Elastosil silicone rubber has been used to reliably seal joints for many years. It is used not only for building joints but also for joints in the household and industrial sectors.
MUNICH, GERMANY: Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its silicone elastomer production capacity in Jincheon, South Korea. The new facilities will include production plants for silicone sealants, speciality silicones and liquid silicone rubber.
At the same time, existing production units in Jincheon will be transferred to the new site. Investments for the expansion will total around €16 million. Construction work will officially start end of July, production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2018.
The new expansion project is Wacker’s response to growing regional demand for silicone elastomers in the construction, electronics and automotive industries.
Wacker operations in Jincheon began in 2010 with the production of silicone sealants for construction applications and a variety of speciality silicone products for the electronics industry. Due to space constraints, however, capacity expansions at the existing site are not possible. For this reason, WACKER will dismantle the production facilities there late next year and transfer them to the new site in Jincheon.
Silicone sealants and speciality silicones will be produced in physically separate areas on the site, which has a size of 2.5 acres. This will allow the company to optimise its production processes and maximise its flexibility for future expansion projects. The building will also include its own cleanroom area for producing and packaging silicone gels, encapsulants and silicone elastomer products under suitable conditions – an increasingly frequent demand, especially for optical applications.
“The Asian market for sealants and encapsulants is growing at an incredible rate. In order to meet increasing demand over the long term, we have decided to significantly increase our production capacity in Jincheon. In this way, we intend to secure and continue expanding our position as a leading silicone manufacturer in the region and profit from Asia’s strong growth,” said Auguste Willems, executive board member of Wacker.
“Our objectives in building the new site are twofold: first, the site will create additional production capacity, which we will utilise for expanding our regional silicone sealant business. At the same time, we also intend to continue growing our business regarding speciality silicones,” added Willems.
“The aim of our investments is to allow us to participate in the growth of the electronics industry over the long term. With the expansion of our production capacity in Jincheon we will be able to support our customers’ future growth by continuing to provide premium silicones in the quantity and quality they need,” said Robert Gnann, president of Wacker silicones business.
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