PolyOne Corporation expects to begin production of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) this summer at its existing facility in Pune, India. PolyOne currently produces color and additive concentrates and engineered polymer solutions at the Pune facility. Adding TPE production enables the company to support customers in the country even more quickly and with a broader portfolio of domestically manufactured materials.

"This investment at our facility in Pune answers customers' desire for a domestic supplier able to offer expertise in color, engineered materials and thermoplastic elastomers," said Craig Nikrant, president, Specialty Engineered Materials, PolyOne. "We are the only global company to offer all of these domestically produced materials in India. Customers benefit from shorter lead times due to domestic production, and also from our global network of polymer science expertise."

PolyOne opened a new facility in Pune in 2014, initially focused on the production of colorant and additive concentrates to serve end markets such as transportation, electronics & electrical, healthcare, wire & cable, and packaging. The company expanded manufacturing capability to include specialty engineered materials last year. With the most recent addition of TPE production, PolyOne enables manufacturers to source all of their specialty polymer requirements from a single domestic source.

"We're very excited to build upon our momentum in India with domestic production of TPEs," said Vikas Vij, managing director, India, at PolyOne. "At the same time, we're also increasing our technology and sales personnel to maximize the innovation, collaboration and service we provide to our valued customers."

Among Polyone’s target industries is automotive. Both Fiat and local manufacturer Tata have production facilities in Pune. India manufactured 3,791,540 passenger vehicles in the 2016–2017 fiscal year, which ended in March 2017, up 9.4% over the previous fiscal year. The country is also a major producer of commercial vehicles (810,286 units), three wheelers (783,149 units), and motorcycles (19,929,485 units).