Home: Issue 1 2011 › The best in plastics
The best in plastics
01/02/2011 | Channel: Manufacturing
Since its inception in 1968, Polykemi’s mission has been the same: to produce the best custom-designed plastic compounds in the world
Polykemi, a family-owned enterprise with more than 200 employees, is headquartered in Ystad, Sweden, where all major functions can be found, including sales, technical support, purchasing, administration and research and development (R&D).
Mattias Persson, sales and marketing director, gives a few more details about the company: “Today we are the biggest independent plastic compounder in Scandinavia and one of the biggest in Europe as well. Our main export areas are in Europe, however we also offer the same range of materials to the Asian market, which are produced in our production facility in Kunshan outside Shanghai in China.”
He continued: “We work in more or less every sector, although we are particularly strong in automotive, which is our biggest market today, alongside white goods and household.”
Polykemi’s production process is known in the industry as compounding, which in simple terms means that it mixes different plastic materials, additives, and reinforcements. The company invests a great deal into R&D and endeavours to create new and innovative products on an ongoing basis, as Mattias explains: “It’s very important for us to do our R&D in-house. In our development department we create more than 1300 different new plastic compounds or customer samples every year. We also have our own well-equipped laboratory where we test not only the materials that we produce, but also all our new developments and ideas.
“One of our most recent developments is called POLYfill HC and that is a glass fibre reinforced polypropylene with properties on a completely new level compared to the traditional material. The special features of this material bring benefits such as lower weight, and the ability to compete with more expensive materials.
“We also have a new material called POLYfill Touch, which we haven’t actually provided to the market on a big scale yet. Basically that is a reinforced polypropylene with a soft surface. Most parts require a second layer to get that softer surface, but with this material customers are able to produce a component that creates the desired surface feeling in one process. That is something new that we are working with.”
Polykemi also works with recycled plastics, through Rondo Plast AB, a wholly owned subsidiary. Rondo's business concept is to offer quality-assured recycled plastic raw materials. The company was founded in 1980 and over the years has accumulated highly qualified expertise and experience in plastic recycling.
“We mostly source our materials within Europe, and often it is post industrial waste,” Mattias notes. “This is because with post industrial waste we have more control over the source. We also think it’s very important to have close relations to the suppliers when it comes to recycled material. In fact, when we deliver or produce recycled products, we apply the same quality criteria as we do for our virgin materials.” He added: “Recently we have increasingly been working with post consumer materials. That has been a little bit tricky to get right so we’re approaching the area quite carefully.”
As Mattias pointed out, sourcing good quality raw materials is incredibly important to Polykemi, and that requires very well managed, long-term relationships with its suppliers: “We try to have the same suppliers from year to year, and we try to work as closely with them as we do with our customers.”
He continues: “We like to do business over the long term as this creates a stronger bond between us. Doing business should be beneficial for both parties, so we try to build a close partnership with our suppliers as well as our customers. As our customers audit us and want us to guarantee and certify our products, so we demand the same from our suppliers.”
Both Polykemi’s suppliers and customers benefit from the company’s flat organisational structure and short command chain, as Mattias explains: “The owners of the firm are working here daily, and this helps to make the decision-making process extremely short. This makes us very flexible, and I think that is one of our biggest advantages in the market, besides our wide product range and ability to custom adapt our products.”
Going forward, Mattias anticipates the future looks bright for Polykemi: “From our point of view we are back on track after the economic crisis and this year we will reach the same volumes that we achieved during 2007/2008. We foresee good growth and development over the coming years, in both existing and new markets. For instance, for the past couple of months we have been focusing more on Poland. That is not a new market in Europe but for us we have put more effort there as we see a good opportunity for growth.
“We also see more possibilities in China. Our factory there is fairly new and we have had excellent growth up until now and we see good potential for the coming years there as well.”
