Trinseo (Berwyn, Pennsylvania / USA; www.trinseo.com) has announced plans to build a pilot facility for thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) at its site in Hsinchu / Taiwan. The plant is scheduled to begin operations in 2020, allowing the company to produce locally its custom engineered TPE and thermoplastic urethanes (TPU), including its portfolio of bioplastic products. Trinseo did not give the plant’s capacity.

The investment, said Trinseo, is the next step in its TPE growth roadmap following the acquisition of Applicazioni Plastiche Industriali (API, Mussolente / Italy; www.apiplastic.com) in July 2017 – see Plasteurope.com of 13.07.2017. “The pilot facility demonstrates our commitment to offer a differentiated, globally available TPE portfolio to our customers in the automotive, consumer electronics, footwear and medical markets,” said Tim Stedman, senior VP of strategy and corporate development at the time.

Trinseo is also realigning its organisation around a global functional structure and eliminating two divisional president roles. Effective 7 October 2019, Stedman has been named senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, while Jeff Denton, formerly senior vice president of strategy development and corporate services, is now vice president of supply chain services. In addition, previous operations director Tim Thomas now holds the position of vice president of manufacturing and operational excellence. These roles will report to CEO Frank Bozich and be part of the company’s executive leadership team.

Trinseo is searching to fill the position of senior VP commercial. Senior vice president and business president Hayati Yarkadas resigned on 2 October 2019 to pursue other opportunities.