BASF SE plans to remove more than 200 million pounds of annual capacity for nylon feedstock caprolactam in Europe in the next 18 months.
The move is being made to strengthen BASF's nylon 6 value chain in a difficult market environment, officials with the firm in Ludwigshafen, Germany, said in a Sept. 12 news release. After the cuts, BASF still will have almost 900 million pounds of annual caprolactam production capacity in the region.
The realigned production structure “gives [BASF] greater flexibility in managing our capacities,” polyamides and precursors Europe head Joachim Queisser said in the release.
All of the caprolactam capacity to be closed is located at four plants at BASF's flagship site in Ludwigshafen. Those plants now will be fully or partially closed. Eighty workers from those plants will be reassigned to other positions in Ludwigshafen.