The Urethane Blog
April 1, 2021
Foam shortage explained; the end may be near
Posted by Robert Dalheim April 01, 2021 | 12:13 pm EDT
Industrial chemical maker EverChem Specialty Chemicals has explained the foam shortage currently affecting the furniture industry in a blog post.
Because foam is light and bulky, it is not efficient to ship very far to the various end users such as furniture manufacturers, bedding, seating and other customers,” the company writes. Consequently the many foam plants are located close to the end use markets and are spread around North America.
Foam is made using a number of chemicals, but the main two are polyol and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). It takes roughly two parts of polyol and one part of TDI to make foam. Foam plants buy these raw materials and have them delivered by either railcars or tank trucks. A typical foam plant will have storage tanks that are big enough to offload a few railcars (180,000 lbs each) or tank trucks (45,000 lbs each). They don’t carry a large inventory of these raw materials, but depend upon a steady and timely supply of railcars and trucks in order to produce the foam for their customers.There are a few different grades of flexible foam polyol, but the most common is made from three primary raw materials–glycerine (the initiator), ethylene oxide (EO) and most of all, propylene oxide (PO). PO is by far the main ingredient.
There are a handful of large polyol producers with a few plants in the midwest but most are on the Gulf coast–close to the propylene oxide producers.
PO is produced by three companies in North America, LyondellBasell, Dow, and Indorama. There are five physical plant locations, with four in Texas and one in Louisiana.
When the pandemic hit last March there was a lot of uncertainty about future demand. The entire furniture-foam-polyol-PO chain of production slowed to a crawl.No one predicted that the demand for bedding and furniture would increase while people were in lock down. The industry came back in June hoping to catch up for the lost production in that April May time frame. The industry tried to run at 120% rates to make up for the two lost months, but the PO plants can only run at 100%, so there was not enough to supply everyone what they wanted. PO production issues in the Fall curtailed polyol production even further to the point that the producers had to put together allocations for their customers. No one could get everything that they needed.
Then the winter storm hit the gulf coast in mid February. When a hurricane is expected, the petrochemical industry gets prepared and often shuts down their operations in advance, weathers the storm, then gets back up and running safely and in a relatively short time frame. This storm caught everyone unprepared and many plants lost power while they were still running. It’s a tribute to the industry and all the plant engineers and employees that there were no major accidents during this abrupt and unexpected shutdown. Lines in the plants froze. Power, steam, nitrogen, and hydrogen supplies were lost. All of the propylene oxide plants were shut down. It was almost like an unexpected Cat 5 hurricane hit all of Texas in the middle of the night.Restarting those plants first requires the utilities and power. The damage can’t be assessed until services like steam and nitrogen are restored (and in many cases, they’re still down). Then all the lines need to be inspected and damage repaired. The plants will start at reduced rates and may take months to get back up to full rates. Meanwhile, the entire polyol inventory pipeline is empty and needs to be refilled.
The TDI story is similar to propylene oxide except that there are only two domestic producers and two physical plant locations. Supply is supplemented by some imports. Those plants are located in Texas and Louisiana and were also affected by the winter storm.
EverChem posts updates on its blog daily. Check it out here: https://everchem.com/flexible-foam-shortages-explained/
Furniture maker Wesley Hall believes the end of the shortage to be near – three weeks to be precise. The company opted to shut down all production for a week and decrease production for the two weeks after that.
April 1, 2021
Foam shortage explained; the end may be near
Posted by Robert Dalheim April 01, 2021 | 12:13 pm EDT
Industrial chemical maker EverChem Specialty Chemicals has explained the foam shortage currently affecting the furniture industry in a blog post.
Because foam is light and bulky, it is not efficient to ship very far to the various end users such as furniture manufacturers, bedding, seating and other customers,” the company writes. Consequently the many foam plants are located close to the end use markets and are spread around North America.
Foam is made using a number of chemicals, but the main two are polyol and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). It takes roughly two parts of polyol and one part of TDI to make foam. Foam plants buy these raw materials and have them delivered by either railcars or tank trucks. A typical foam plant will have storage tanks that are big enough to offload a few railcars (180,000 lbs each) or tank trucks (45,000 lbs each). They don’t carry a large inventory of these raw materials, but depend upon a steady and timely supply of railcars and trucks in order to produce the foam for their customers.There are a few different grades of flexible foam polyol, but the most common is made from three primary raw materials–glycerine (the initiator), ethylene oxide (EO) and most of all, propylene oxide (PO). PO is by far the main ingredient.
There are a handful of large polyol producers with a few plants in the midwest but most are on the Gulf coast–close to the propylene oxide producers.
PO is produced by three companies in North America, LyondellBasell, Dow, and Indorama. There are five physical plant locations, with four in Texas and one in Louisiana.
When the pandemic hit last March there was a lot of uncertainty about future demand. The entire furniture-foam-polyol-PO chain of production slowed to a crawl.No one predicted that the demand for bedding and furniture would increase while people were in lock down. The industry came back in June hoping to catch up for the lost production in that April May time frame. The industry tried to run at 120% rates to make up for the two lost months, but the PO plants can only run at 100%, so there was not enough to supply everyone what they wanted. PO production issues in the Fall curtailed polyol production even further to the point that the producers had to put together allocations for their customers. No one could get everything that they needed.
