Engineering plastics plant in Malaysia celebrates 10th anniversary
Engineering Plastics Asia Pacific business unit (A-KTE) recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of theircompounding plant in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia.
Guests at the event included KT President Dr Harald Lauke, BASF’s President in Asia Pacific Dr. Wolfgang Hapke, Managing Director of BASF Malaysia Sdn BhdMr. BY Yee, senior management from A-KTE, selected customers from the region, and plant staff. The Guest-of-Honor was Mr. Tan Kok Hong,Chairman of the Johor State Committee for International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and Environment.
In his speech, Mr. Tan commended BASF's contribution to the development of human capital in the state.
Delivering the opening address, Dr Lauke said: “Commissioned in 1999, this was the first engineering plasticscompounding plant that BASF built in Asia,underlining our strategic commitment to engineering plastics and our long-term focus on Asia Pacific as the fastest growing region. This planthas thrived and achieved great success over the last 10 years. It has received excellent ratings in audits conducted by leading global customers.”
A highlight of the event was the involvement of customers – two of them made short speeches on how BASF helped them to become more successful.
From China, Mr. Shi Junqi, General Manager, Wuxi Xizhu Bearing Cage Co Ltd, thanked BASF for 20 years of support. “BASF not only provided us materials but also effective and timely technical service which helped us to overcome our own technical difficulties to enhance our product quality,” he said. “This helped us to grow our business rapidly and today Xizhu has become the largest manufacturer of plastic bearing cages in China.”
From India, Mr. Rajesh Verma, Head of Design at Tata Visteon, briefly explained how BASFassisted them to successfully complete the plastic air intake manifold project for the Tata Nano. “In addition to the raw materialfrom this plant, BASF helped us with the critical development support ranging from computer simulation studies to component testing while adhering to tight deadlines. As a result, a project that normally takes about 18 months was completed in just 10 months.”
In recent years, further investmentswere made in this plant: in 2005, its capacity was increased to 45,000 tons per annum andin 2007, the plant was further strengthened with the establishment of a ProductDevelopmentCenter. This technical facility focuses on the development of innovative engineering plastics to suit specific market requirements in Asia Pacific.
Since establishing the plant in Pasir Gudang, A-KTE has added engineering plastics plants in Korea, China and India. BASF’s total engineering plastics compounding capacity in Asia exceeds 100,000 tons per annum.
“The compounding plant in Pasir Gudang remains the most cost competitive and technically advanced backbone of our Engineering Plastics business,” said Hermann Althoff, Group Vice President, Engineering Plastics Asia Pacific. “We are especially proud of the role Pasir Gudang colleagues have played in helping to bring the new Engineering Plastics plants in China and India on stream.”
To commemorate the occasion A-KTE made a donation to Darul Hanan – an orphanage located in the vicinity of the Pasir Gudang plant that takes care of 50 destitute children.
Photo caption:
Dr. Harald Lauke, KT President (left) receives a plastic air intake manifold used in the
Tata Nano from Mr Rajesh Verma, Head of Design, Tata Visteon.
Dr. Wolfgang Hapke, President Asia Pacific, and Mr Hermann Althoff, Group Vice President (A-KTE),present a donation to Puan Norhayani, the Administrator of a local orphanage near the plant.
Water Relief!
As part of the 10th anniversary of the A-KTE plant in Pasir Gudang,Malaysia, employees were asked to come up with some improvement ideas to add more value to this world-scale regional production facility.
One idea was to increase the effectiveness of the recycled cooling water circuit by installing a fountain.
Compounded plastic strands come out of the extruders at about 260-300oC. In a water bath they are quenched down to 100oC so they can be cut into pellets. This quenching water gets very hot and must be continually recirculated through heat exchangers.
“The function of the CoolingTower water circuit is to cool the metal fins of the plant’s heat exchangers. By adding the new fountain into the cooling circuit we further improve the water temperature,” said Peter Gover, Operations Manager (A-KTE).
Easy on the eyes, the fountain also makes the plant entrance more attractive to employees and visitors alike. That’s one cool idea that has functionality and form.