Wittenberg-based Polymer-Technik Elbe GmbH (PTE) has just completed its best year to date. They sold 37,000 tonnes of rubber compounds, more than ever before. New customers were acquired and innovative special compounds were developed. Turnover increased by 40 per cent. But PTE also has a good year ahead of it. Growth shall continue in 2012. The first of two new, additional production lines will be delivered in January. Production will start in the third quarter. The company is investing a total of 14 million euros in the expansion of the production facility, which also creates the possibility for another third production line. Managing Director Wolfgang Keil has announced that 40 new jobs would be created.According to statements by Wolfgang Keil, the order situation of the specialist for rubber compounds has developed quite well over the years. As the doctorate chemist came to PTE in the Lutherstadt Wittenberg in 2000, 23,000 tonnes of rubber compounds had been sold. Now the annual output is 37,000 tonnes. “In the perspective we want to sell 60,000 tonnes annually,” says the 53-year-old, who has been involved in the rubber industry for 25 years. Demand is growing. Manufacturers from the automotive, tyre, aircraft and railway industries and the structural and civil engineering sector as well as the most varying customers not only require more and more rubber products, they also demand increasingly better qualities of the versatile, elastic material from suppliers. For instance, processed PTE rubber components are featured in the cars from VW, Audi, BMW, Opel and Mercedes as well as the Transrapid magnetic levitation train in Shanghai or machines from aircraft manufacturer Airbus, reports Keil. Among the customers are market-dominating tyre manufacturers such as Michelin, Continental and Goodyear. PTE is optimally configured for the growing requirements. The company emerged in 1992 from the former “Gummiwerke Elbe” (Elbe Rubber Works), which was privatised in the course of the fundamental reconfiguration of the East German economic structure by the former “Treuhandanstalt” (Trust Agency). Since that time the shareholders have been the two family-owned enterprises Woco Franz-Josef-Wolf Holding GmbH (Hesse) and Vorwerk und Sohn GmbH & Co. KG (North Rhine-Westphalia). Under their direction the Wittenberg-based PTE with its 300 employees has become a parent plant of a growing international group of companies. In 2006, PTE set up a production facility in the East Chinese megalopolis Wuxi in which 110 employees produce 8,000 tonnes of rubber compounds annually. PTE holds a share in SILCOMP Silikoncompounding GmbH in Osterode (Lower Saxony) and their French subsidiary SILCOMP France. Wittenberg-based Maschinen und Technik GmbH also belongs to the group of companies. “The decision to go to China has also proved to be correct from the present-day point of view,” explains Keil. “We were the first firm from Saxony-Anhalt which set up a plant in China,“ he says in remembrance of the pioneering role. It became clear to one of our shareholders which had already been involved in China in the 1990s what a large growth market China is. A company cannot be involved in global markets with a sole location in Germany, explains Keil. In addition, semi-finished rubber products would not tolerate any long transport routes because they are subject to a certain shelf life. After the investments in the foreign subsidiaries, the question was posed regarding how things should proceed with the German location. The long-term decision to first add two and then three production lines to the six production lines in Wittenberg was made because Saxony-Anhalt is a good location for specialists dealing with rubber compounds. “The professional experience is available here, there are optimal developmental possibilities, the state funding possibilities are considerable and the growing Eastern European markets are located at reasonable delivery distances,“ says Keil in enumerating factors which have led to the decision concerning the expansion of the main plant. This decision raises the company’s importance, whereas its competitive ability will be enhanced. Our position with regard to partners and suppliers will improve, says Keil. “Measured in terms of quantity, technical equipment and employee competence, among the European suppliers of compounds we are among the top five in the industry,” says Keil confidently.Apart from Australia, PTE has customers on all continents. But the company also purchases on a worldwide basis. One half is natural rubber, whereas the other half is synthetically produced. According to Keil, compounding rubber in a multi-stage process is very elaborate: 1,000 different raw materials are utilised. In addition to chemicals, this also includes filler materials, softening agents, antioxidants and vulcanisation agents as well as carbon black, says Keil in naming some of the most important groups of rubber production components. Mixing can be accomplished according to 3,000 formulas. These formulas are partially from PTE, and partially also formulas provided by customers. At any rate, there is great secrecy surrounding them. Employees are sworn to secrecy in order to protect the know-how from competitors. Alone in Wittenberg, 25 employees take care of the testing and development of new, often special, compounds according to customer requests. And even the chemist Keil himself tries out one or another thing, concedes the managing director. An additional doctorate chemist was hired in order to exclusively take care of requirements which ensue from the EU regulation for chemicals for products from Wittenberg. This effort is also necessary so that the compound is always correct, says Keil.Contact:Polymer-Technik Elbe GmbHDr. Wolfgang KeilHeuweg 5D-06886 Lutherstadt Wittenberg ph: +49 (0)3491 659 154E-mail. wkeil@polymertechnk.comWeb: www.polymertechnik.com