LANXESS of Germany is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-performance materials to the automotive and electronic industries. The company’s Indian arm LANXESS India Private Ltd., with its global expertise and technology know-how, contributes a lot towards making vehicles lighter and safer by supplying the products suited to the Indian market.
We spoke to Mr. Pankaj Khare, General Manager & Head of Business Unit – High Performance Materials (HPM), LANXESS India Private Ltd., to know more about LANXESS’ business in India, the solutions it offers and its plans on the anvil.
Excerpts:
Let’s start with a background of LANXESS’ presence in the Indian market. Could you give us an overview of your operations in India and the journey thus far?
LANXESS India Private Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LANXESS Deutschland GmbH with more than 100 years of history of operation. The High Performance Materials (HPM) business unit of LANXESS is one of the leading suppliers of high-tech plastics for the automotive and electronic industries, operating through seven production facilities in Europe, the US, India, China and Brazil.
In India, we have our manufacturing facility in Jhagadia, Gujarat. The plant, set up in 2012, is one of the biggest engineering polymer compounding plants in India with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons. With a wide range of high-performance materials under brands like the Durethan® and Pocan®, we at LANXESS develop solutions that are making vehicles lighter and safer. LANXESS’ hybrid technology combines plastics with metals, which has already been used in several vehicle models worldwide. This technology thus constitutes intelligent lightweight construction with outstanding component properties that reduce both consumption of fuel and CO2 emissions. Known for its backward integration, the HPM business unit prides itself in offering high-end solutions to its stakeholders.
What solutions and services does LANXESS offer for the automotive sector?
LANXESS is a leading solution provider for the automotive sector in the field of light-weighting. Our research & development set-up in Hong Kong gives credence to our overall capabilities at work in strengthening the material set-up, prototyping, computer simulation, component testing and validation and knowledge sharing.
Thanks to our efficient production facilities and intensive product and application development, we are one of the most competitive solution providers in the field. The production of Durethan and Pocan is further supported by our manufacture of strategically relevant intermediate products. Our facilities in Krefeld-Uerdingen, Hamm-Uentrop and Antwerp, among the largest of their kind, produce caprolactam, polyamide 6, polybutylene terephthalate and glass fibers on world scale assets.
Our most important brands & products are:
- Durethan, engineering plastics based on polyamide 6 and 66, for use in the automotive and electrical/electronics industries.
- Pocan, engineering plastics based on polybutylene terephthalate and blends, for use in the electrical/electronics and automotive industries as well as medicine, sports and recreation.
How does LANXESS add value to customers? Could you also indicate industry trends where LANXESS’ could play a significant role?
The Indian OEMs are opting for better technical support in their endeavor to reduce weight, offer better quality, improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. With this increase in demand for quality products we see a good potential for quality engineering plastics and related services in the Indian market.
LANXESS offers not only world-class engineering polymer solutions but also support in the area of expertise and knowledge to enable auto OEMs to convert metal parts into plastics without diluting the specifications.
There is a huge potential in both the passenger car and two-wheeler segments. We have been in the passenger car segment for many years. In India, we have been working with major two-wheeler manufacturers in order to convert many metal parts like grab handle, foot rest, air intake manifold, fenders, cylinder head cover, etc., into plastics.
The following are a few examples of light-weighting success stories in the automotive as well as the two-wheeler industry.
Engine oil pans – In this particular application, polyamide offers an alternative to aluminium, sheet steel and sheet molding compounds (SMC). One variant of the oil pan is made of the heat stabilized polyamide 66 Durethan AKV 35 H2.0 filled with 35 per cent glass fibers, while another is manufactured using the corresponding easy-flow polyamide 6 grade Durethan BKV 35 EF H2.0. This has been used in trucks produced by Daimler.
The oil pan module for the new six-cylinder boxer engines of the Porsche 911 Carrera is being produced using Durethan (made from polyamide 6) from LANXESS. The oil pan module has been developed in close collaboration between POLYTEC and Porsche.
Polyamide 6 has helped reduce the weight of the upper and lower sections of the oil pan. Overall, the oil pan is more than two kg lighter than its aluminium predecessor, due to the lower density of the plastic and the optimized wall thicknesses.
Front end module – Passenger car front end carriers can now be designed exclusively of plastic, as illustrated by the new Skoda Octavia. The vehicle’s front end carrier is made of Durethan BKV 60 H2.0 EF, a highly reinforced polyamide (PA) 6 from LANXESS (Leverkusen, Germany), with 60 per cent glass-fiber filling. This structural component is notable, in that it contains absolutely no sheet-metal reinforcement. We have the extremely high stiffness and strength of our high-tech polyamide. It permits the intricate, thin-walled design of the carrier.
Spare wheel recess – The spare wheel recess with integrated reinforcing channels in the new Audi A8 is made of Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF, a highly filled polyamide 6 from LANXESS with 60 per cent glass fibers. Our polyamide 6 is the material of choice because it enables precise injection molding of the part’s complex geometry. It would be very difficult to make the component from sheet metal due to the limited space available and the high draw ratios. Our plastic also enables direct integration of numerous functions. The spare wheel recess is made by Voestalpine Plastics Solutions, a company based in the Dutch town of Putte.
What are the key USPs through which LANXESS scores over competition?
The High Performance materials (HPM) business unit of LANXESS is one of the leading suppliers of high-tech plastics for the automotive and electronic industries, operating through seven production facilities in Europe, the US, India, China and Brazil. In India, we have our manufacturing facility in Jhagadia, Gujarat. The plant, set up in 2012, is one of the biggest engineering polymer compounding plants in India. With a wide range of high performance materials under brands, namely, Durethan and Pocan, we at LANXESS develop solutions that are making vehicles lighter and safer.
LANXESS’ hybrid technology combines plastics with metals, which has already been implemented in several vehicle models worldwide. This technology thus constitutes intelligent lightweight construction with outstanding material properties, which reduces both consumption of fuel and CO2 emissions.
More than 40 million hybrid components in 70 vehicle classes can now be found on roads around the world. In many countries, metal car parts like air intake manifolds, oil module, door handles, oil pans, coolant water pipes, fuel tank, thermostat housing, fuel rail, roof frames, accelerator & brake pedal blocks, etc., have been successfully replaced with Durethan and Pocan from LANXESS.
Known for its backward integration, the HPM business unit prides itself in offering high-end solutions to its stakeholders. Thanks to our efficient production facilities and intensive product and application development processes, we are one of the prominent suppliers in our field. The HPM compounding plant in Jhagadia, Gujarat, has a total capacity of 20000 MT and produces Durethan, engineering plastics based on polyamide 6 and 66, and Pocan, engineering plastics based on polybutylene terephthalate.
The customer is also provided with computer-aided simulation, testing and validation of auto parts from our technology center in Hong Kong and is also supported in process optimization.
Could you outline LANXESS’ long-term vision for the Indian market?
We are focused on innovative materials for applications in the automotive, two-wheeler and electrical/electronics industry where we are working on optimized, tailor-made grades, for instance, for highly reinforced polyamides for mechanically stressed parts, new materials for LED components and hydrolysis-stabilized PBT for engine compartment parts.
We are also a leading supplier of light-weighting technology to the automotive industry. As automotive manufacturers have gradually shifted their focus from just using metals to using metals combined with plastics, LANXESS’ Durethan plastic compounds can already be found in car parts in combination with steel or aluminum.
We have already achieved the preferred automotive raw materials supplier status with most of the Tier-I automotive manufacturers, and we want to replicate the same in the two-wheeler industry as well as the electrical and electronics industry.