Global medical disposables producer Gerresheimer plans to expand its presence in North America by acquiring Centor US Holding, a former Rexam plc business based in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Centor of Perrysburg, Ohio, is the leader in the US prescription plastic vial retail market for oral drugs, according to Gerresheimer. The German company agreed to pay $725m (€656m) for Centor, which had sales last year of about $167m (€151m) and about 220 employees.

The acquisition, expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015, would launch Gerresheimer into plastic injection molded packaging in the United States, according to spokesman Jens Kuerten.

Gerresheimer, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, saw about €262m in sales in North America last year, but it was mainly in glass packaging and other drug delivery devices such as inhalers, Kuerten said in an email.

Gerresheimer is already experienced in making plastic medical packaging elsewhere and will combine that experience with Centor’s expertise in moulding, he added.

The deal also puts Gerresheimer in the retail market of pharmacies and supermarkets, a new customer base for the company, which has mostly sold directly to drug companies.

Centor, founded in 1968, does its molding in Berlin, Ohio. Centor President and one of the founders, Paul Arsenault, declined comment by phone, deferring to Gerresheimer’s media relations team.

“We will contribute to Gerresheimer’s success with our market leadership in the North American prescription plastic vial retail market,” Arsenault noted in a news release.

Gerresheimer boosted its production capacity for inhalers, pens and other drug delivery items at its Peachtree City, Georgia, plant early this year. The project also enhanced the firm’s moulding technology development there, reflecting Gerresheimer’s 2014 investment in pilot plant production at its Wackersdorf, Germany, technical center. Gerresheimer also operates a third technical center, in Dongguan, China, which it opened last autumn to develop markets in Asia. The company has been manufacturing drug delivery systems such as inhalers and lancets in Dongguan since 2006.

Centor leads its market with two drug vials, Screw-Loc and 1-Clic, which cater to trends to “pour and count” drug delivery systems among consumers. Centor reportedly has more than half the US prescription vial retail market, selling some 1.5 billion of the little bottles per year.

Centor was Rexam’s prescription retail packaging business until it was acquired by Montagu Private Equity in 2014. Montagu also bought Rexam’s former pharmaceutical devices division, which will continue on as Nemera Development SA of La Verpillieré, France.

Gerresheimer is growing the plastics side of its business and shedding the glass manufacturing portion. In June, Gerresheimer said it will sell its glass tubing business to Corning, although it will continue in a joint venture with Corning to develop innovations in glass drug packaging.

Gerresheimer runs more than 40 factories in Europe, Asia and North and South America employing about 11,000. Annual sales of about €1.3bn comprise a wide range of packaging and delivery systems for drugs and to a lesser extent, cosmetics. It makes PET and high density polyethylene bottles for pharmaceuticals as well as multilayer barrier bottles with cyclic polyolefin and nylon layers.

Gerresheimer calculates its agreed purchase price values Centor at about 9.8 time earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation. It will integrate the newcomer into its Plastics & Devices Division. Gerresheimer was founded in 1864 as a glass container manufacturer.

Photo by Adval Tech Adval Tech operation at Szekszárd, Hungary

Auto parts producer Adval Tech is in the process of moving plastics moulding capacity to an expanding operation in Hungary from a Swiss plant that will shut down later this year.

The planned closure of the group’s plant at Uetendorf, south of Bern, Switzerland with component production switching to other units at Szekszárd in southern Hungary and Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, Germany is part of broader restructuring by the Swiss group.

Meanwhile, this month (Sept), Adval Tech announced it had agreed to sell off its consumer goods plastic components operation in Pluak Daeng, Thailand to Singapore-based precision plastic parts maker Sunningdale Tech Ltd.

Its disposal of Adval Tech (Thailand) Co Ltd, which employs 80, was in line with the Swiss group’s continuing strategy of focusing on certain activities, particularly in its main target market of the automotive sector.

Sunningdale Tech is a significant global plastics processor with more than 1,000 injection moulding machines producing auto, consumer and healthcare parts at 20 plants in Mexico, Latvia, Brazil and across Asia. It boasts more than 2.8 million m2 of factory space.

