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SABIC Innovative Plastics officially opened its specialty polypropylene (PP) compounding operation at its Bay St. Louis, MS site, with the PP compounds and long glass fiber-filled PP (LGFPP) composites made there primarily targeting the automotive sector. The company announced the move last October, and this site opens 17 months after SABIC inaugurated a PP compounding facility in Genk, Belgium in June 2010, answering the call from automotive OEMs and their tiers for local supply of globally-consistent PP materials.

SABIC notes that PP materials have shown steady growth of 3-5%/yr over several decades in the automotive sector. PP compounds are considered by many to be the preferred solution for bumper fascias, instrument panels (IPs), door panels, interior trim and other parts. OEMs in Europe first used Stamax LGFPP composites in the early 2000s, primarily for large molded parts such as front-end modules, door modules, IP carriers, tailgates, and seat structures. Demand has continued to grow, with OEMs worldwide now choosing the composites for their combination of strength, dimensional stability, and high flow for thin-wall structural parts.

The Bay St. Louis operation applies the design and technology of the company's Genk plant, which SABIC says is the largest greenfield PP compounding plant ever built in Europe. That facility supplies PP compounds to Europe and Stamax LGFPP composites to Europe and Asia Pacific. Genk also houses a Compounding Innovation Center with three pilot lines designed to speed the development cycle for new products and processes.

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