Document 3QZEo3R6b9zk15bQ6K93YVxZ6

3RD STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format. PR Newswire PAGE November 15, 1988, Tuesday DISTRIBUTION: TO BUSINESS DESK LENGTH: 395 words DATELINE: HOUSTON, Nov. 15 KEYWORD: SHINTECH COMPLETES PVC EXPANSION BODY: HOUSTON, Nov. 15 /PRN/ -- A 500-million-paund-per- year expansion of the Shintech Inc. polyvinylchloride (PVC) resin plant in nearby Freeport, Texas, announced Sept. 27, 1987, has been successfully completed and "has come flawlessly into full production," according to Chihiro Kanagawa, the company's president and chief executive officer. Debottlenecking now underway will be concluded shortly. Products from this latest expansion are already supplying Shintech's customers in this country and abroad with increased quantities of the uniformly highquality resin for which the company is famous. One of the world's fastest-growing basic producers of PVC, Shintech has continued to expand from its initial rated capacity of 220 million pounds annually in 1974 to its new level of 1.5 billion pounds after the current debottlenecking. Kanagawa announced also that Shintech's board of directors has authorized an additional 500-million-pound increase in PVC capacity at the Freeport plant. This will raise the total capacity there to 2 billion pounds per year when this new expansion goes on stream in 1990. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Shintech's Japanese parent firm, itself has a PVC capacity of 600 million pounds a year. So the overall Shin-Etsu group, with a total combined vinyl-resin capacity of 2.6 billion pounds after the newly authorized expansion, will then be the world's largest producer of polyvinylchloride resins. In making these announcements, Kanagawa expressed his deep appreciation to Shintech's customers, suppliers, and employees. "Without the growth and the continuing loyalty of our customers," he said, "it would not have been passible for us to grow as we have. "Obviously, such growth has put major demands on our suppliers, and we are extremely grateful that they have always performed reliably and provided us with materials of the consistently high quality Shintech requires. And, of course," Kanagawa added, "without the dedication of our employees, and their high level of productivity in making our superior-quality products, Shintech could not have achieved the exceptional degree of customer satisfaction we enjoy. CONTACT -- M. Miyajima of Shintech, 713-965-0713, or Gray Weaver of Weaver Communications, 315-682-5280, for Shintech 70 CMA 175163 LEM/S NEXIS LEXIS NEXIS European chemical News October 5, 1987 Shintech hikes US PVC capacity SHINTECH INC, a US subsidiary of ShinEtsu Chemical of Japan, has an nounced plans fora two-part expansion which will result in a 227 000 ton/year increase in Shintech's polyvinyl chloride resin production capacity at its Freeport, Texas, facilities. Work on the project, costing in excess of $100m, has already started and the first phase, which will add some 113 500 ton-year to capacity, is sched uled on stream by October 1988. The additional 113 500 ton/year, due on stream two years after the first phase is completed, will come from process improvement and debottlenecking pro grammes. Shintech will use its proprietary PVC technology in combination with the most advanced and efficient PVC process know-how from Shin-Etsu, the world's largest licensor of PVC tech nology. Because of its product quality, uni formity and reliability, Shintech has enjoyed continued growth from an in itial capacity in 1976 of 100 000 ton/ year to its current capacity of 454 000 ton'year. The expansion will raise the capacity of Shintech's two plants at Freeport, Texas to 681 000 ton and put it on the same level as the current US leading producer, B F Goodrich, which has a nameplate capacity of 681 000 ton'year. Total US PVC capacity is estimated at 3.4m ton/year. Other major pro ducers include Borden Inc and Occi dental Petroleum. The US market will absorb a major portion of the product but some will also be exported. The company declined to reveal where it intends to obtain its vinyl chloride monomer feedstock but said that the present plants are connected by a pipeline to Dow's Freeport complex. CMA 175164 1its tirst assessment ot toe cosmetics maustry m more than a decade, the investigative arm of Congress is raising serious questions about the government's ability to supervise the $18 billion-a-year industry that produces cold cream, talcum powder, shampoo, de odorant and a myriad of other personal care products. "It's incredible that the cosmetics industry can urge illions of Americans to apply chemicals to their jdies daily and not be held accountable," says Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the House subcom mittee that requested the study. fUA 11AVC lUUlUt U1AV AiiCHiJr iuuuut<4V,v(pU ers lack adequate data on safety tests and have gener