Adval Tech, based in Niederwangen, Switzerland, specialises in manufacturing both plastic moulded, composite and metal automotive parts. It has operated in Hungary since 2007 and early last year split its national subsidiary into two separate businesses, one, Adval Tech (Hungary Kft., injection moulding plastics parts and the other, Adval Tech (Hungary) Plant 2 Kft. making and assembling metal components.

During 2016 and 2017, the publicly quoted group won several large orders for plastics components which are expected to keep the Hungarian operation busy for several years. These include a contract for air flow systems from a new automotive sector customer, part of the Volkswagen group, with series production set to start next year and run for around four years.

From 2019, Adval Tech will also start turning out parts for a front panel, including radiator shutters which it will manufacture for different models of various OEMs. That business is due to continue for seven years, the firm said.

It attracted a further order to supply oil guidance components for another automotive OEM with series production in Hungary also set to start in 2019. That business is likely to last for about six years.

Adval Tech group, which employs 1,400 overall, reported annual income of €182.5m for last year and has achieved first half 2018 sales of €91.2m, slightly up on the same period in 2017. It reported 2018 first half pre tax profit of €9.75m.

Evolve Additive Solutions, Inc. announced the completion of an equity investment of US$19M led by the LEGO Brand Group with participation from Stanley Black and Decker Investments and a third undisclosed investor. As said, the proprietary Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) technology of Evolve will radically improve manufacturing while creating disruptive new business models. STEP, designed for automated manufacturing and factory-floor integration, allows users to utilize production-grade thermoplastics for volume manufacturing applications across multiple industries, including Consumer, Automotive, Industrial and Medical. The highly scalable and extensible solution combines Evolve’s own proprietary technology with the proven capability of electrophotography, to produce additive manufactured parts that meet or exceed traditionally manufactured parts. “Evolve has entered an exciting new growth phase as we begin commercial development of our proprietary STEP technology,” commented Steve Chillscyzn, CEO of Evolve Additive Solutions. “We are excited to have forged equity partnerships with world leading companies that recognize the production potential of STEP and are committed to working alongside Evolve to bring the technology to commercialization.” “LEGO Brand Group has invested in Evolve because it is an attractive investment opportunity, which can benefit the LEGO brand. The LEGO Group has been using Additive Manufacturing technology for more than 20 years. Today, the company mainly employs the technology to create prototypes in the development of new products and we believe that the technology will become an even more important supplement to the current Injection Moulding capabilities in the future. With Evolve Additive Solutions we have found a very competent partner within this area,” said Per Hjuler, LEGO Brand Group business development. “We are excited about the potential impact that Evolve’s unique Additive Manufacturing technology could have on the production of high quality medium volume plastic components for a number of our product categories,” said Tim Hatch Chief Technology Officer for Stanley Engineered Fasteners. Other investors in Evolve Additive Solutions include Stratasys, Inc. as a minority shareholder as well as an undisclosed investor. BNP Paribas acted as exclusive financial advisors to Evolve. The senior management team of Evolve Additive Solutions brings over 40 years of combined experience in additive manufacturing and is supported by a very experienced Board of Directors with expertise in managing and counseling both private and publically-held companies.

Photo by Caroline Seidel Adhesive bonded hybrid structures in a car axis from Evonik shown at Fakuma 2018.

Friedrichshafen, Germany — Evonik Industries AG is progressing well with a €400m plan to increase production of polyamide 12 (PA 12) at its manufacturing site in Marl, Germany by 50%, with start-up scheduled in just over two years.

"We have asked engineering companies for bids now, and the plan is to start up the plant at the beginning of 2021," Ralf Duessel, general manager high-performance polymers, said in an interview at Fakuma.

The 50% increase in capacity will include increases in monomer production as well as polymerisation and compounding capabilities at the site.

In February, Evonik already raised production of its Vestosint-branded powder materials in Marl by 50%. But the recent investment, according to Duessel, will cover a larger scope that will include its Vistamid range of PA 12 polymers.

According to Duessel, who took over the role eight months ago, the high-performance material has a steady, solid growth prospect, with increasing applications in additive manufacturing.

"We have been involved in 3D printing for a long time, and we have a good knowledge of how polymers behave. Over the years, we have seen volumes increasing," the Evonik official said.

