Bayer MaterialScience Closes TDI Facility at New Martinsville, W. Va.

NEW MARTINSVILLE, W. Va. -- The toluene diisocyanate (TDI) facility at the Bayer MaterialScience plant here, which produces 110 million pounds of TDI annually, will be closed effective immediately. The 30 employees who will be affected by the closure will be reassigned to other jobs.

"This closing completed the restructuring and consolidation of Bayer's TDI business that we have outlined in the past," said Jim Newport, New Martinsville General Plant Manager.

"TDI has been produced at New Martinsville since the mid-'50s," Newport said, "and the Bayer employees who work at the TDI unit are among the best in the business. However, the economies of scale have been changing in the TDI marketplace, and Bayer is consolidating production to several world-scale plants, including its plant in Baytown, Texas."

A proportionate amount of by-product hydrochloric acid production at New Martinsville will cease as a result of the TDI closure. The New Martinsville facility will continue to produce other isocyanates and polyols, coatings raw materials and thermoplastic polyurethanes, Newport said. Isocyanates and polyols are combined to make flexible and rigid polyurethane foams, which are used in furniture, automotive, construction, appliance and sporting goods applications.

Bayer's TDI production has been consolidated into world-scale facilities in Baytown and Dormagen and Brunsbuettel, Germany. Another world-scale TDI plant is planned for Caojing, China, which is expected to come on stream in 2009.

"By concentrating our capacities in these high-technology, high-performance facilities, we are ideally equipped for the future and will be able to react to increased global demand for TDI with cost-effective production," said Peter Vanacker, head of the Bayer MaterialScience Polyurethanes Business Unit.

Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high- performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience AG with 18,000 employees at 40 sites around the world and 2004 sales of 8.6 billion euros. Our innovative developments in coating, adhesive and sealant raw materials, polycarbonates, polyurethanes and thermoplastic urethane elastomers enhance the design and functionality of products in a wide variety of markets, including the automotive, construction, electrical and electronics, household and medical industries, and the sports and leisure fields. Our inorganic basic chemicals unit produces chlorine and related essential products for the chemicals industry. Let us give life to your vision. Bayer MaterialScience -- Where VisionWorks.

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