Kickstart: Francine hits the US Gulf Coast

Hurricane Francine is making its way north now after landfall Sept. 11 at Terrebonne Parish, La. While it's still early, there's an expectation that the storm could affect resin availability and pricing, regardless of other widespread damage in New Orleans and low lying land along the Gulf Coast.

Francine marks the second storm to hit the Louisiana region that is home to a lot of the U.S. petrochemical industry this year.

Chemical Week notes on its website that the vinyl supply chain may be most at risk, with 35 percent of vinyl chloride monomer capacity and 43 percent of PVC production capacity in southern Louisiana. PVC supply and prices also had just recovered after shutdowns and damage from Hurricane Beryl in July.

Like Beryl, Francine was not been particularly strong on its way to land, but it brought with it a storm surge, winds up to 100 mph and heavy rains. The U.S. National Hurricane Center expects the storm to move north along the Mississippi River basin, with the potential for flash floods as far north as Missouri.

Utility company Entergy warned that even a Category 1 storm could lead to power outages lasting for anywhere between two and seven days.

Louisiana is home to 25 percent of U.S. ethylene capacity, 22 percent of polyethylene capacity, 19 percent of U.S. polymer-grade propylene and 21 percent of polypropylene production, Chemical Week notes.

ICIS added that some chemical plants began controlled shutdowns at the start of this week in advance of Francine's arrival as a precaution.

Global food giant Nestlé is increasing its use of paper packaging, introducing paper-based containers for protein powder and coffee items.

For its Nescafé Cappuccino brand in Europe, paper is replacing a plastic container, while the consumers in the United Kingdom will buy Nescafé instant coffee in flexible paper packaging rather than glass jars. (Nestlé suggests buyers refill existing glass jars, then drop the paper into curbside recycling.)

In the United States, the company's Vital Proteins-brand packaging will be "90 percent plastic-free," based on a rigid paper-based container developed at Nestlé's Bridgewater, N.J., R&D facility.

Denso Corp., Toyota's biggest parts supplier, has a different take on how to deal with a shortage of workers: operate plants without people.

Denso's planned $480 million plant in Nishio City, Japan, would be hyperautomated, "capable of 24-hour unmanned operation, significantly improving production efficiency," Denso said in a news release.

"In addition to the production lines, the entire process, including unloading of materials and components, transfer within the plant, replenishment and feeding of materials, and packing of products for shipment, will be automated to realize unmanned operation," the company said.

Denso has plastics molding within its global operations, although the new site, expected to begin production in 2028, would focus on advanced on-board computers that would support multiple functions within the car.