May 25 2007
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP announced today that it is restructuring its K-Resin® styrene butadiene copolymer (SBC) business to improve its economic viability. The company plans to increase its focus on market and application development and streamline its operations, sales, and technology functions.
“The styrenics market has been a tough business over the last several years,” said Mike Parker, senior vice president of aromatics and styrenics. “With many alternative resins and overcapacity in the industry, it is increasingly difficult to be successful in the current environment.”
In addition to internal changes, the company will also be shutting down older, less efficient K-Resin® SBC production lines at the Pasadena Plastics Complex in Pasadena, Texas. This action will bring Pasadena’s K-Resin® SBC nameplate capacity to 100 million pounds per year. The company’s joint venture plant in South Korea, K R Copolymer Co. Ltd., will maintain a nameplate capacity of 115 million pounds per year.
“We are making strategic changes to how we operate the K-Resin® SBC business, enabling us to optimize our current capacity,“ said Tim Roberts, general manager of styrenics. “While the overall capacity at Pasadena will decrease, our operations will be much more efficient.”
Implementation of the new strategy will begin immediately, with the transition expected to be complete in the second half of 2007.
Introduced in the 1970s, K-Resin® SBC is a clear resin known for its unique blend of sparkling clarity, impact toughness, stiffness, and exceptional gloss.