Sekisui planting PS/PE foam plant in TN

Sekisui Plastics (Osaka, Japan) plans to set up a production and marketing operation for its polyethylene/polystyrene composite foam product in Mt. Pleasant, TN. The material is already used by Japanese automakers, with more of them planning to adopt it this year; the Tennessee plant is near a number of Japanese carmakers'' North American facilities.

According to Sekisui, the material boasts the lightness and rigidity of foamed polystyrene coupled with the resilience of foamed polystyrene, and has excellent impact resistance. It is also suited for packaging of IT products.

Sekisui plans to construct a 1400 tonne/yr facility that will start up in September 2006. Sales of about $6 million are targeted for 2008. The firm expects to supply product to Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and the Big Three, as well as IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.