He concludes: “Internally our goal is to be recognised on the market as a world-class compounder. That’s what we will be striving for over the coming years and also in the future. Every day we try to be a little bit better - we do put a lot of effort into developing ourselves here at Polykemi and we try to live our saying: If you stop getting better you stop being good!
Polykemi
Employees: 200+
Products: Plastic compounds
Mattias Persson, sales and marketing director, gives a few more details about the company: “Today we are the biggest independent plastic compounder in Scandinavia and one of the biggest in Europe as well. Our main export areas are in Europe, however we also offer the same range of materials to the Asian market, which are produced in our production facility in Kunshan outside Shanghai in China.”
He continued: “We work in more or less every sector, although we are particularly strong in automotive, which is our biggest market today, alongside white goods and household.”
Polykemi’s production process is known in the industry as compounding, which in simple terms means that it mixes different plastic materials, additives, and reinforcements. The company invests a great deal into R&D and endeavours to create new and innovative products on an ongoing basis, as Mattias explains: “It’s very important for us to do our R&D in-house. In our development department we create more than 1300 different new plastic compounds or customer samples every year. We also have our own well-equipped laboratory where we test not only the materials that we produce, but also all our new developments and ideas.
“One of our most recent developments is called POLYfill HC and that is a glass fibre reinforced polypropylene with properties on a completely new level compared to the traditional material. The special features of this material bring benefits such as lower weight, and the ability to compete with more expensive materials.
“We also have a new material called POLYfill Touch, which we haven’t actually provided to the market on a big scale yet. Basically that is a reinforced polypropylene with a soft surface. Most parts require a second layer to get that softer surface, but with this material customers are able to produce a component that creates the desired surface feeling in one process. That is something new that we are working with.”
Polykemi also works with recycled plastics, through Rondo Plast AB, a wholly owned subsidiary. Rondo's business concept is to offer quality-assured recycled plastic raw materials. The company was founded in 1980 and over the years has accumulated highly qualified expertise and experience in plastic recycling.
“We mostly source our materials within Europe, and often it is post industrial waste,” Mattias notes. “This is because with post industrial waste we have more control over the source. We also think it’s very important to have close relations to the suppliers when it comes to recycled material. In fact, when we deliver or produce recycled products, we apply the same quality criteria as we do for our virgin materials.” He added: “Recently we have increasingly been working with post consumer materials. That has been a little bit tricky to get right so we’re approaching the area quite carefully.”
As Mattias pointed out, sourcing good quality raw materials is incredibly important to Polykemi, and that requires very well managed, long-term relationships with its suppliers: “We try to have the same suppliers from year to year, and we try to work as closely with them as we do with our customers.”
He continues: “We like to do business over the long term as this creates a stronger bond between us. Doing business should be beneficial for both parties, so we try to build a close partnership with our suppliers as well as our customers. As our customers audit us and want us to guarantee and certify our products, so we demand the same from our suppliers.”
Both Polykemi’s suppliers and customers benefit from the company’s flat organisational structure and short command chain, as Mattias explains: “The owners of the firm are working here daily, and this helps to make the decision-making process extremely short. This makes us very flexible, and I think that is one of our biggest advantages in the market, besides our wide product range and ability to custom adapt our products.”
Going forward, Mattias anticipates the future looks bright for Polykemi: “From our point of view we are back on track after the economic crisis and this year we will reach the same volumes that we achieved during 2007/2008. We foresee good growth and development over the coming years, in both existing and new markets. For instance, for the past couple of months we have been focusing more on Poland. That is not a new market in Europe but for us we have put more effort there as we see a good opportunity for growth.
“We also see more possibilities in China. Our factory there is fairly new and we have had excellent growth up until now and we see good potential for the coming years there as well.”
He concludes: “Internally our goal is to be recognised on the market as a world-class compounder. That’s what we will be striving for over the coming years and also in the future. Every day we try to be a little bit better - we do put a lot of effort into developing ourselves here at Polykemi and we try to live our saying: If you stop getting better you stop being good!
Polykemi
Employees: 200+
Products: Plastic compounds