Wacker opens new silicones production site

Munich, Germany - Wacker on 17 June officially opened a new production site for speciality silicones at Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic - just two years after its launch of construction. 

The unit, it said, will manufacture ‘customised’ silicones for the automotive, household appliances and medical technology industries as well as for the energy sector. 

“Karlovy Vary is an important pillar for our silicone activities in Europe and a central building block in our specialties strategy”, said Wacker executive board member Christian Kirsten at the opening ceremony. 

“With the new site, we are expanding our position as a solution provider for customers in key industries,” added Kirsten, linking its start-up to a reorganisation of Wacker’s silicone activities in Europe. 

With the company’s Plze?, Nünchritz, and Burghausen sites, Karlovy Vary will be responsible for supplying customers of silicone specialties going forward.

Room-temperature-curing silicones and solid silicone rubber will be located in Karlovy Vary, according to the German chemical & polymer group’s statement. 

Liquid silicone rubber, it added, will be manufactured in Burghausen, while thermally conductive silicones, potting compounds for the automotive industry and silicone gels for wound care will be produced in Plze?. 

“Karlovy Vary will make our integrated production network in Europe much more flexible, agile and efficient”, commented Kirsten at the launch event. 

Equipped with state-of-the-art production technology, the new unit “creates the underlying conditions for extremely high levels of efficiency and quality.” 

Wacker listed the main drivers for its silicones business as e-mobility, medical technology, renewable energy, grid expansion, and digitalisation. 

Customised silicone elastomers are especially needed where conventional materials cannot meet the high and ever-increasing requirements, it noted.