Japanese firm moves to sell nylon worldwide (October 27, 2001)

Dusseldorf, Germany — Ube, a company perhaps best known in North America for its machinery division, formally announced its plans to be a global player in the nylon market at the K Show. Ube Engineering Plastics, S.A. was incorporated last week to produce and sell nylon 6, 6-6 and 12 to world markets, with a special focus on Europe and North America, reported company president Shinobu Watanabe. The company will be headquartered in Spain. The existing Ube office in New York will handle marketing activities in the U.S.
Watanbe announced a three-year development plan and investments with the goal of accelerating market penetration for the new venture. A technical application development centre located in Castellon, Spain will coordinate development projects for European and North American customers. The focus will be on the development of Ube’s nylon grades for oriented film, shrinkable packaging, monofilament and injection molding applications. As well, investments at Ube’s Spanish production facility are being made to integrate monomer production and enhance capacity. A new polymerization unit for production of specialty high viscosity copolyamides and high viscosity grades of homopolyamide is due to come on line in early 2004. As well, a second line to produce laurolactam, one of the raw materials for nylon 12, is scheduled to be running in Spain by the end of 2005.
Ube, through a joint venture with EMS in Japan, is currently the world’s largest producer of the nylon 12 monomer laurolactam, with a joint capacity of 17,500 KT/yr. Ube has established itself as the leading nylon producer in Asia, primarily on the strength of its continuous, liquid-phase polymerization technology.