The Essen, Germany-based specialty chemical company sees its products particularly suited for laser sintering and multijet fusion technologies. In this process, Evonik has established long-term partners including HP and Munich-based additive manufacturing pioneer EOS GmbH.

According to Duessel, the clear material has significant advantages in 3D printing over other polymers.

The material, particularly in laser sintering, has certain features including crystallinity that can give a broad operation window.

"It doesn't melt, and you can create sharp contours. It also has a wide range of features that can be optimised for different applications," Duessel said.

Despite the increasing demand, 3D printing has remained fairly limited to prototyping and small-scale manufacturing.

"We are trying to get there, to make the process fast and more efficient with lower costs," Duessel added.

Evonik is supporting so-called 3D printing "ecosystems," where a range of players, including material suppliers, hardware, software and designing experts, collaborate to advance the technology.

"Engineers need to design differently and think differently. [Unlike injection moulding], they are not putting parts together. They need to design differently, and we are working with universities and startups in that area," he said.

Apart from the increasing demand in additive manufacturing, PA 12 continues to grow in its traditional markets, too.

With resistance to chemicals and a good temperature range between -40 to 80° C, the material is well-suited for fluid transfer applications, particularly in the automotive industry.

The polymer is also finding increasing levels of use in the oil and gas industry, replacing metal pipe.

"For pipes, PA 12 is simply better. It's lighter, and it can be welded when you're installing it. We have a nice long gas pipeline that has just been installed using the material," he said.

In cars, the high impact resistance makes it a key material for fuel lines. And as the car industry transitions from combustion engines to electric motors, Evonik sees new application opportunities. For example, cooling lines used for the thermal management of batteries can be made with PA 12, according Duessel.

"We already sell a significant amount to that [EV] market," he added.

At Fakuma, Evonik also displays its well-established Plexiglass-branded polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) materials, despite being in the process of carving out the business.

According to Duessel, the sale of the methyl methacrylates (MMA)and PMMA business, originally announced in March, is going well, and a long-list has been created.

The methacrylates business, in spite of its sales of roughly €1.5bn, has been defined as outside the company's growth area.

This, according to Duessel, is because of the cyclical nature of the business, its cash-intensiveness as well as the fact that MMAs are standard chemicals, as opposed to specialty chemicals that Evonik pursues.

Evonik's overall MMA and PMMA production capacities are roughly 600 and 400 kilotonnes per annum, respectively.

With plants in Germany, the United States and China, covering three large continents, Duessel believes the operation is a "very attractive business."

On top of that, Evonik has, over the past 10 years, developed a propriety new production process that it is currently employing at its pilot plant in Germany.

"To scale up, a significant capex amount is needed, and Evonik is not prepared to make the investment at this point. Finding a new investor can help with the scaling up of the technology, too," he said.

Photo by JSB Group

Swiss high-performance plastics composites supplier Gurit Holding AG is strengthening its wind energy business with a DKK 520m (€70m) acquisition of JSB Group.

Based in Ringk?bing, Denmark, JSB is a supplier of core material kits for wind turbine blades with seven kitting operations in Denmark, Spain, Turkey, the US, and China. The company is also planning to build a new kitting facility in Mexico.

The JSB operations will form a new Gurit business unit for kitting solutions. JSB’s established name will be retained as a product brand.

According to JSB website, core material kits consist of up to 1600 unique items used to increase the durability and performance of wind blades.

By combining the right thickness and sizes and cutting them into the right shapes, a kit becomes a lightweight yet sturdy component to support the wind turbine blade. A kit usually consists of shells for the lower and upper part of the blade and a vertical web in the middle for extra support.

JSB's are made from either balsa wood or recycled plastic-based PET foam.

Gurit, which is already a leading supplier of wind core materials, said the acquisition of JSB downstream core kitting operations would improve its value chain and allow it to offer wind energy OEMs a full solution of structural core materials, core material kits and wind turbine blade moulds.

The combination of the two companies’ capabilities into a dedicated product and supply chain powerhouse will drive down cost of energy for customers, explained Frank Virenfeldt Nielsen, CEO of JSB Group commenting on the takeover.

