DuPont said last week that it is investing $40 million to construct specialty lubricant manufacturing units at existing factories in Japan and in the United States.
The company, which is based in Midland, Michigan, said it will add the units at plants in Chiba, Japan, and in the U.S. in South Carolina, and that they will make lubes marketed under the Molykote brand name.
In a March 3 news release, DuPont said it took the action in order to meet growing demand and to ensure a cost-effective supply chain.
The company said it sees rising demand for its products from the burgeoning electric vehicle market and from a number of other industry sectors, including electronics, food and beverage processing, healthcare, heavy industry and renewable energy.
The Molykote stable of products includes lubricating fluids and greases as well as pastes, anti-friction coatings, compounds and dispersions.
The Chiba facility will be built at a joint venture plant, DuPont Toray Specialty Materials, which makes a wide range of materials, including specialty silicones for electronics. The joint venture itself is within a larger plant operated by Japanese manufacturer Toray.
The South Carolina plant already produces themoplasatic elastomers marketed under the Hytrel brand.
DuPont did not disclose a timeline for opening the facilities.
For more information on the use of silicone base stocks in lubricants, read Manfred Jungk’s guest column in Lubes’n’Greases.