Then the winter storm hit the gulf coast in mid February. When a hurricane is expected, the petrochemical industry gets prepared and often shuts down their operations in advance, weathers the storm, then gets back up and running safely and in a relatively short time frame. This storm caught everyone unprepared and many plants lost power while they were still running. It’s a tribute to the industry and all the plant engineers and employees that there were no major accidents during this abrupt and unexpected shutdown. Lines in the plants froze. Power, steam, nitrogen, and hydrogen supplies were lost. All of the propylene oxide plants were shut down. It was almost like an unexpected Cat 5 hurricane hit all of Texas in the middle of the night.Restarting those plants first requires the utilities and power. The damage can’t be assessed until services like steam and nitrogen are restored (and in many cases, they’re still down). Then all the lines need to be inspected and damage repaired. The plants will start at reduced rates and may take months to get back up to full rates. Meanwhile, the entire polyol inventory pipeline is empty and needs to be refilled.
The TDI story is similar to propylene oxide except that there are only two domestic producers and two physical plant locations. Supply is supplemented by some imports. Those plants are located in Texas and Louisiana and were also affected by the winter storm.
EverChem posts updates on its blog daily. Check it out here: https://everchem.com/flexible-foam-shortages-explained/
Furniture maker Wesley Hall believes the end of the shortage to be near – three weeks to be precise. The company opted to shut down all production for a week and decrease production for the two weeks after that.
April 1, 2021
Recticel completes the acquisition of FoamPartner
Regulated information, Brussels, 01/04/2021 — 00:07 CET, 01.04.2021
Recticel is pleased to announce that on 31 March 2021, it successfully acquired FoamPartner, the Swiss-based global provider of high added-value technical foams.
Olivier Chapelle (Chief Executive Officer): “The closing of the transaction went smoothly, and within the expected timeframe. Recticel Flexible Foams and FoamPartner will now be merged to form the Recticel Engineered Foams business line. The new organisation will leverage numerous synergies in resources and talents to promote excellence, grow its worldwide presence and accelerate the commercialisation of sustainable innovations and leading-edge solutions to global markets. We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues into the Group.”
FoamPartner will be integrated in the consolidated financials of Recticel as from 01 April 2021.
https://www.recticel.com/recticel-completes-acquisition-foampartner.html
April 1, 2021
Recticel completes the acquisition of FoamPartner
Regulated information, Brussels, 01/04/2021 — 00:07 CET, 01.04.2021
Recticel is pleased to announce that on 31 March 2021, it successfully acquired FoamPartner, the Swiss-based global provider of high added-value technical foams.
Olivier Chapelle (Chief Executive Officer): “The closing of the transaction went smoothly, and within the expected timeframe. Recticel Flexible Foams and FoamPartner will now be merged to form the Recticel Engineered Foams business line. The new organisation will leverage numerous synergies in resources and talents to promote excellence, grow its worldwide presence and accelerate the commercialisation of sustainable innovations and leading-edge solutions to global markets. We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues into the Group.”
FoamPartner will be integrated in the consolidated financials of Recticel as from 01 April 2021.
https://www.recticel.com/recticel-completes-acquisition-foampartner.html
April 1, 2021
STOCKMEIER Urethanes expands location in Lemgo-Lieme
STOCKMEIER Urethanes is investing in a new 1,400 square meter administration and development building in the Lemgo district of Lieme. The partner for the structural implementation is the Bielefeld construction and real estate company, GOLDBECK. Today, the client and general contractor celebrated the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony in the industrial area “Im Hengstfeld” – due to the current situation – in a small circle of people. Nevertheless, the joy about the start of construction is great on all sides.
As a member of the STOCKMEIER Group, STOCKMEIER Urethanes has been developing and producing polyurethane systems for industrial as well as sports and leisure applications since 1991.
In order to accommodate the growth of the company, a move from Bielefeld to Lemgo already took place in 2010. To perfectly match the company’s 30th anniversary, STOCKMEIER Urethanes is now celebrating another milestone in the company’s history.
“We have outgrown our current space – that’s a problem you like to have in this day and age,” says operations manager Timo Laucks. “When completed, the new building will house the administration and research and development departments.”
“In the new laboratory space, we want to advance our research and development in the areas of future-oriented innovations and product developments for e-mobility, among other things. As a regional employer, the topic of sustainability on the one hand and responsibility for our environment on the other play an important role. The trend towards alternative drives has increased significantly – also among our employees. That’s why we decided to provide charging stations for e-bikes as well as for electric and hybrid cars,” says Timo Laucks.
The administration and development building is only the starting point for extensive investments at the Lemgo site. In a second construction phase, a new warehouse and dispatch center will be built at “Im Hengstfeld 8”.
STOCKMEIER Urethanes has engaged a major player in the East Westphalian industry for the construction of the administration and development building: The Bielefeld construction and real estate company GOLDBECK, which is currently also building the Astrid Lindgren School and the vocational training center in Lemgo. Timo Laucks: “We are pleased to have GOLDBECK at our side, an experienced general contractor with whom we share our East Westphalian home and family business values. The company has translated our special requirements into a building concept that makes optimal use of the property capacities.”
The move-in is planned for December 2021. “The new building is representative of the great work of all colleagues who have contributed to our positive company development with their dedication over the past 30 years. I am already looking forward to welcoming them to the new premises at the end of the year – hopefully then with a somewhat larger opening ceremony,” Timo Laucks proudly summarizes.
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