“This is another milestone in our corporate strategy to significantly enhance the Gurit wind energy business globally towards market leading positions in the areas in which we operate,” added Rudolf Hadorn, CEO of Gurit.

The move, Hadorn explained, was “a big step” in supporting Gurit’s wind energy customers and offering “smart, tailored and regionally accessible solutions.”

JSB Group has 560 employees and expects to generate CHF120m (€105m) in sales in 2018.

According to Gurit, JSB has effective kit design capability and high quality while offering precision manufacturing of kits with purpose-built manufacturing equipment.

JSB Group is held by the private equity fund VC VIII JSB Holding ApS, of which Verdane Capital VIII K/S is the majority owner.

The transaction is expected to close by mid-October.

Photo by Caroline Seidel Ethan Stiefel, left, and Brandon Birchmeier from Imflux at Fakuma 2018.

Friedrichshafen, Germany — Fakuma 2018 marks the first trade show where an injection press manufacturer has exhibited moulding technology from Imflux, part of consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co.

Milacron Holdings Corp. is moulding a technical part on an all-electric Elektron EVO 155 press running a four-cavity Imflux mould during the show, which opened Oct. 16. Two people from Imflux will be stationed at the machine all week to explain the process.

Six Imflux employees are attending Fakuma 2018 in Friedrichshafen in what the P&G unit considers an important trade show debut. Imflux CEO Mary Wagner is also at the show.

"It's a seamless integration of Imflux in a moulding machine," Gene Altonen, Imflux chief technology officer said in an interview at Milacron's booth 15 Oct, the day before Fakuma began.

The injection press is equipped with Imflux software and pressure sensors inside the mould and nozzle.

Imflux uses constant, low pressure to slowly fill the mould, while simultaneously packing the melt and cooling the mould. Imflux software, linked to sensors, controls the process. Traditional injection moulding uses high pressure and high temperatures, then switches over to the pack-and-hold phase.

Imflux officials say the technology can cut cycle time, reduce moulding pressure by 50%, reduce moulded-in stress and shrink variations and allow a wider range of processing windows and shrink variations inside the mould, among other benefits.

The Fakuma demonstration is designed to show off Imflux's capabilities, such as Auto Viscosity Adjust, which automatically makes adjustments for variations on viscosity.

Altonen said the four-cavity mould is intentionally ? unbalanced. And the injection press will change materials and colors during moluding, from white high density polyethylene to red polypropylene and back.

Booth visitors can randomly turn off a mould cavity, and rather than flash the mould, Imflux gives constant feedback to make the adjustment and keep moulding good parts, he said.

Photo by Caroline Seidel Small plastic wheels made on Milacron presses at Fakuma 2018.

Andy Stirn, Milacron's director of applications engineering for advanced plastics processing technologies, said the machinery manufacturer is proud to show the first Imflux-enabled injection press.

"We're introducing it as a module of our M-Powered suite of products, and it is unique in that it's integrated into the controller. It's the first time it's been integrated into a machine controller," Stirn said.

M-Powered is Milacron's Industry 4.0 technology that the company launched at NPE2018 in Orlando, Fla. M-Powered is making its European debut at Fakuma 2018.

Altonen said the two companies have worked together to interface Imflux with the Milacron press controller. He said of Imflux: "As a company, we're moving into the direction of trying to simplify the process."

Consumer products giant P&G set up Imflux as a technology company in Hamilton, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Milacron's headquarters is in nearby Blue Ash, Ohio, and its main assembly plant is not far away in Batavia, Ohio.

Imflux leaders want injection moulding press manufacturers to offer Imflux-enabled machines as a way to spread the technology through the plastics industry. Kevin Wise, the Imflux vice president and chief financial officer, said Imflux is working with several other machinery manufacturers, including Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., Wittmann Battenfeld Inc., Engel Holding GmbH and KraussMaffei Group.

In other injection press news at Fakuma, Milacron's Quantum 180 toggle press is making its European debut. Quantum presses are equipped with Milacron's Endura Touch control interface, which is available in presses with clamping forces from 125-610 tons.

