Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan; www.shinetsu.co.jp) announced that its U.S.-based group company Shin-Etsu Silicones of America (SESA) will expand the production capacity of its plant in Akron, Ohio, which is engaged in the manufacturing and sales of silicones in the U.S. The amount of this facility investment is ¥2.4 billion, and the expansion work is aimed for completion in the middle of 2019.
SESA’s Akron Plant is producing various silicone products that possess diversified forms and applications such as high consistency silicone rubber, liquid silicone rubber for adhesives and sealing materials, silicones for cosmetics and heat-dissipating silicones for applications in automobiles and electronics parts. This new investment is for the purpose of expanding its production capacity for these silicone products and additionally to set up a new production facility for silicone emulsions.
Since 2014 Shin-Etsu Chemical has been proactively carrying out facility investments in its silicones business by such means as expanding in Thailand the production capacity of its existing silicones plant and obtaining new adjacent industrial land, expanding the production capacity of its plants in Japan and constructing a new research building at its Silicone-Electronics Materials Research Center in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Including this new investment for expanding production capacity in the U.S., the total investment amount Shin-Etsu has made in its silicones business over just the past four years now comes to ¥65 billion.
SESA is the North American base of Shin-Etsu Chemical’s silicones business. In addition to the silicone products being made at its Akron Plant in Ohio, SESA’s Freeport Plant in Texas is producing organo-functional silane. Furthermore, Shin-Etsu opened a Technical Center in the State of New Jersey in 2015, as the company is continuing to focus on the expansion of its silicones business.