South Korean automotive materials compounder Green Polymer Inc. is in an expansion mode, tripling its manufacturing capacity last year in a $6 million investment and planning more capacity increases this year.
The Cheonan, South Korean-based company opened an upgraded headquarters factory in 2013 that gave it 30,000 metric tons of capacity with four extrusion lines, and it plans to spend another $1.5 million this year to add a fifth extruder, company officials said.
The growth is driven by expanded business with South Korea's large automotive and appliance industry, and by more sourcing of manufactured goods in Korea as costs in places like China rise, said Jee Woo Kim, overseas business director, in an interview at the company's booth at the Plastivision 2013 show in Mumbai. The show was held Dec. 12-16.
The company last year also invested in an improved research and development center in Cheonan, he said. While the center is not large, with five employees, the company wants to improve its capabilities for designing new material formulations, Kim said.
The firm compounds grades of polyolefins and engineering plastics like polycarbonate and polybutylene terephthalate, and said it's developing electrically-conductive polyolefin and carbon nanotube compounds for the flat panel display and semiconductor industries.