PPC conducted two press conferences in Tokyo on July 11 and August 3, 2011. The first press conference was to announce that Polyplastics will expand the production capacity for polymerizing and compounding of polyoxymethylene (POM), and attracted 20 representatives from 16 media. The second press conference was to announce the development of two high-performance series of DURANEX® polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resin, and attracted 20 representatives from 17 media. Following are details about the press conferences.

[July 11, 2011 Announcement of Production Expansion]

CEO Mr. Noboru Goto started the press conference by talking about the expansion of polymerizing capacity for POM. After a Q&A session and break, Mr. Yasutoshi Segizawa, General Manager of the Corporate Strategy Division, talked about the expansion of compounding capacity and establishment of a new compounding company. Their announcements are as follows, respectively.

Expansion of Polymerizing Capacity for POM (Polyplastics Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd.)

Polyplastics Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd. (PAP) will expand its polymerizing capacity for POM by an additional 90,000 metric tons per year, at the Kuantan plant. This will bring the total production capacity for POM to over 120,000 metric tons per year, including the existing capacity of 33,000 metric tons per year. It will make PAP the largest POM producer within the Polyplastics Group. The construction will be completed in September 2013, with production being brought online in early 2014. At that point, the Polyplastics Group will be capable of supplying 290,000 metric tons of POM per year.

For this expansion, Polyplastics will leverage its own production engineering expertise to achieve world-class energy efficiency for a POM production facility and enhance cost competitiveness, while securing the highest quality. The expansion targets supply to ASEAN countries in addition to India and the South China region, and will position the Group to provide a stable supply of POM to the Asia region in meeting our responsibilities as a leading supplier of POM.

Expansion of Compounding Capacity (Polyplastics Taiwan Co., Ltd.) and Establishment of Compounding Company (PTM Engineering Plastics (Nantong) Co., Ltd.)

Polyplastics Taiwan Co., Ltd. is constructing a new production line at the Dafa plant, which will add 14,000 metric tons per year of compounding capacity to the plant. The project will bring the total compounding capacity to 35,000 metric tons per year, once the facility is brought online in January 2012.

In addition, Polyplastics Co., Ltd. will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary that will share the site of the Nantong plant of PTM Engineering Plastics (Nantong) Co., Ltd. The new subsidiary will construct compounding plant to be brought online in the fall of 2013, starting with an initial capacity of 9,000 metric tons per year and to be expanded over time. The plant will compound DURACON® polyoxymethylene (POM), DURANEX® polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), FORTRON® polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), and VECTRA® liquid crystal polymer (LCP).
This project together with the new production line at the Dafa plant will add 23,000 metric tons per year in compounding capacity to the Polyplastics Group, bringing the Group’s total compounding capacity to 141,000 metric tons per year in 2013.

As announced in the CEO’s Message Vol. 22, the Group needs to collectively harness its full energies toward production. “I hope that these projects will give production base personnel the chances to exchange and work globally as “one team”, said CEO Mr. Noboru Goto in emphasizing the importance of a unified Group effort.

[August 3, 2011 Announcement of New DURANEX® Grades]

PPC held a press conference on August 3 to announce the development of two high-performance series of DURANEX® polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). Managing Senior Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mr. Ryuichi Sekita started the press conference with some opening words for the assembled media. Mr. Kazuya Goshima, Senior Researcher of the Research and Development Center, then talked in detail about the DURANEX® LT Series, which offers excellent long-term properties comparable to PPS, and DURANEX® SF Series, which offers super high-flow rivaling LCP.

Both the production expansion plans and new DURANEX® series will bring Polyplastics closer to its Vision provided in the corporate philosophy, being the No. 1 solution provider for engineering plastics. These initiatives are for the sake of our customers and facilitate our efforts to bring value to customers—something we must remember in pursuing our day-to-day activities.