Victrex Opens New £32M VICTREX PEEK Polymer Plant To Significantly Increase Production Capacity For Its High Performance Materials

Thornton Cleveleys, UK - Victrex plc, a leading provider of high performance materials through the manufacture of VICTREX PEEK polymer, has opened a new polymer manufacturing plant at its main production facility in Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire, UK. The new facility has been built to support future demand for VICTREX PEEK polymer and VICTREX PEEK-based products, such as VICOTE Coatings and APTIV Film. It will provide further security of supply to customers, increasing production capacity by approximately 50 percent and establishing a second stand-alone source of VICTREX PEEK polymer.

Victrex has invested £32M in this facility which has the ability to produce 1,450 tonnes per annum of VICTREX PEEK products, increasing Victrex's total production capacity for these products to 4,250 tonnes per annum. To support the new plant opening Victrex has also increased its production workforce by eight and opened three new apprenticeship positions.

"The opening of this new plant has been much anticipated," said Dave Hummel, Chief Executive Officer of Victrex plc. "In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in worldwide demand for our materials. We believe it is imperative for our capacity to stay ahead of demand so customers have ample supply of high quality products."

Blair Souder, Commercial Director at Victrex commented, "Our ongoing application development work with customers has to be supported as we grow the applications for VICTREX PEEK polymer as well as the pipeline for future opportunities. Planning for additional capacity is a critical part of our business strategy."

The new plant's design minimises energy consumption, reduces water consumption and provides improved effluent treatment. The new technology for treating effluent will also be implemented in the existing plant. The state-of-the-art plant is fully automated and operated from a central control room, making it highly cost effective.

"The new plant is a stand-alone facility that can operate completely independently of the existing facility, but it uses the same core technology," said Tim Walker, Production & Technical Director at Victrex. "This independence is a vital back-up feature that will ensure the security of supply of VICTREX PEEK polymer. In addition, the new plant incorporates all of the Victrex proprietary technological improvements which we have made over the years to improve the quality and consistency of the material."

The new plant is a versatile facility that will be used to make VICTREX PEEK polymer as well as specialty grade product lines such as VICTREX PEEK-HT polymer, which has been the material of choice for a number of years in demanding industrial applications where extreme temperature performance is required. All production at the plant comes under Victrex's existing ISO 9001 quality registration.

SOURCE: Victrex plc