ANAHEIM, Calif.—Trinseo S.A., formerly known as Styron L.L.C., debuted its new name during the MD&M Show in Anaheim Feb. 10-12.
In June 2014, the company became a public company under the name Trinseo, and on Feb. 1, the name change became official throughout all its entities.
“The reason for doing that is Trinseo is a better reflection of the company in its entirety and also what we do for customers,” said Paula Biskup, global business communications manager at Trinseo.
Tony Samurkas, global research and development director, Performance Plastics, added, “Our products are intrinsic to the good functionality and performance of our customers' products.”
Being intrinsic is the origin of the “trins” in the new company name.
“Trinseo is more inclusive and represents ... the broad diversity of products and technologies that we have,” he said.
For many, Styron represents styrene, “and we're more than a styrenics company,” Biskup said.
While the company name changed, product branding stayed the same. The company's polystyrene products retained the Styron trade name.
The company has undergone some big changes, with the name change and company going public. “We started planning it before we went public, and then certainly once we became a public entity, having all of our units called Trinseo made a lot of sense,” Samurkas said. “It really gave us our distinctive identity. It was kind of the capstone to becoming an independent company.”
Although the company has seen changes, he said there have been no hiccups or interruptions in business. Plenty of planning by multiple functions was done months in advance, Samurkas added, and it turned out to be time well spent.
The name change made sense for customers too, “particularly once you explain the origin of it,” he said.
Trinseo sells plastics, latex and rubber. Samurkas said with rubber, it focuses on high performance on various types of tires, helping boost such properties as low rolling resistance.
“So really, innovation is the basis for our growth and our success in that area, as well as in plastics and latex,” he said. “And what's really important for our customers is we (are) global. Not just in words, but providing the same products globally, technical support, innovation, sales support in all geographies.”
When customers have operations in other parts of the world, Trinseo can supply them with the same quality, performance of the product, and level of technical and commercial support, Samurkas said.
Trinseo's aim is to work with customers about their objectives and to quantify their goals, in terms of a number. “We are more into specialty solutions for our customers rather than commodity,” Biskup said.
Samurkas said some of the best feedback from customers is about this “collaborative spirit and being able to respond quickly.”
Because the company is not huge, it allows Trinseo to be “nimble and fast,” he said. “But we have the technical depth and the credibility and the global reach that leading global companies, in medical for example, trust us.”
Trinseo has regulatory experts in all parts of the world. “Regulatory is a huge issue in medical,” Biskup said.
While at the MD&M Show, Trinseo displayed various products, including Calibre polycarbonate resins, Calibre Megarad polycarbonate resins, Emerge advanced resins and Mangum ABS resins.
The company is excited about Emerge 9500, Samurkas said, which “are ignition-resistant PCPT blends used for power device housing.”
“The value they bring to customers, in addition to great aesthetics, great impact properties, is resistance to solvents for cleaning.”
Trinseo displayed its Magnum ABS resins, including its medical grade Magnum 8391.
“It's a very environmentally friendly process because of the way we operate it,” Samurkas said.
The resin produces a product with a natural light color that has excellent color reproduction, he said.
“We're really investing and making a focused effort in medical to handle, not just to produce great technology, but to get all the regulatory parts right so it's easy for our customers to work with us,” Samurkas said.