ally refused to disclose the results of these tests," the report states. "Most Americans will be stunned to learn that the government doesn't know whether the cosmetic prod ucts used by millions of Americans contain dangerous ingredients,'' says Rep. Wyden. Cosmetics, Toiletry & Fragrance Association, the industry's trade group, strongly disputes the assertions and says its record for producing safe products is cosmetic maker tc reactions. "Because it is ; never be able to rec particularly those because they have cosmetics," says tfc The types of inju cosmetics use inclu C vShintech Puts Final Touches On Big Freeport PVC Plant A look at the polyvinyl chloride resin market today shows that Shin-Etsu Chemical Company of Japan is the global leader. How did this happen? Not only is its US subsidiary Shintech Inc. putting the finishing touches on the world's largest single PVC plant at Freeport, Tex., but the Tokyo-based firm's polyvinyl chloride manufacturing process has been licensed worldwide by 42 other producers. Currently, the Texas unit and 18 licensees account for 15 percent of total world capac ity -- some 6.2 billion pounds a year. Shintech's 2-billion-pound US figure will be not only the world's largest PVC plant at one site, but arguably the world's largest individ- 1 company capacity. Currently, Occidental emical Corporation can make 1,910 millionin pounds a year at three US locations and B. F. Goodrich Company has potential for 1,750 million pounds at six sites. No other producer comes close (CMR, 6/5/89, pg. 50). If Shin-Etsu's process is so good, why doesn't everyone license it? "They can't," says Chihiro Kanagawa, Shin-Etsu's corpo rate senior vice-president and president of the international division. "We recently stopped licensing PVC processes. " Only Shell in the Netherlands will put in Shin-Etsubased technology; then, no further licenses will be granted. Why does Shin-Etsu pass up the opportu nity to grant more licenses and reap the roy alties? Mr. Kanagawa told CMR in an inter view that the company's PVC process, which bas been steadily improved, has a matchless cost/price advantage. In 1969 Shin-Etsu announced development of its process, chief advantage of which is giant polymerizers. This technology was proved out in an installation at the Kashlma plant, north of Tokyo, in 1970. Because of the huge reactors, Shin-Etsu claims it has stringent control of vinyl chlo ride monomer emissions and losses; further, manpower savings are achieved through ad vanced instrumentation: a plant ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 metric tons per year capacity needs only four to six operators per shift. In addition, the Japanese firm claims high product quality through the use of special polymerization formulas, which are jeal ously-guarded secrets, and strict safety and pollution control standards. American subsidiary Shintech Inc., of which Mr. Kanagawa is president and chief executive officer, will reach a planned ca pacity of 2 billion pounds annually at its Freeport plant by the end of this year. (The name Shintech is derived from a 50-50 joint venture established in 1974 with Robintech, Inc. The latter sold its interest to Shin-Etsu in July, 1976, but the original name was re tained by the surviving firm.) And Shintech's sales havtrbeeu^ steadily Continued oifPage 27, Chemic Market Reptrl Monsanto U New Maleic I Confident that maleic anhydride mar kets will continue to perform well, do mestic production leader Monsanto Chemical Company has announced plans to increase its North American MA ca pacity by 180 million to 240 million pounds annually by the mid-1990's. The MA expansion projects are expected to be completed in two phases. The first in volves expanding Monsanto's Pensacola, Fla., facility while the second calls for the construction of a new grassroots facility. Monsanto's Pensacola plant will be ex panded by 60 million pounds, bringing the plant to its ultimate capacity of 300 million pounds per year. The additional capacity at ket and facl b mil in 1 tot des ena pou 4l itj it* cor we WIi I National Starch Acquires the plant will be achieved through further debottlenecking. Michael W. Winkle, vicepresident and general manager of Mon ms sat Three Adhesives Businesses santo's rubber and process chemicals divi 25< sion, says this phase of the expansion should be fintfapproval this year. National Starch & Chemical Corpora tion bought three small adhesives units, last week to strengthen its existing busi nesses. So far this year, the number of adhesives divisions National has pur-1 chased totals six. To fortify one of its fastest growing busi nesses, the $1.6 billion company bought Rohm and Haas' Electro-Materials (EMCA) subsidiary, which supplies thick film pastes company generated about $4 million in sales last year; National Starch last week also combined Borden's industrial packaging and convert ing business in Canada with its