Medical TPE producer Elasto Sweden (Amal / Sweden; www.elastotpe.com) plans to build a new TPE production line at its facility in Åmål. The company, which is a subsidiary of compounding group Hexpol (Malmö / Sweden; www.hexpol.com), said the project includes high-quality twin screw technology, advanced raw material controls, supporting sub systems and analytics equipment. The new line is expected to come on stream in 2015.

Kjell Fagerström, MD of Elasto Sweden, said: “This investment is part of our ongoing commitment to supply leading quality TPE products and the highest levels of support to our growing medical customer base.“

Meanwhile, another Hexpol subsidiary, Stellana (Laxå / Sweden; www.stellana.com), has restarted its production line for “Vulkollan” PU wheels in Laxå after a fire destroyed the line last year. Hexpol said Stellana was able to continue supplying most customers with wheels during the outage from a smaller line. Vulkollan is sold under license by Bayer (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayer.com).