Innov Oil Expands in Singapore

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Viscosity modifier producer Innov Oil completed the relocation of its Singapore operations to a larger factory that provides increased production capabilities and storage capacity, the company announced last week.

The new factory provides us the opportunity to increase the production capabilities on our new X series range of amorphous bale form of polymers, Innov Global Sales Manager Marcus Arthur said. The new facility has improved our production efficiency and reduced manufacturing lead time.

The company moved its facility from Yishun, in northeastern Singapore, to the island nations East Coast. When the facility reaches full capacity in 2020, it will produce more than 4,000 metric tons per year of its X2500 viscosity index improver polymers, which have a shear stability index of 24. SSI is a measure of the viscosity modifiers ability to resist degradation under shearing stress. The company also sells polymers with SSI of 35.

Launched last year, the demand on these products has been the main driver for our current plant expansion. In developing markets like Africa, South America and some Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, we see increasing demand for higher quality lubricants, which require the lower shear stability index polymers, Arthur said. The only continent we aren’t shipping polymers to is Antarctica.

The business also benefits from automation and more storage at the new factory. We have expanded our production to include more automation on the manufacturing line, but also our ability to stock a significant portion of our raw materials and finished stock on site has allowed us to drastically shorten lead times and increase production efficiency, he said. The company said this reduced delivery lead times for customers by about 30 to 50 percent.

We can produce specialty polymers for our customers, provide shortened lead times across the board and, as a smaller company, we are quicker to react to moving customer requirements and demand, he added.

The relocation also increased bale and pellet capacity and warehouse capacity. A large percentage of our storage capacity in the former factory was provided by local third party warehouses. With the move to the new location, we are able to bring this all in-house. Effectively, our storage capacity now is around 200 tons of finished Innov Oil polymers, he added.

Set up in 2009, the Singapore facility produces a wide range of mono- and multi-grade olefin copolymer viscosity modifiers and viscosity index improvers.

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