Trelleborg has opened a facility in Querétaro, Mexico, to manufacture sealing profiles, such as control cable protector tubes and other critical automotive sealing components. The site covers a total of 1,250 m². According to Trelleborg, the state-of-the-art facility will serve the needs of the company’s existing and future tier one customers within the automotive industry. The investment is part of Trelleborg’s continued long-term strategy to invest in markets with favourable growth potential.

Spanish company Simplicity Works, working together with Huntsman Polyurethanes and Desma, has developed a shoe production method that  – according to the company – offers game-changing possibilities to manufacturers looking to produce products closer to customers in Europe and North America. In collaboration, the three companies have created a highly automated, cost effective way of bonding together two-dimensional components, in a single shot, to form a seamless, three-dimensional upper.

Arlanxeo announced that it will raise the prices for its Keltan EPDM grades.

The Malaysian rubber industry is expected to become the number one commodity contributor to the country’s economy as palm oil is facing difficulties in the international market, said Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim. She said in terms of commodity export earnings, rubber and rubber products were currently the second largest contributor after palm oil.

Cooper Standard announced the opening of its new Japan headquarters and engineering centre in Yokohama. Relocated from its previous location in Osaki, the approximately 5,400 square-foot (~ 502.5 m2) facility currently employs 14 people and offers full-service product development and engineering to support Japanese automakers, such as Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota.

On 14 September 2018, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new Alliance designed to foster safer and more healthful American workplaces operating with diisocyanate chemicals along the polyurethane value chain. Three groups from ACC will lead the work with OSHA: the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) and the Diisocyanates (DII) and Aliphatic Diisocyanates (ADI) panels.

According to the news portal “BusinessKorea”, a consortium led by the Korean construction material producer KCC Corporation will acquire the US-based company Momentive Performance Materials, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of silicone, quarts and ceramics, for approximately USD 3 billion.

On 12 September 2018, Versalis (Eni) has opened a new EPDM rubber production plant in Ferrara, Italy, which will mainly supply the automotive industry. Over EUR 250 million were invested in the project, which involved constructing a new production line, and the revamping of the existing elastomer plant.

The German company Pultex GmbH, Simmerath, and the Dutch company Prokol Polymers & Compounds BV, Helmond, have jointly developed the non-combustible coating system FireGuard Pro 200 based on a polyaspartic resin.

Sabic, in a notice to Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange), said it has completed all regulatory approvals in relation to the acquisition of a 24.99% equity interest in Clariant.