Trinseo (Berwyn, Pa.; www.trinseo.com) marked the opening of its new pilot plant and Solution-Styrene Butadiene Rubber (S-SBR) capacity expansion at Schkopau, Germany. Business leaders and dignitaries, among them Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, celebrated the opening, marking an important milestone for both Trinseo and the region of Saxony-Anhalt.
The corporation’s decision to open the new facility is triggered by the growth in global demand for S-SBR and by the need for faster innovation cycles in the performance tire market. The new pilot plant will design next generation material and deliver sufficient quantities of new S-SBR formulations as required for real-life tire-testing. The pilot plant’s ability to evaluate both process and product parameters meet the tire manufacturers’ need for reducing product validation time.
The production expansion adds additional 50,000 metric tons of S-SBR capacity to the Schkopau site and increases the company’s global S-SBR production by 33%. Most of Trinseo’s production goes into the tire industry, and the company has adopted the tire industry’s speed, innovation, reliability and forward-looking-approach.
“With this plant, Trinseo has the ability to react faster to customer demands and enable them to become technological leaders,” said Hayati Yarkadas, Trinseo’s Senior Vice President and Business President. “The new pilot plant and capacity expansion is consistent with our goal of increasing EBITDA by $100 million in our Latex Binders, Synthetic Rubber, and Performance Plastics segments from 2016 to 2019 businesses.”
“I am particularly pleased about Trinseo’s commitment to research and development. Innovations are the basis for further growth, which we urgently need to continue the positive economic development in Saxony-Anhalt,” confirmed Minister-President Dr. Reiner Haseloff.