Czech Compounder Investing $20 Million in US

Czech plastics compounder Silon sro plans to invest $20 million to establish a North American production base in Georgia.

The business, Silon LLC, will locate in Peachtree City, Ga., and create about 20 jobs, according to a June 27 announcement by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.

The new Peachtree operation will include manufacturing, warehousing and storage. Job applicants will be sought for engineering, management and production.

"Silon is thrilled to open a new production site here in the U.S.," said Silon LLC CEO Wolfgang Riediger in a news release. "This will bring us one step closer to our U.S. customers so we can better suit their needs."

Silon's main business is producing and selling polyolefin-based performance compounds and polyester fibers for use in construction, automotive, medical, hygiene and other industries. It is headquartered and does manufacturing in Tábor, Czech Republic, with a major sales office in Düsseldorf, Germany, run by Silon International GmbH.

Established in 1950, the parent company employed about 550 at the end of last year. Other subsidiaries are Tesil Fibres sro and Czech Industrial Park, where the company is based.

Silon claims on its website to have annual production capacity of 116 million pounds per year of plastic compounds and 96 million pounds of fibers. It is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO/TS 16949 standards.

The compounding side of the business includes a laboratory and pilot plant. Silon says it is experienced in a wide range of compounds, including high-performance types and filled compounds, and runs the compounding equipment 24 hours a day. Products include Taboren brand mineral-filled polypropylene/polyethylene compounds for automotive customers, Tesil non-woven textiles for auto applications, Taboren polyolefin compounds for construction as well as specialty grades for hygiene products, and Taborex cross-linkable materials for pipe, tubing and wire and cable. Silon sells to other industries as well and can make compounds for extrusion, cast extrusion, and injection and blow molding.

Silon's Tesil PE fiber is designed for hygienic applications and contact with young children. The firm recycles about a billion PET bottles a year to convert them to PET fiber. About a year ago Silon opened a new PE fiber production plant in Czech Republic for hygienic applications with most of the output to be sold to Procter & Gamble Co.

Its Czech Industrial Park subsidiary manages an industrial park of about 4.3 million square feet. The park now employs about 1,000 in 20 companies located there. Silon touts the park as suited to small and medium-size businesses well situated to access markets in Czech Republic and central and eastern Europe.

Silon's sales in 2015 were about 140.5 million euros ($160.2 million).