The Quantum machine is outfitted with a Mold-Masters E-Multi secondary injection unit, a TempMaster M1 controller and an indexing rotary table. The press has a two-component mould from Wilhelm Weber GmbH & Co. KG and is moulding a squeegee used in showers and for home window cleaning. The body will be moulded from a polycarbonate/ABS blend, and the E-Multi will inject the flexible thermoelastomer component. The cycle time is 50 seconds.

Photo by Caroline Seidel The new Engel e-motion 120 at Fakuma 2018.

Despite a slowdown in North America amid trade uncertainty, Engel Holding GmbH expects global sales to reach around €1.6bn for fiscal year 2018-19, marking a 6% increase in earnings over last year.

Global sales for the 2017-18 fiscal year ending 31 March were €1.51bn, up 11% from the prior year, company leadership said during an 17 Oct news conference at Fakuma.

The Austrian maker of injection moulding presses, robots and automation systems cited Europe as the biggest contributor, making up 53% of the company's sales, followed by the Americas at 24% and Asia at 22%.

"We see kind of a shift from the previous years due to the current economic situation," Christoph Steger, Engel's chief sales officer, said, citing a 2% turnover that shifted from the Americas to Asia.

Continued growth in central and Eastern Europe is balancing out a slowdown in the United Kingdom, where the consequences of Britain's exit, or Brexit, from the European Union are resulting in bouts of uncertainty, the company said.

"People are a bit reluctant with investments at the moment," Steger said of a "certain reservation" the company is seeing in parts of Europe because of confusion surrounding the Brexit strategy.

Germany, specifically, continues to post the highest sales. Over the last five years, Engel has increased its sales by 50% in the country, where it employs 340 people across four locations.

Revenue growth in Asia has been the biggest for the Engel Group and is continuing to grow, Steger said. Stricter quality requirements in the medical and packaging industries are leading to increased demand, with China as the strongest driver of growth in the region.

This past April, Engel said it was investing €10.5m into expanding capacity for its Changzhou, China-based Wintec subsidiary. The investment marked the first expansion since the machinery maker launched the Wintec brand of standardised injection presses four years ago.

Recent economic developments in North America, however, are not as encouraging, the company said. The region is below last year's level of growth for the fiscal year's second quarter. Engel did not provide any specific figures, however.

The company said the slowdown in North America is primarily due to large international conglomerates that are taking a "wait-and-see approach" in response to the latest developments in economic policy.

Recent changes, including the Sept. 30 news that Canada will join Mexico and the United States in a revised North American Free Trade Agreement — now called ? the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — in addition to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs covering another $200 billion in Chinese imports, have been something all machinery companies "have to deal with," Steger said.

But with a "successor solution" to NAFTA on the table, Steger said Engel is "quite happy" and that many of the company's initial insecurities have been reduced.

Tariffs, however, now cover about half of China's imports, with Trump warning China that if it retaliated, he would slap tariffs on another $276 billion worth. Tariffs would cover essentially all of China's imports to the United States and could impact assembly efforts at Engel's York, Pa., site.

Engel, which also has a production plant in Shanghai, announced in May it was resuming the assembly of big injection moulding machines at its Engel Machinery Inc. facility in York, with the goal of ramping up assembly in the U.S. by the end of 2018. The York factory assembles injection presses with clamping forces from 400-4,000 metric tons.

"[That's] not getting pushed back, but we are very cautiously watching the situation," Steger said.

The plan is to have the first machine assembled in the first quarter of 2019, he said.

"Everything is still on track. The question is how the tariffs are going to harm the speed of ramping up the production because when it comes to the casting part, you simply, more or less, just get it out of China," Steger explained. "It makes no sense to import these castings to machine them in the U.S. if I have a 25% tariff on the castings."

Steger said Engel uses several sources for its castings, but the majority of which are in China due to fewer resources in Europe.

"We would love to get more castings out of Europe," he said. "But there are simply no supplies that could support us."

Engel, based in Schwertberg, Austria, employs nearly 7,000 people globally.

Covestro produces CO2-based polyols for flexible polyurethane foams at its Dormagen site near Cologne

Covestro AG is now taking the successful development of its new polyether carbonate polyols based on CO2-technology - which the company is marketing under the brand name cardyon - another step further with the launch an innovative series of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) incorporating the technology.

