Lanxess to rationalise rubber chemicals business

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Lanxess is ‘streamlining’ its rubber chemicals business. The realignment will see the company bundle production processes for vulcanization accelerators, which are used primarily in the tire industry.

The company’s North American Bushy Park site will take over production of the accelerator Vulkacit CZ from the Belgian plant in Kallo. In return, the company is shifting production for the accelerators Vulkacit DZ and Vulkacit NZ from Bushy Park to Kallo. These changes will be implemented by 2014.

The business unit is also rationalising its product range as some products have reached the end of their life cycle. The company is therefore discontinuing production of the vulcanization accelerator Vulkacit MOZ at the Kallo site during 2014.

Also the production of the aging inhibitors Vulkanox 3100 and Vulkanox DPPD, which are produced at the Isithebe site in South Africa, will be stopped and the plant will be closed.

“These measures enable us to enhance our efficiency and competitiveness. Moreover, we can focus our portfolio on innovative, sustainable and profitable products in order to accommodate the trend toward increasingly high-tech products within the tire industry also in the future,” said Luis López-Remón, head of the rubber chemicals business at Lanxess.

Following the realignment, headcount in Bushy Park will remain unchanged at around 60 while the number of positions in Kallo will decrease by around 45 from currently 205. The site closure in Isithebe will affect some 40 employees.

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Press release from Lanxess