To meet growing demand for silicone rubber, Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany) is accelerating the expansion of its production capacities. Investment projects to this end are either in the planning stage or are nearing completion. Significant capacity expansions for liquid silicone rubber (LSR) will be available in the second half of this year, and will come into full effect in 2023. Increasing production volumes for high consistency rubber (HCR) are also scheduled. With expansion measures at several other sites, WACKER will gradually in¬crease its capacities for HCR and LSR grades significantly in the next few years. Over € 100 million have been earmarked for this capacity boost.
The scheduled investments are in line with WACKER’s new growth targets announced in March. The company intends to increase growth in its chemical divisions by focusing on product specialties. “WACKER returned to a growth trajectory last year. We finished 2021 with record sales and strong earnings – despite headwinds from raw material and energy prices. We want to maintain this momentum and are charting our course for accelerated growth going forward. This is also true for our specialty chemicals business”, says WACKER’s CEO Christian Hartel.
The availability of liquid and high consistency silicone rubber will benefit from several expansion measures in the next years. WACKER expects additional LSR capacities in the second half of this year due to several capacity expansions at its production site in Burghausen, Germany, which will be complete at the end of the year. New capacities will also be installed at WACKER’s US-based production site in Adrian, Michigan, to better serve the North and Central Americas market locally from next year onwards.
Substantial capacity expansions are also planned for high consistency rubber grades, starting with WACKER’s new production site in Panagarh, India, which will start production shortly. Additional HCR capacities will be available early next year at the company’s sites in the Czech Republic (Pilzen) and in Japan (Tsukuba). Pilzen produces ready-to-use SILMIX® silicone compounds for key industries; Tsukuba, Japan, which produces silicone emulsions, too, supplies high-consistency and room-temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber as well as LSR.
In order to better meet this demand in the long-term, WACKER is also considering additional expansion measures at its sites in Zhangjiagang (China), Charleston (Tennessee, USA) and in Burghausen (Germany). The Group also intends to expand its pyrogenic silica production in Zhangjiagang. Pyrogenic silica enhances the mechanical properties of silicone rubber and is therefore a key ingredient. WACKER manufactures pyrogenic silica at its sites in Burghausen, Nünchritz, Charleston and Zhangjiagang, making the company one of the few backward-integrated silicone producers of pyrogenic silica for direct sale as well as for captive use.