The German chemicals company said Desmopan 37385A is the first representative of a new series of TPUs containing CO2-based polyether carbonate polyols.

With cardyon being made of up to 20% CO2, the new TPU materials leave a lower carbon footprint compared to conventional materials.

Desmopan 37385A has a hardness of 85 Shore A and, according to Covestro, its mechanical properties are “at least at the level of conventional TPU grades of similar hardness”.

It has a tensile strength of 36 megapascals and the elongation at break reaches 660%. The plastic is designed for extrusion, but is also suitable for injection moulding.

“The application spectrum covers typical applications of conventional TPU grades with comparable hardness and ranges from soles and upper shoe components to sportswear, handles and knobs to packaging for sensitive electronics,” explained Georg Fuchte, TPU expert at Covestro.

Covestro plans to expand the new TPU series with variants of different hardness. The company said a product with a hardness of 95 Shore A, whose melt cures rapidly during processing, is in advanced stages of development.

“We are thus targeting applications in which economic production in short cycle times is particularly important,” explains Fuchte.

In January 2016, Covestro opened its €15m production plant to produce CO2-based polyols for flexible polyurethane foams at its Dormagen site near Cologne.

The company said today that it is now working on new CO2-based polyols for rigid polyurethane foams that could be used, for example, in the thermal insulation of buildings, in cars and in sports equipment.

Tesla Inc. is beefing up its vehicle charging infrastructure in Hong Kong to help lure back customers after an end to the city’s tax breaks caused sales to plunge.

The two-level, 50-stall Destination Charging site in Kowloon Bay can fully charge a vehicle battery in a few hours, according to a company spokeswoman in Hong Kong. It takes as long as 10 hours at Tesla’s Destination Charging sites to top off electricity in the cells, whereas it takes about 90 minutes at Supercharger stations, with the time depending on battery conditions.

Destination charging stations are ideal for people working, living or shopping in the area, according to the spokeswoman. Superchargers, an option while on the road, can charge 50 percent of the battery in around 20 minutes, she added.

South China Morning Post.

South China Morning Post.

“As part of Tesla’s commitment to Hong Kong, we continue to expand charging footprint all over Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories,” the carmaker said Monday, adding the recently opened station would be the biggest destination charging location in Asia Pacific. Tesla already has 92 superchargers at 21 supercharger stations in Hong Kong.

After struggling to fix manufacturing problems at its sole auto factory in Fremont, Calif., Tesla has started the process of building a plant in China, the world’s biggest EV market. The unprofitable carmaker is procuring land in Shanghai for its first manufacturing site outside the U.S., pushing ahead with its plans after months of tumult under CEO Elon Musk.

In mainland China, Tesla now has more than 1,300 superchargers and 2,000 destination charging posts in more than 170 cities.

Photo by Eni

Versalis SpA, Eni’s chemical arm, has announced a mid-to-long term plan to refocus its capacity in the styrenic polymers business at its plant in Mantua, near Milan.

The focus will be towards “more differentiated, high added value products” specifically designed to feed the automotive, furniture and durable goods industries, said a Versalis statement.

As part of the strategy, the company is increasing the capacity of its existing continuous mass ABS unit by 30 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa), to address rising customer demand.

The project is currently in the engineering phase, with production set for 2020.

Moreover, the company said that it had started up a pilot plant in October last year to validate “an innovative ABS proprietary technology”, which the company has registered under the trademark One Step.

The aim is, Versalis said, to scale the One Step production with a 70ktpa unit.

“The plant will enable to develop further the ABS specialty grades portfolio and access new application markets,” the Italian chemicals supplier added.

Versalis manufactures Edistir PST crystal and high impact polystyrene resins, Sinkral ABS acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resins, Kostil SAN styrene acrylonitrile resins and Extir EPS expandable polystyrene resins at its Mantua site.

French supplier Valeo predicts more than 4 million new vehicles will be equipped with 48-volt systems in China annually by 2023.

"That’s about 13 percent of annual vehicle production in China by then," Valeo China President Francois Marion estimated last month at a news briefing in Shanghai.

