Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. has become the first company to produce nylon 6/6 compounds locally in Indonesia.
Production of Leona-brand compounds for automotive applications — particularly glass fiber reinforced grades — started this month, in the form of toll manufacturing by P.T. Nippisun Indonesia, a joint venture with Nippon Pigment Co. Ltd.
The company reported annual capacity of 4,000 tons (base nylon 6/6 volume).
Asahi Kasei Chemicals had previously supplied the Indonesian market with nylon 66 compounds from its subsidiary in Thailand, and expects the newly established local production to help it serve Japanese automakers with plants in Indonesia.
Asahi Kasei Chemicals said this expansion is aiming for market leadership in Asia. Demand for nylon 6/6 for automotive applications in Indonesia is growing substantially, it added, with automobile production forecasted to increase from 1 million units in 2012 to 1.5 million units in 2016.
P.T. Nippisun Indonesia has a track record for compounding materials such as Xyron modified polyphenylene ether (mPPE), Asahi Kasei Chemicals said.
Tokyo-based Asahi Kasei Chemicals now has four manufacturing bases of automotive compounds around the world.