Teknor Apex (Pawtucket, Rhode Island / USA; www.teknorapex.com) is expanding the capacity of custom compounder Plastic-Technologie-Service (PTS, Adelshofen-Tauberzell / Germany; www.pts-marketing.de), a company it acquired in March 2017 – see Plasteurope.com of 05.04.2016 – and at the same time establishing a new European centre for plastics research and development. Groundbreaking for the 15,000 m² complex will take place by spring of 2018, with startup expected by the summer of 2019, Teknor Apex said. In the process, PTS’ existing 20,000 t/y compounding activities at Steinsfeld / Germany will be relocated to nearby Rothenburg ob der Tauber, along with the sales and marketing operation currently based at Tauberzell.

Output of the operation will be focused on thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and engineering thermoplastics ranging from general-purpose compounds to highly specialised formulations. According to the US custom compounder, this will accelerate the two-way technology transfer under way since the 2016 acquisition. PTS already manufactures US-developed compounds such as “Monprene” TPEs and “Chemlon” polyamides in Germany. By the reverse token, Teknor Apex has begun manufacturing German-developed products in the US, including the “Creamid” and “Duramid” polyamides.

Flanking the new German production assets will be a state-of-the-art laboratory dedicated to developing new compounds and providing customers with design support, application development and product/process training, the company said. Overall, Teknor Apex president, William J. Murray, noted that the expansion will increase the capacity of PTS/Teknor Apex to serve customers in Germany and throughout Europe, broaden the selection of compounds available, increase access to customer support and reduce order lead times.