• New foreign subsidiaries in Italy and Mexico
• Activities in the US: Foundation of ALBIS Barnet Polymers LLC joint venture, construction of new US plant for compounding of engineering plastics
• Production capacities in Europe expanded

ALBIS PLASTIC GmbH, a Hamburg-based global specialist in the distribution and compounding of technical thermoplastics, will be exhibiting at K 2016, Hall 8b, Stand A61. The exhibit will focus on the company’s broad portfolio of products by well-known plastics manufacturers, in order to reflect its core business of distribution—and also in light of two special anniversaries.

“2016 marks 50 years of close cooperation with Covestro and Lanxess,” explains Philip O. Krahn, CEO of ALBIS PLASTIC. “Both producers number among ALBIS’s strategic business partners—and not just for distribution, but also in the areas of license and toll compounding. It is a happy coincidence that K, the world’s leading plastics-industry trade fair, is also taking place this year, such that we can celebrate this historic milestone together here.” K itself is celebrating an anniversary as well: this year will be the twentieth such event. The plastics trade fair was held for the first time in 1952.

ALBIS uses K, the plastic industry’s most important show, as an opportunity to talk with customers and business partners about current and future projects, as well as additional potential areas of cooperation within the context of progressive internationalization. In this regard, the company’s goal is to continue expanding its distribution rights. As such, the company has expanded its collaboration with Ineos Styrolution in Bulgaria, and intends to intensify the relationship within other regions in which ALBIS is already active. Previously, in 2015, ALBIS expanded its partnership with Covestro in Bulgaria, while also building upon its cooperative work with Eastman in the Maghreb region and with Lucite in Switzerland.

“K is happening at the right time,” says Philip O. Krahn. “It’s the ideal industry event for us to meet with our partners and customers, and discuss current and future business. And now that ALBIS has its own sales office in Italy, I’m sure we have a number of future-oriented conversations ahead.”

The company is also sounding out additional potential activities and opportunities for collaboration, with a view to further intercontinental expansion. In the Asia-Pacific region, in particular, ALBIS has established a broad distribution network over the past forty years, most recently through the steady expansion of its Southeast Asian network. “ALBIS sees and has the potential for success in continued expansion of its activities,” comments Krahn, who led the company’s Far East division until the end of June and is well familiar with that market.

ALBIS is also investing in North America. Besides opening a sales office in Mexico, primarily to supply the automotive market reliably, ALBIS has joined forces with William Barnet & Son, LLC, who specialize in the manufacture, recycling, and distribution of fibers, yarns, and plastics. On September 1, 2016, the two companies founded a joint venture, ALBIS Barnet Polymers LLC, in which ALBIS PLASTIC is the majority shareholder. The joint venture’s headquarters are in Duncan, South Carolina, in a region that is home to many customers that ALBIS already supplies in Europe. ALBIS Barnet Polymers LLC will reclaim and process post-industrial raw materials, market them, and compound them into ALTECH® ECO products. Both companies are investing heavily in recycling technology, and in their range of sustainable, near to prime-quality recycled compound products. 

ALBIS will also be constructing a plant for compounding engineering plastics on joint venture premises. The plant is scheduled to open during the second quarter of 2017. “This facility will increase our flexibility on site and improve our delivery capabilities within America even more,” says Frank Kriebisch, COO of ALBIS PLASTIC.

ALBIS PLASTIC GmbH will also be taking over Barnet Europe’s existing polymers business, which includes, in particular, production sites in Obernburg (Germany) and Humenné (Slovakia). Taking all of its business activities in the USA and Europe into account, ALBIS’s global production capacity will thus increase by 60,000 tons per year.

ALBIS will also continue to invest in its existing production sites in order to address needs resulting from previous and planned growth.