New BASF facilities in Greater China support metal injection molding industry

Wednesday, Dec 05, 2012

BASF is strengthening its activities in the field of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) in the Asia Pacific region with two new facilities for Catamold®, its ready-to-mold feedstock for MIM.

BASF will set up a new Catamold® production facility at its Kuanyin site in Taiwan. The new plant will have an annual production capacity of more than 5,000 tons and will start-up in the second half of 2013. In addition, BASF has opened a new technical service lab for the company’s MIM feedstock business in Shanghai, China.The new technical service lab for Catamold® is located within BASF’s Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Pudong, providing technical support as well as customer training.

Currently, the region Asia Pacific represents approximately 50% share of the global MIM market. “At BASF, we expect that this share will increase to 60% by the year 2020,” said Dr. Stefan Koser, Vice President of BASF’s Metal Systems Business Unit. “ The Asian market is therefore one of the major growth drivers for our Catamold ® business. The investment shows our strong commitment towards the Metal Injection Molding Industry in Asia and will enable further substantial growth potential for this technology ,” Koser added.

“With the new lab we are now able to better and faster serve our customers” said Steven Hung, Head of Regional Business Management Metal Systems Asia Pacific.

Catamold® is BASF's ready-to-mold feedstock for metal injection molding (MIM) and ceramic injection molding (CIM), offering a diverse portfolio of low-alloy steels, stainless steels, special alloys and ceramics. Catamold® is successfully used in various applications: From the automotive industry to consumer goods, from the construction industry to medical or computer and communication technology. With Catamold ® , geometrically demanding parts can be economically manufactured with conventional injection molding machines. It makes metal and ceramics as easy to mold as plastic, opening up new possibilities for making complex components with economic and technical benefits including a high degree of automation, a wide range of shapes, near-net-shape manufacturing, and good mechanical properties.

Source: BASF