UMBOGINTWINI, South Africa (Jan. 29, 2008) — Industrial Urethanes has closed its Sebenza, South Africa, factory, moving those operations to a newly added $2.8 million pre-polymer production and blending facility at its Umbogintwini, Kwazulu-Natal plant.
Peter Groome, technical and operations director at Industrial Urethanes, said the revamped Umbogintwini plant will have two sections — one for flexible blends and polyol dehydration and the other for isocyanates.
He said the firm now has a more cost-effective and simple supply chain from Durban to Umbogintwini.
The move also could create opportunities for transport and logistics collaboration and cost-saving with other companies in the Chemserve group, said Industrial Urethanes.
A new production improvement plan has been implemented to further raise productivity at Umbogintwini. The propylene oxide feed is being automated to speed up the process by three hours which in turn could increase capacity by more than 3,000 metric tons or about 600 percent of the original capacity, according to Groome.
The company said it expects the modifications will be complete by April and that measures have been taken to supply customers until then.