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Wacker plans silicone specialities plant

Wacker Chemie is to invest an amount in the “low triple-digit million euro range” on a new, 20,000 tonnes/year silicones facility at Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. Development work on the site is set to begin shortly, with construction starting in Q2, subject to approval by the authorities. It is due onstream at the start of 2025 and will create up to 20 jobs.

Wacker expands speciality silicones in China

Wacker Chemie has held a kick-off event at its site at Zhangjiagang in China’s Jiangsu province to mark the start of construction of several new production lines for functional silicone fluids, silicone emulsions and silicone elastomer gels. It will invest about €150 million on the expansion project. The lines are due onstream in 2H 2025

Wacker expanding on multiple fronts

Wacker Chemie has announced plans to invest “a double-digit million euro amount” on it the new Biotechnology Centre at its corporate research facility in Munich, which is due to be operational in 2024. CEO Christian Hartel said that building it “will allow us to concentrate and intensify our research activities in the area of biotechnology. The additional capacity we will create here will accelerate the growth of our life-sciences division.”

Wacker opens US innovation centre

Wacker Chemie has opened its regional innovation centre at Ann Arbor, Michigan. The building covers 13,000 m2 on a 70,000 m2 site and will bring R&D in biotech and silicone under one roof in over 20 technical and analytical laboratories.

This will also be the headquarters of the Wacker subsidiary managing business activities in North and Central America. Some 50 employees will relocate there from another site Adrian, also in Michigan, where the company has produced silicones for over 50 years.

Wacker’s new SDGs revealed

Wacker Chemie has presented its new sustainable development goals (SDGs) at its latest online capital market day. These are based on the ‘Science-Based Targets’, in line with the goal of keeping the global rise in temperature below 1.5°C as per the UN ‘Race to Zero’, which Wacker has joined.

“We have spent the last few months scrutinising our product portfolio and production processes. Our goals take us to the limit of what we consider to be technically feasible and achievable,” said CEO Christian Hartel.

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