The former AlliedSignal Inc. continues to expand its nylon resin, film and recycled PET operations under its newly adopted name. Known as Honeywell Inc. since its merger last year with the aerospace giant, the company also has renamed its plastics operations: Honeywell Engineered Applications & Solutions. The unit recently acquired a plastics compounding plant in South Korea and is adding a new nylon film extrusion line in Pottsville, Pa.
The South Korean acquisition is a plant in Ansan City, bought from Kohap Engineering Plastics Ltd. of Seoul. The facility compounds nylon, polybutylene terephthalate, PET and other specialty materials.
Steve Hochhauser, vice president and general manager of the Honeywell plastics unit, said the plant will supply the automotive and electronic markets.
In Pottsville, the new film line will focus on pharmaceutical and packaging markets. Nylon films generated sales of about $300 million for the firm last year.
Honeywell also increased capacity at its nylon compounding plant in Chesterfield, Va., and at its recycled PET compounding plant in Sparta, Tenn., in the second half of 1999. In addition, the firm plans to move its fluoropolymer production from Elizabeth, N.J., to a new site in Geismar, La., later this year.
Since there was no overlap between Allied's plastics business and any existing Honeywell operations, the plastics unit will be spared any of the 4,500 job cuts that will be enforced by the end of the year.
In recent years Morristown, N.J.-based AlliedSignal was rumored to be interested in buying engineering resins maker Ticona and compounder/distributor M.A. Hanna Co. As Honeywell, the company "will continue to entertain any and all opportunities to grow the business," Hochhauser said in a telephone interview. But, it will be doing things a little differently.
"In the past, we were very materials-driven," he said. "We'd go to our sales staff and say, `What could we do if we had this material?'
"Now, we'd rather look at our customer base and try to understand how to help them develop their businesses. We want to be the first guy they think of."