Thanks to an investment of 10 million euros in high-end equipment, Sirmax Group has been able to increase its production capacity significantly. A specialist in the production of polypropylene compounds, engineering polymers, compounds from post-consumer plastic waste and bio-based compounds for various application sectors, the group based in Cittadella (near Padua, Italy) has also consolidated its partnership with major machinery manufacturers such as Coperion, Maag and Brabender Technologie, three leading suppliers of high-tech solutions. This investment will allow Sirmax Group to increase its total production capacity by 27 thousand tons, corresponding to a +10% in Europe and +15% in the United States. With the new machinery, the company will be able to meet the growing demand for engineering plastics (ABS, PC, PCABS, PA 6 and PA 66) and polypropylene compounds, which in the first nine months of 2021 increased by 50% and 26% in value, respectively.

In detail, Sirmax purchased six extruders, three of which will boost production at the second site in Kutno (Poland), opened in 2019. The three extruders are intended for the site’s consolidation and development. In addition, the infrastructures for the production of TPE at this site have been enhanced with a new automatic bagging plant and two new heated silos for technical oil. The fourth extruder is instead destined for the Sirmax North America site in Indiana (United States), while the remaining two are intended for the expansion of the production operations at the group’s headquarters in Cittadella and the implementation of the research and development activities of the production site in San Vito al Tagliamento (near Pordenone, Italy), where special engineering polymers are produced. The six new extruders will be fully operational between February and September 2022.

The extruders and equipment supplied by Coperion, Maag and Brabender Technologie enable simpler and more effective scale-ups between production lines and those for research and development. In addition, the long-standing relations with the three suppliers allows the sharing of technological updates and carrying out implementation tests that can result in the creation of new products for Sirmax or new machinery for the technology suppliers. The ten million euro investment in machinery took place in the wake of the more than positive results recorded by the group in the first nine months of 2021: in the third quarter of the year, sales grew by 22% compared to the same period of 2020 and by 19% compared to the first nine months of 2019, increasing the total turnover expected at the end of 2021 to 450 million euros,  compared to 315 million euros in 2020.