Summer greetings from CEO Anders Spetz
07/04/2018
We look back on the spring 2018 as a very inspiring and challenging time for us in Nexam Chemical. Our extruders are well-booked and the customer projects within our focus areas are developing positively. We are also happy to see that our business within multifunctional masterbatch starts to accelerate and grow. The positive development within sales give us the opportunity to develop and optimize our entire supply chain. From advanced synthetic production in Scotland, to further processing and the production of masterbatch at our facilities in Sweden, Hungary, Serbia and Poland and finally the subsequent global distribution to our customers.
The development within our selected focus areas are normally presented in our quarterly reports and newsletters. So, in this summer letter I will try to tell you about some of the other business opportunities we see in our ongoing R&D activities.
Classical thermoplastics for advanced applications
A number of the development projects that Nexam Chemical is running together with different customers is about enabling the use of classical thermoplastics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, in more advanced and premium applications. Nexam Chemicals technology is, to an increasing extent, applied in the form of masterbatch and often together with other already established process aids and additives. The objective of these development projects can be, for example, to improve the performance for flame retardant components, increase the production efficiency in pipe manufacturing and different types of thermoplastic composites. Common to all these projects is that the product we deliver, NEXAMITE®, enables a drastic improvement of the properties in the end-product, and at the same time being cost-effective for the customer. Succeeding in developing the NEXAMITE®-product in the form of masterbatch has meant that we have overcome a number of technical barriers that previously slowed the rate of development in many of our projects. We have strong expectations that the commercial development will increase.
Colorless polyimide films
Together with the global chemistry company Evonik and the renowned university Virginia Tech in the US, we are actively involved in a project developing colorless polyimide films. The challenge we are facing in this project is in succeeding to develop materials that meet all the requirements and at the same time be colorless. This has proved to be a very challenging problem for the whole polyimide industry. The end-customers are producers of flexible screens for mobile applications, i.e. screens that can be bent, alternatively rolled up without being damaged. The status of the project has recently been reported at a well-attended webinar, where we, together with our project partners presented promising results to around 50 participants. Many of these participants represents several of the largest electronic and material developing companies in the world. The results so far create great expectations and we have, together with our partners, decided to expand the project. New sub-projects have therefore been initiated in direct cooperation with customers who wants to develop their own applications with our technology.
3D-printing
A ”truth” within 3D-printing is that it is relatively easy to manufacture components in all imaginable shapes, but that the properties of these components are bad. For this reason, the technology today is mainly used to develop prototypes where the requirement of performance is lower. If this problem could be solved, a new market appears for production of components with the help of 3D-technology.
A main reason for the weakening of the material that occurs during component manufacturing using 3D-printing is the so-called welding lines. This is the area where one layer attaches to another within the component..This is a problem regardless whether you choose to melt or sinter the component. Tests have shown that our NEXAMITE®-technology are well suited to reinforce these welding lines and thereby the material itself.
We are today running a project within 3D-printing together with a university with extensive knowledge in this area and the project is sponsored by a well-known car company. The objective is to develop a technology that allows 3D-printing of spare parts for cars with the same performance as todays series-manufactured components. The potential for the car companies are big in terms of savings and service improvements in the aftermarket through reduced inventory levels and logistics. The first results coming out from the project are positive and we have, together with our partner, decided to continue with the next phase.
Increased focus on development
The stable commercial base that Nexam Chemical has established enable us, in addition to already ongoing initiatives within our commercial focus areas, to increase the activities in new development projects. To support this, we will strengthen our organization in several important positions. Therefore, we are in a process of recruiting key personnel within development, sales and production.
I look forward having additional motivated and competent colleagues in our organization and together with them and other employees to further develop Nexam Chemical during the upcoming autumn and winter. Now we will take a few weeks of vacation to gather new energy before we continue our exciting journey with Nexam Chemical.
With wishes of a wonderful summer!
Anders Spetz
CEO Nexam Chemical
Note: This news has been translated from Swedish. The Swedish text shall govern for all purposes and prevail in case of any discrepancy with the English version.
For further information please contact:
Anders Spetz, CEO, +46-703 47 97 00, anders.spetz@nexamchemical.com
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About Nexam Chemical
Nexam Chemical develops technology and products that make it possible to significantly improve the production process and properties of most types of plastics in a cost-effective manner and with retained production technology. The improved properties include strength, toughness, temperature and chemical resistance as well as service life. The improvements in properties that can be achieved by using Nexam Chemical’s technology make it possible to replace metals and other heavier or more expensive materials with plastics in a number of applications. In applications where plastic is already used, Nexam Chemicals products can improve the manufacturing process, reducing material use and enable more environmental friendly alternatives. Example of commercial applications: pipe manufacturing, foam production and high-performance plastics. More information about the business will be found on http://www.nexamchemical.com. The company´s Certified Adviser is FNCA Sweden AB.