Chinese carmakers didn’t embrace 48-volt systems until last year. The systems enable automakers to apply fuel-saving and cost-effective technologies such as stop-start systems, regenerative braking and e-turbochargers.

The main factor driving the application of 48-volt systems is China’s tougher fuel economy and emission control requirements, said Michael Forissier, head of global r&d and product marketing director for Valeo Powertrain Systems.

The Chinese government is requiring automakers to cut average fleet fuel consumption to 5 liters per 100 kilometers (47 mpg) in 2020 from 6 liters (39 mpg) in 2016.

The pressure on automakers will continue to intensify in 2025, when they must reduce fuel consumption to 4 liters per 100 kilometers (58.8 mpg).

To meet the regulatory requirements, it is “absolutely necessary” for automakers in China to install 48-volt systems across their light-vehicle lineups, especially gas-guzzling crossovers and SUVs, Forissier noted.

In early 2017, Valeo became the first global supplier to build of 48-volt systems in China. The French supplier says its system -- which includes an e-supercharger and a starter generator -- can improve fuel economy by 15 percent.

Other 48-volt suppliers include Continental, Delphi Automotive, Robert Bosch and Schaeffler.

Valeo has landed more than 20 orders for the systems globally, including 12 orders from China.

Based on the orders it has secured, Valeo is now the largest supplier of 48-volt systems in China, according to Marion.

Cylinder head

The association of French automotive plastic parts-makers (GPA) has warned of an impending crisis due to the shortage of key polyamide 6.6 materials in the region.

In a statement 5 Oct, the GPA said the ongoing nylon 6.6 shortage could put the automotive industry in “serious difficulty” and urged car makers to find alternative solutions.

Describing it as a “structural problem”, GPA said the shortage is mainly rooted in the low supply of adiponitrile (ADN), currently produced globally at only five global locations in France, Japan and the US.

“Numerous plastics manufacturer… have interrupted their production of PA 6.6 and imposed quotas on their customers,” said GPA, noting the increasing number of force majeures by leading materials suppliers.

PA 6.6 has been registered by carmakers for its technical properties, and according to GPA’s president, Luc Messien, the processes to approve new materials make it very difficult to find alternative solutions in the short term.

The material is used in an increasing number of applications, in particular in electronics, and the shortage has driven the 40% increase in prices since the beginning of the year.

PA 6.6 is highly resistant to high temperatures, making it suitable for under the hood applications, such as air supply systems, filtration and cooling systems, and in other interior parts, from pedal units to door handles.

In response to the tight supply, the GPA statement called on plastics manufacturers to “quickly open new production lines and to secure their supply chain.”

“Today, only 55% of Europe’s PA 6.6 production capacity is available. At the same time, current demand requires an increase in the production capacity. Hasn’t the time come to speed up investments in Europe and renovate the existing lines?” said Armelle Dumont, managing director of the GPA.

Parallel to that, the French association has urged automotive suppliers to find “alternative solutions” despite all the complexities.

Finding an alternative is complex as any new material's specifications should match those of PA 6.6. Such materials are often even scarcer and more expensive compared to PA 6.6.

In addition, the processes to approve new materials take a very long time.

To address the latter issue, Dumont has called on carmakers to help by shortening their approval processes.

"These shortages of materials mean that supplies to certain members of the GPA will dry up at the start of 2019, a situation that could put the complete production chain in peril,” Dumont warned.

European Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive plastic suppliers have seen PA 6.6 prices rise by €1,500/tonne in the last 18 months.

“They are the victims of an unsustainable scissors' effect brought on by the rise in the price of PA 6.6, the quotas and their customers’ refusal to pay for a part of these price hikes,” GPA concluded.

The supply of PA 6.6 was hampered in Europe due mainly to strikes at Butachemie, which is the only European supplier of AND from its plant in Chalampe, France.

Additionally, in August, Belgian materials supplier Solvay SA said its polyamides activities were temporarily impacted by the severe drop in water levels along the Rhine river following a drought in Central Europe.

German chemicals giant BASF also announced two force majeures for all its polyamide 6.6 polymers in January and June, as it had to shut down its hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant in Seal Sands, UK, due to an "unexpected failure" of a site utilities unit.