own Canadian business. The Borden operation includes polyvinyl acetate and acrylate emulsionbased adhesives for cardboard packaging, as well as liquid starch, dextrin adhesives and casein-based materials. The Borden division bad 1989 sales of about $2 million. The second phase will be construction of a new grassroots facility with locations under consideration in both the northern US and Canada. The new facility will also use Mon* santo's fixed bed butane technology. It is ex pected that Monsanto will recommend a plant location by the end of this year, fol lowed by submission for board approval. "Canada would be an ideal site for Mon santo's second world-scale maleic facility," says Mr. Winkel. "We have the leading mar ** nw am sk ' wi sa sa to the micro circuitry market. EMCA's sales total about $8 million. Rohm and Haas said it sold this business C/ienucafMarketing Cuesbecause it was too small tocompete success *5* -. fully with the top-tier companies. National Starch plans to combine the newly acquired unit with its own Remex Products division, whichnm_a_k_es__ce!11ratm_,ic metallurgical tA OaIip thick . jr__ Dona Sflh CM A 175165 smntecn Puts Continued from Page 3 increasing in the extremely competitive PVC market since Shin-Etsu took over. From $27 million in 1976, sales reached $230 million in fi^al 1986 and over $500 million in 1988. ^Bher, Mr. Kanagawa predicts increases of 4.5 percent annually over the next sev( ears. Kanagawa's view is more optimistic than that held by some others in the PVC business. Fred Sacks of Occidental told the DeWitt 1990 Petrochemical Review in Hous ton that, in his view, demand growth will be 3.1 percent compounded annually for the per iod 1989 to 1994. At the same time, Mr. Sacks sees world operating rates dipping as low as 84 percent of capacity in the early nineties, and recover ing somewhat around 1994. He notes also the attrition among US producers: in 1980 there were 19; last year there were only 13. Shintech president Kanagawa predicts further dropouts by smaller, less efficient producers over the near term. And despite cries of overcapacity in the industry, he points out that the company announced a boost of pipe grade PVC April 1, to 36 cents a pound. In fact, prices have risen steadily from a January 1 level of 33 cents, and Mr. Kana gawa and Shintech director of sales and mar keting Geoffrey W. McMath anticipate a firming trend. While Messrs. Kanagawa and McMath de cline to disclose a detailed PVC end-use pat tern, they point to some areas where demand isstrong, such as pipe. New construction may ^Miate, but pipe, which contains 90 to 95 nt PVC with other additives, benefits n,.. .aly from increased demand for new ap plications, but from retrofitting worn-out in frastructure. One booming consumption area is solid vinyl window profiles. Here again, there has been massive-scale retrofitting of solid vinyl double-glazed window systems in structures ranging from small homes to huge buildings, accounting for burgeoning consumption of PVC-based materials containing 80 to 85 per cent resin. A similar situation exists in vinyl siding, which also can contain 80 to 85 percent PVC, the balance being additives. While it is widely used in new construction, its use in upgrading of current structures also fuels growth. Shintech's PVC complex is located near the site of its vinyl chloride monomer sup plier, Dow Chemical Company. The close ness of the supplier-consumer relationship is reflected not only in Dow's proximity, but by the fact that C. B. Branch, former chairman of Dow, has been on Shintech's three-member board since 1981. Mr. Kanagawa points out that Dow was chosen as a supplier because Shin-Etsu deems the Midland, Mich., firm the most pro ficient in know-how in monomer, chlorine and ethylene dichloride precursors and "the best and most reliable" source available to the firm. Citing the Shin-Etsu PVC process as com plying with increasingly strict environmen tal standards, he nonetheless is strongly aware of the need for industry cooperation in solving air, water and solid waste pollution difficulties. "This is an industry-wide problem and all producers need to share information, instead of costly duplications of effort," he believes. He points to measures being formulated by organizations such as the Vinyl Institute in the US and the Polyvinyl Chloride Associa tion of Japan. Parent firm Shin-Etsu is the world's largest supplier of silicon wafers to the elec tronics industry. In addition, facilities in Japan produce monomer, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol, methyl cellulose and other cellulose esters and a variety of electronics industry materials. Is it likely that the Japanese firm will produce the largejnonomers and chloromethanes in the US? "We have no defi nite plans," says Mf, Kanagawa. "We have open options." T. gears'" 0 NrtV' ^ TELEX 823427 Phone. 