For Benvic Group, exhibiting at Fakuma 2023 was "a sign of evolution."
"Ten years ago, we were only a PVC compounder," Marketing Manager Eric Grange said. "Now we can offer a broader range of materials."
Dijon, France-based Benvic has grown through a series of acquisitions and now offers compounds based on polypropylene and thermoplastic elastomers. Officials said that the firm's PP-based compounding technology can work alongside its expertise in PVC compounding in bespoke formulations for customer needs and applications.
Grange said that, in some cases, Benvic is selling PP and TPE compounds to its existing PVC compound customers. He added that having a mix of materials can allow the firm to ride out different business cycles, with some markets being up while others are down.
Benvic also is offering recycled-content materials to help customers meet sustainability targets. Grange identified automotive and consumer products such as furniture as potential growth markets for the firm.
Benvic is looking to make more acquisitions and to add more production capacity, according to Grange, but he said he wasn't able to provide details on those projects.
Benvic's new PP compound is being marketed under the DotCore trade name. Applications for DotCore include white goods and appliances and automotives in both soft and hard compound formulations.
In addition to DotCore, Benvic at Fakuma is focused on DotFlex-brand TPE compounds. Officials said the new materials allow Benvic to provide extra solutions for products traditionally sourced from PVC materials.
Benvic's PVC-based materials have been rebranded under the ProVinyl name. Materials here include rigid, plasticized and recycled grades, with custom-made formulations for sustainable use.
Private equity firm International Chemical Investors Group of Frankfurt acquired Benvic last year from Investindustrial Growth, another European private equity group. Investindustrial had owned Benvic since 2018.
Benvic was founded in 1963 as a subsidiary of plastics and chemicals giant Solvay Group of Brussels. The firm made 10 acquisitions from 2019-22, most recently buying Trinity Specialty Compounding of West Unity, Ohio, in early 2022.
Benvic made that acquisition through Chemres, a Princeton, N.J.-based compounder that it had acquired in 2021. Trinity is a custom compounder specializing in flame-retardant, cross-linked and specialty additive compounds for several industries, including wire and cable, appliances and construction.