DowDuPont has announced a plan to make a series of investments totaling approximately $100 million over the next two years to expand manufacturing capacity and to modernize facilities at the Sabine River Works (SRW) plant in Orange County, TX, USA. The investments will incrementally expand production capacity to support global growth of specialty materials manufactured at the site, specifically the Surlyn, Nucrel, Fusabond and Vamac product lines.

Additionally, the company is evaluating longer-term plans to invest in a new facility to further support market growth.

The joint investment will support customer growth of both the Packaging & Specialty Plastics (P&SP) business of DowDuPont’s Materials Science Division (to be named Dow), as well as the Transportation & Advanced Polymers (T&AP) business of its Specialty Products Division (to be named DuPont).

“This is another great example of the power of our historic merger and our ability to quickly respond to customers’ growing needs,” says Diego Donoso, business president for Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics. “We see tremendous potential to deliver more supply of these iconic specialty products to our customers in the food packaging and consumer goods markets.”

The added capacity is expected to come online in several phases starting in 2020 and will enable both divisions to meet growing demand for Surlyn, Nucrel, Fusabond (P&SP) and Vamac (T&AP) specialty materials used for applications in food packaging, transportation and consumer goods.

“With this increased capacity, we will be able to support growth in the automotive space at a time when customer demand for our advanced polymers is very strong,” says Randy Stone, business president for DuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers. “This investment will enable us to continue to deliver innovative solutions that serve high-growth end markets and reinforces our commitment to enhancing our leadership position in these key market segments.”