804-640-7270 FAX 804-640-7271 1 Until now. KEY CHANGES I and general manager in charge of the chemical intermediates business for Allied-Signal Engineered Materials. Also promoted was DAVID C. HILL, to senior vice president and general manager of the Allied-Signal Engi neered Materials' Industrial Fibers, Spectra Fibers, and Metglas products; and JOSEPH M. DEVITTORIO is the new senior vice president and general manager ofEngineeredMaterials' Home Furnishings Fibers business. BRIAN FULLEYLOVE has been named to succeed DEREK F.. TWOGOOD as president of Courtaulds Fibers (New York). Twogood is retiring. RHEOX (formerly NL Chemicals; Hightstown, NJ) has elected MICHAEL J. KENNY president and chief operat ing officer. He previously served as president of North American opera tions for NL Chemicals. Dexter Corp, (Windsor Locks, CT) has named T. DANIEL CLARK, vice president in charge of corporate devel opment. He succeeds STEPHEN J. RAFFAY, who has retired. THOMAS L. DAHL has been ap pointed president ofthe Drackett Co., a Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York) company. He takes the position over from DOUGLAS G. COWAN. Kaptow: Aristecft environment v.p. DENIS ANDREUZZ1 has been elected president and chief operating officer of Witco (New York). He suc ceeds THOMAS J. BICKETT, who re signed the position for personal rea sons. Also Witco's Argus Division (New York) has appointed RICHARD J. STIMPFL to vice president/marketing and business development. And CARL A. FERRARO becomes vice president/ sales for thiochemicals and specialty chemicals, including aluminum chlo ride; and JAMES T. REALY is now vice president/sales for polymer additives. LEE A. DEETS is the new chief ex ecutive officer of Encycle/Texas, a hazardous waste management and chemical manufacturing company in Corpus Christi, TX, JOHN L. VAN BUREN has been named chiefexecutive officer ofGlitsch International (Dallas), a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler. He is currently presi dent and chief operating officer of the company. Also, ROBERT E. DONO VAN has been elected vice president of Foster Wheeler's (Clinton, NJ) Energy Equipment Group, which designs and manufactures steam generators and auxiliary equipment for electric utili ties and industrial markets worldwide. Allied-Signal (Morristown, NJ) has appointed KARL R. FLEDDERJOHN to the newly created position of presi dent, sector staff ofAllied-Signal Aero space (Torrance, CA). DANIEL P. BURNHAM will succeed Fledderjohn as president of the AiResearcb Group. Allied has appointed NICHOLAS A. CAMERON to senior vice president ROBERT N. BURT has been named president of FMC (Chicago). He suc ceeds RAYMOND C. TOWER, who is retiring. Howell Corp. (Houston) has chosen PAUL W. FUNKHOUSER to succeed STEVEN K. HOWELL as president and chief operating officer. t Sun Chemical (Fort Lee, NJ), a manufacturer of printing inks and or ganic pigments, has announced the promotion of MICHAEL S. MURPHY to corporate vice president. W.R. Grace (New York) has named ROBERT J. BETTACCHI and EDWIN L. CHESNUTT presidents of the com pany's construction products division and the Amicon division,respectively. Both are part of the Grace Specialty Chemicals unit. Bettacchi was a vice president of the construction products division and succeeds ROBERT C. WALSH, who was recently appointed executive vice president of Grace Spe cialty Chemicals. Chesnutt was execu tive vice president of Amicon and suc ceeds PETER N. R1GOPULOS, who is now vice president of Grace Specialty Chemicals. Aristech Chemical (Pittsburgh) has promoted PAUL M. KAPLOW to vice president/environmental affairs, occu pational health and safety. SMITH E. HOWLAND has been named general manager/industrial and specialty chemicals for Aristech. J. J. FRANSEN VAN DE PUTTE is the new vice president of DSM's (Heerlen, the Netherlands) Polymers & Hy drocarbons Division. He succeeds R. DE V1SSER, who was appointed presi dent of DSM Elastomers. Catalytica (Mountain View, CA). a developer of advanced catalytic proc ess technologies for use in the manu facture of chemical and petroleum products, has named HOSHI PRINTER its chieffinancial officer and vice presi dent/finance. JACK E. OPPASSER has been ap pointed to the position of vice presi dent/worldwide business management at Arco Chemical (Newtown Square, PA). Oppasser replaces MARVIN O. SCHLANGER, who became Arco Chemical's chief financial officer last October. CHARLES M. DOSCHER has been appointed director of marketing for Shintech (Houston), a producer ofhighpurity polyvinyl chloride resin. The board of directors of British Petroleum (London) has appointed 56 Chemiealweek/March 14.1990 CMA 175167 Japanese Descend on US Chemicals CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A cause the resin prevents spoilage. Their plastic keeps oxygen out of the food," says Mr. Pilko. "Evalca created its own market. But a major food company would be re luctant to base its packaging on