Rapid response by US Tier 1 automotive suppliers and OEMs to the crisis in resin production has been hailed by a major vehicle association, with the car sector’s action appearing to be contrast to other industry users of the critical component.
The recent fatal explosion at German Nylon 12 producer, Evonik, at its Marl plant caused suppliers around the world to rapidly evaluate new validation processes for the vital resin, used in coatings and connector applications for fuel handling and brake systems.
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Influential US vehicle body, Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) deployed its full firepower as soon as the blaze’s impact on global Nylon 12 supply was fully realised, convening a series of high-level workshops to address the situation before it spiralled further.
“The OEMs have been working with Tier 1s and resin suppliers – they have already implemented a lot of alternatives,” AIAG director of business development, David Lalain, told just-auto from his headquarters at Southfield, Michigan.
“In some cases they were more expensive – that is the downside with several of the alternatives. The more this has evolved, the more it is kind of kudos to automotive to have a co-ordinated response.”
Evonik recently suggested the earliest it might restart Nylon 12 production could be October this year, prompting a flurry of activity from AIAG but also from bodies in Europe and Japanese supplier association, JAPIA.
“We don’t believe the supply of PA12 is coming back any time soon,” said Lalain. “Evonik has said fourth quarter and with all they have to do to make that happen, I firmly believe it will be fourth quarter.
“The industry can’t wait for the eventual replacement of PA12.”
For its part JAPIA expressed confidence it was riding the Nylon 12 storm with its own alternatives in place to cope with any shortage.
“I have not heard bad news,” JAPIA executive managing director Takehide Takahashi told just-auto from Japan. “Probably there are some inventories and logistics systems [involved] I presume. We have other, alternative producers in Japan of Nylon 12.
“We have enough polyamide plastics production capacity, so some companies can diversify production. How long will this situation sustain [itself] is out of my knowledge. I have no evidence or concrete evidence of how long it will continue, Evonik’s malfunction.”
The AIAG director of business development added it was “unbelievable” how many industries required Nylon 12 to function, although he noted many of them had not achieved the coordinated response of the automotive sector.
Evonik was not immediately available for comment.
