Lord to expand Germany plant

HUECKELHOVEN, Germany—Lord Corp. continues to invest in future automotive technologies.

The firm plans to expand operations at its facility in Hueckelhoven in response to what it sees as a fast-growing electric vehicle market in Germany. The firm will invest about $15.8 million to build a 35,000-sq.-ft. addition adjacent to the current facility. The project will create more than 20 additional jobs and is expected to be operating by mid-2020. Construction began in March.

Lord employs 70 at the site, which spans about 70,000 square feet on about 119,000 square feet of land and has been in operation since 1897.

"Historically Lord's been successful at growing our core business in elastomer bonding and coatings for quieter vehicles or structural adhesives for bonding," said Doug Lorenz, president of Lord's global performance materials business.

"The pull from our customers and the success we've been having is what's driving these investments around the world. Germany is kind of the center of the automotive electric vehicle revolution in Europe and is certainly a region with a strong history of engineering and automotive innovation."

Lord said the space will be used to add production for gap fillers, potting and encapsulants, and thermal adhesives sold under its CoolTherm brand. The products fall under Lord's Thermal Management business and are formulated to help reduce heat build-up in electronic components. According to the company's website, CoolTherm products can be customized for epoxies, silicones, urethanes and acrylics, depending on performance needs and cost targets, and are primarily used in battery packs, chargers, inductors, motors and power electronics.

Lorenz said a critical component of electric vehicles is the lithium ion battery pack, which in turn is causing a great need within the industry for thermal management solutions. Those products have an impact on performance, range, reliability and cost of electric batteries—all important factors for consumers.

Vehicle architectures also have design and assembly challenges, which Lorenz said causes the need for new materials and new methods of assembly.

"It's not unique to Europe and Germany," Lorenz said. "But every OEM in Europe, and a lot of those are centered in Germany, is investing in hybrid technology or full battery electric vehicles and platforms. A lot of countries have been committing to either partially or fully moving away from the internal combustion engine in the next 20 to 25 years. We're seeing the acceptance of electric vehicles are happening quicker than expected. Some of that is because the performance, range and cost are coming more into line with what the market needs."

Once Lord adds the CoolTherm line at Hueckelhoven, it will produce those products in all three major regions—already producing them in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The line would be a new series of products for the German site. It currently produces the firm's Chemlok-brand rubber-to-substrate bonding adhesives and coatings for weatherstrip and glass applications.

"We pride ourselves in having best-in-class solutions and localized production with supply chains that are close to our customers," Lorenz said. "We want to mitigate risks, be more responsive and ultimately help the customers that we serve."

The investment is Lord's latest in a series of activities designed to position itself to capitalize on E-mobility trends within the automotive industry. In May 2018, the firm disclosed plans to invest $80 million to expand and upgrade operations at its 250,000-sq.-ft. plant in Saegertown. During the next five years, Lord will add 75,000 square feet to the building, which sits on a 67-acre plot and employs 235.

That site produces Chemlok in addition to specialty intermediate chemicals and coatings products that are supplied to customers around the world.

The firm also in 2018 repurposed space at its site in Indianapolis to add more production.

"This is an area we're pretty excited about and as a company we're pretty optimistic about where things are going," Lorenz said. "We've got a track record of success and continue to outpace market growth. We have an amazing sales pipeline in some of these new areas with some very strong technology portfolios. Put that all together, and we're seeing significant demand from our customers and some significant opportunities in the market."