performance.

Winner of 2017 Export Award.

Tuchlenski, started from the day
the acquisition was completed.
Integration teams were formed
at different levels, including for
R&D, logistics and production.
One major milestone was the
reorganization of the company
into "new Lanxess" with three
segments, performance poly-

mers, advanced intermediates
and performance chemicals.
"The Chemtura integration also
improved our stakes in the North
American market, which is, from
the strategic point of view, very,
very important improvement
for the Lanxess set-up," said the
Lanxess manager.
According
to
Tuchlenski,
Chemtura was the "perfect fit" for
the existing business.
"We still follow the Lanxess
strategy to enter midsize markets
out of a leading position. This is a
Lanxess strategy, and the Chemtura acquisition exactly matches
it," he said.
And in addition to flame-retardants and lubricants, the Chemtura acquisition has offered a
new business to Lanxess, and
that is urethanes.
Lanxess has now developed a
new business called Urethanes
Systems following the acquisition, which is part of the company's engineering materials segment.
In terms of digitalization,
Tuchlenski said Lanxess was running a "major project" to make
itself digital.
"This holds for everybody
within the company. It starts
within the operations to make
production facilities digital and
follows with digital maintenance,
predictive maintenance tools
for the supply chain, all the way
through to digital business models and digital marketplace," he
added.
For this transition to a digital
company, Lanxess said it invests
in "people" and provides resources when needed.
"We invest whenever there's
a reason business case behind
it," explained Tuchlenski, adding
that a digitalization group function has been set up within Lanxess to address the issue.
In terms of big trends in the

industry that Lanxess is keeping
an eye on, Tuchlenski pointed
to lightweighting as one of the
"most important" topics for the
industry.
But what Tuchlenski sees as a
game-changer is the new mobility
concepts.
"The electrification of the
powertrain will bring significant
changes to materials suppliers,
too. The way how we manage,
install and set up the battery in
[an electric] car, battery thermal
management, battery lifetime
maintenance, flame-retardance
and other related issues will be
very important," Tuchlenski said,
pointing to the increasing dominance of electric vehicles in markets.
New mobility is also expected
to bring new players to the fore.
"Nobody knows whether the
existing supply chain will exist
in five years' time," explained
Tuchlenski, adding that there are
many new players coming particularly from China and of course
disruptive players such as Tesla.
This, according to the Lanxess
official, is both a challenge and
opportunity for the industry.
"We at Lanxess consider this as
an opportunity. We will put significant emphasis on developing
this market, and we will do this
with a global kind of task force.
We believe that now is the time to
invest and develop applications
and standards, while maintaining
the existing business, which is
the challenging part," he said.
For the lightweighting trend,
in Fakuma this year, Lanxess is
introducing Tepex, which is a
continuous-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite.
According to Tuchlenski, Lanxess is the only "mass producer"
of
continuous-fiber-reinforced
thermoplastics materials and the
product is finding its way into the
mass market.
The product, which is very
light with high stiffness, is mainly
supplied to the automotive industry, where it is used for under-thehood protection, particularly in
countries with poor roads where
the engine could be damaged by
rocks.
Another use, within the automotive industry, is where the materials is used as a container or a
"holder."
This includes car door modules and infotainment systems
that need to be contained.
Lanxess currently produces
Tepex in Brilon, a small city two
hours' drive away from Cologne,
Germany, where Lanxess is headquartered.
Another use for the materials is
the A-cover for electronic equipment, for which OEMs are switching from aluminium and magnesium to polymers.
Lanxess, Tuchlenski said, will
equip two famous notebook
brands, including Dell, with Tepex A-covers.
The Tepex solutions, he concluded, will provide stiffness
while offering light weight as well
as the ability to be decorated or
colored.

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