Wacker Chemie AG is expanding its silicone production at its Jandira site near São Paulo, Brazil. WACKER is currently building a multi-purpose facility to manufacture antifoam compounds and functional silicone fluids. The expansion is WACKER’s response to growing regional demand for specialty silicones needed in the textile, paper, household and personal care and cosmetics industry. Investments for the expansion will total around €7 million. While the reactor for silicone fluids is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2017, the plant for antifoam compounds is expected to come on stream by the end of the year. The new production facility will help the company to solidify its position as one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-quality silicones. In Jandira, WACKER already manufactures silicone products for the construction, textile and pulp and paper industries.

WACKER in Middle and South America

WACKER has been supplying the Americas with basic chemicals since as early as the mid-1960s. The company laid the foundation for its presence in Middle America with a separate sales office in Mexico in 1972. The local subsidiary Wacker Mexicana S.A. was founded in Mexico City in 1975. To meet the rising challenges to sales in South America, WACKER set up a wholly-owned subsidiary – Wacker Química do Brasil Ltda. – in Jandira, 35 km northwest of São Paulo, in 1977. Today, beside sales and marketing, the approx. 21,000-m² site houses its own production plant, which produces, for example, silicone fluids and emulsions, silicone-based antifoam agents, resins, rubber compounds and personal care products. In 2003, WACKER opened a technical center for silicone applications in Jandira, which was expanded in 2005 and 2013 to include labs for dispersible polymer powders and dispersions for construction applications. In spring 2010, WACKER established a local branch of its international training centers, the WACKER ACADEMY, at the Jandira technical center.