The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

There was good news to go around after an announcement made by the DuPont Corporation last week. DuPont Sabine River Works in Orange will be part of a $100 million expansion project to increase packaging and industrial polymers capacity.

As a leading supplier of high-performance materials to the packaging, automotive, industrial and consumer industries, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers announced on Sept. 16 its intent to continue to increase production capacity of its ethylene copolymers assets at its Texas manufacturing facilities to meet growing market demand, according to a press release.

Plans include a series of investments totaling more than $100 million to be completed over the next 3 to 4 years. More than one-third of the investment is expected to be installed by the end of 2015. The balance of the investment is expected to be completed over the following 3 years.

"DuPont's increase in ethylene copolymers capacity at its Texas manufacturing facilities illustrates our commitment to the business and to the community,” said Bobby Laughlin, global manufacturing director for DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. “Investing in manufacturing here also helps provide long-term stability to the community. The main reasons for expansion at this time are we want to increase production of our specialty polymers which are high value and highly differentiated, and we are supporting our customers' growth in their markets. This expansion is good for DuPont, and will further drive economic growth for the Orange community."

Bacon Packaging

DuPont plans to increase production capacity at its Texas manufacturing facilities, which produces high-performance materials such as DuPont Surlyn ionomer resins frequently used in tough-to-seal packaging applications to protect the contents.

DuPont plans to increase production capacity at its Texas manufacturing facilities, which produces high-performance materials, such as DuPont™ Elvaloy® ethylene copolymer resins. These resins were used in the new DuPont facilities at Chestnut Run plaza at Wilmington, Del. in April 2012.

DuPont Sabine River Works site in Orange, Texas

The DuPont Sabine River Works site in Orange, began operation in 1946. The plant employs approximately 900 people and produces ethylene copolymers for packaging and industrial applications. Products from Sabine River Works can be found in many everyday items, from medical equipment to food packaging to building and construction materials.

“Market demand for these products is growing.

Our differentiated and high-value products are being used in a diverse range of growth markets.

This includes packaging that helps reduce food waste and offers consumer convenience, and materials to enable more efficient vehicles, new roads that stand up to tough environments, more durable roofing solutions, and higher-performing architectural glass solutions,” said William J. Harvey, president, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers.

“Our customers count on DuPont strengths in application development and new product development to innovate their product offerings.

We are pleased to add new capacity of our high-performance polymers to support growth for our customers.”

It is too early to confirm that additional permanent positions will be added associated with this activity. However, we expect there will be some temporary jobs added as a result of construction. This expansion consists of multiple projects lasting through 2019. This investment will help the DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers business achieve its goal of generating $1 billion in operating earnings in 2019.

Likewise, the Orange City Council recently approved the Invista plant in Orange for nomination as a $250 million Texas Enterprise Zone project.