General Electric (GE) has opened a new Lexan resin plant in Cartagena, Murcia, as part of its GE Advanced Materials complex. The plant, which has a capacity to produce 130,000 tons of Lexan resin per year, represents an investment of €600m ($710m). GE expects that over 90% of the plant's production will be exported from Murcia to customers worldwide. The company also announced plans to construct a new plant in Murcia to manufacture high-performance polymers under the brand name Ultem resin, although details of the investment were not disclosed.
General Electric opened its new Lexan resin plant in Cartagena, Murcia. It is the third phase of the complex of GE Advanced Materials. The plant investment is 600 million euros. The total investment of GE in the complex of Cartagena is 1.7 billion euros.
The new GE plant has the capacity to produce about 130,000 tons of Lexan resin per year. On the basis of the current global demand for GE Lexan resin, it is expected that most of the production is absorbed by the market. The plant has been designed using "six sigma", the standard of quality of GE.
GE expects that more than 90 percent of the plant's production is exported from Murcia to customers around the world. Only in 2003, exports of thermoplastics from Cartagena were assessed at EUR 300 million, more than 8 percent of total exports of Murcia. The total investment in the region for the period 1993-2002 was more than 2,850 million euros.
"The Lexan polycarbonate is known worldwide for its benefits for the industry and consumers," says John Krenicki, President and CEO of GE Advanced Materials. "Lexan is resistant, transparent and virtually unbreakable." "GE is proud to manufacture Lexan in Cartagena to supply it to consumers around the world."
The new GE plant gives employment to more than 250 people, increasing the number of employees in the resort of Cartagena to over 600, which have been trained in quality, workplace safety, information technology, and other technical disciplines.
Site description
Between 1993 and 2003, GE has invested 40 million euros in the protection of the environment on the site of the plant.
A new investment
GE also announced that it intends to continue their investments in Murcia with the construction of a new plant that will manufacture polymers of high performance under the brand name Ultem resin. Details on the planned investment of such construction is not disseminated in the Act.