PRET expands North American TPO capacity

Shanghai PRET Composites Co. Ltd. (PRET, Shanghai, China), which acquired WPR Holdings LLC (Wellman Plastics Recycling) of Johnsonville, S.C. earlier this year, announced  the new name of its U.S. operating unit -- Wellman Advanced Materials.  

The name change signifies the expansion of Wellman Advanced Materials' product portfolio in North America to include TPOs [thermoplastic polyolefins] and various engineered polypropylene compounds in addition to Wellman’s traditional nylon products, according to XY Sun, chief-executive officer, Wellman Advanced Materials.  

In addition to its new name and logo, Wellman Advanced Materials will benefit from a major new capacity expansion of 44-million pounds/20,000 tons at the Johnsonville site in order to offer PRET's highly regarded TPO, long-glass (reinforced) polypropylene (LGPP), and other engineered polypropylene (PP) compounds to automakers and tier suppliers in North America.  The first compounding extruder will be installed by the end of 2015 with a second to be installed in early 2016.

Already a leading TPO compounder in the Chinese automotive market, which currently produces 21-million cars and is the world’s largest passenger-vehicle market, PRET’s products are well known for its innovative technology, such as compounds with seamless airbag deployment approvals, very-low odor and emissions, high scratch and mar resistance, minimal tackiness, and excellent color matching and color consistency ― important attributes for interior-trim components. Further, since PRET’s materials already carry global automotive approvals at Ford Motor Co., BMW Group, Daimler AG, Volkswagen Group, and many others, these products are now available for use on North American vehicles.

A broad range of PRET's TPO and PP grades will be offered to the North American automotive market including talc filled, custom color, long glass, higher strength (modified with polyolefin elastomers (POE)), and other compounds.  PRET is already well known for its pre-colored material quality, and Wellman Advanced Materials will bring that expertise to North American customers who prefer to buy pre-colored products, said Larry Berkowski, vice-president - Sales and Marketing at Wellman Advanced Materials.

In addition to the 44-million pound/20,000 tonne capacity expansion, Wellman Advanced Materials also will be expanding its product development and application testing services at its R&D facility in Johnsonville with testing equipment that is identical to that used by PRET in China with more in-house mechanical testing, material characterization, and color-matching resources. Moreover, Wellman Advanced Materials will now offer moldfilling and structural analysis support for its North American customers.