imported plastics.'' Beside Evalca, four other com panies account for the HEDCs esti mate of more than (300 million worth of Japanese chemical invest ments in Houston: > Arakawa. Chemical Ipdustnei UtTbf Osaka has selected Houston as a site for its future chgmical manufacturing facility, with the purchase of a 45-acre site in the Bayport Industrial District, a ma jor chemical center created south of Houston by Friendswood Devel opment Co. Kaneka Texas Corp., the US. subsidiary of Osaka's Kaaegafachi Chemical Industry Co., has com pleted expansion of a plant to an nually produce 52 million pounds of the methyl butadiene styrene, which keeps clear plastic from breaking. Nippon Pigment (USA) Inc. se lected Houston for a pilot plant to produce custom compounds for the plastics industry. Construction of an even larger facility there has tripled Nippon Pigment's existing capacity. * Shintech Inc, a subsidiary of Shinetsu Chemical of Tokyo, em ploys 130 workers at its polyvinyl chloride resin plant in Freeport, La, just south of Houston. It was the earliest Japanese entry in the Houston area chemical community. * Tonen Petrochemical of Tokyo has opened a Houston branch office to market compound resins with some of its research development and engineering activities also cen tered there. The Tonen office re places one in New York because, says the HEDC, top company offi cials believed it strategically im portant to be in Houston. Since last fall, the local govern ment has offered a tax abatement program for companies Investing in fixed assets, delaying taxes for five years on improvements worth more than 85 million. According to Mr. Syal, an investment of |50 mil lion in bard assets would net a savings of $5 million over a five year period. Without bending federal envi ronmental laws, Mr. Syal said, the state provides consistent rulings oo pollution questions building a repu Japanese Companies Target US Specialty Businesses By CHARLES THURSTON jwm o* CMm Sun Japanese companies main tained a moderate level of new investment in U.S. chemical and allied product companies during 1987, following a 1M6 surge, ac cording to statistics from Fairfield, N.J.-based Kline ft Co. Inc.'s Cbemtrack Investment tracking service. Although the overall value of 19 investments last year was lets than 1700 million, according to the Cbemtrack figures, the list suggests that the Japanese companies are targeting special ty businesses in specific niches. The 1987 acquisitions are a continuation of a significant in- crease in activity begun in 1986, when 22 acquisitions were re ported, following six in 198S, two in 1984 and one in 1983, accord ing to Valerie Kollonitsch, the senior consultant on Kline's Cbemtrack project Daiaippou lak ft flwrmirsli which purchased ReichhoM Chemicals lac. in 1987 for some 1800 million and Sea Chemical Corp. in 1986 for some 9550 mil lion, `appears to be the most aggressive investor among the Japanese chemical companies,* Ms. Kollonitsch observed. The chart below lists 1987 Japanese acquisitions of U.S. products, product lines or com- Japanese Chemical Acquisitions in US . .. Target Specialty Niches . (Value In Millions of Dollars) J^aneae kwaetor Damippon Ink & Chemical* Inc. Oainippon Ink 8 Chemicals Inc. Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Mitsubishi Corp C. Itch A Co. Lien Corp. Kao CorpMarubeni Corp. Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Chemicals Industries Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Miwui A Co. Nippon Mining Co. Mppon 08 Co. Nino Electric Industrial Co. Sakata Shokai Ltd. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. . Sumitomo Bakeile Co. Total UA Target Value Retchhold Chemicaia Inc. 9600.0 Quixoto SmithKkne Beckman Corp. . 10.0ft Hoechat Celanese Corp. Biostar Medtoal Product w Minnetonka/Henka! Corp. 7.0 High Point Chemical 13.0 Helena Chemical 20.0 Network Polymers Western Utho Plate A Supply 1.0 Polyopocal Products 0.5 Advance Display Technology 1.5 bnatron 2.0 Irvine Scientific Sales 3.8 Metal Coatings International A.0 Hyftanautics Acme Printing Ink 14.0 Brooldree * Sheldahl 4.0 MM *SfflW(unornel evatabie. SOURCE: Kins 1 Co. Inc4!Chemiredi. FarfitU, NJ. DOUG FinkEATONmouM oi Common* tation as a state that is `industry- Corp. is well along in developing a friendly* Taiwanese proposal, for an esti Mr. Syal recently returned from mated |2.8 billion petrochemical a trip to Japan with other HEDC project by Formosa Plastics Corp. officials and representatives from ,t': The Formosa proposal is driven Houston Lighting ft Power Co,, and heavily by the attractiveness of the reported that 90% of the mission TJ.S. dollar relative to new con focused on chemical companies, struction costs in Taiwan, where with seminars in Osaka and Tokyo. land is as scarce as in Japan, ac Elsewhere in Texas, the Calhoun cording to Doug Lynch, the Cal County Economic Development houn County EDC director. C M A 175168