Celanese focuses on cheaper, cleaner solutions

Friedrichshafen, Germany — Pressure on the plastics processing industry to bring cleaner or cheaper solutions to manufacturing was the focal point for Celanese Corp. at Fakuma.

The company showed a range of upgrades during the trade show earlier this month in Friedrichshafen to existing materials developed in the 12 months that are aimed at areas like weight or cost reduction.

“We see there is a lot of pressure on the industry to bring new technologies, cleaner technologies,” said Maria Ciliberti, vice president of sales for Europe for Irving, Texas-based Celanese.

That includes things like a new grade of a Hostaform acetal copolymer that provides a metal appearance for consumer products, eliminating painting, and one of its CoolPoly thermally conductive polymers for use in automotive lights.

Ciliberti said she felt the European plastics processing industry is doing reasonably well economically, helped by a weak euro and some recovery in the European economy, including in automotive demand.

“The European industry has had a lot of challenges as you know, but we are at a good place at this point,” she said. “The industries here are pretty good and solid.”

She pointed to strength in Europe's machinery industry as well as additional investments in Eastern Europe by car makers like Jaguar. In addition, she noted the development of more engineering capabilities in places like Eastern Europe and Turkey, spreading beyond traditional centers in Western Europe.

“Engineering is happening in multiple locations,” said Ciliberti, who is based in the company's Amsterdam office.

As well, she said Europe's processing industry is benefiting from some manufacturing returning from China.

“There is reshoring of parts coming back from China to Europe,” Ciliberti said.

The company also showed other new grades of materials, including polyphenylene sulfide in its Fortron ICE range, and a Hostaform MT Slidex acetal for applications with low friction and wear and low noise. The latter is seeing use in applications like medical devices and automotive mirrors, Ciliberti said.