DuPont will stop production of Kevlar aramid fiber at its Cooper River plant in Southern California and transfer this part of its business to Spruance plant in Richmond, Virginia. DuPont built the Cooper River Kevlar plant near Charleston, Southern California, in 2011. At that time, DuPont said that the global Kevlar fiber production capacity would first increase by 25%, and planned to further increase to 140% in the next two years with the continuous progress of technology
DuPont spokesman Dan Turner said the decision was based on market conditions and was not finalized until the construction of the Cooper River plant was carried out in an orderly manner. The current situation is that many new suppliers enter the market, resulting in overcapacity. 1n the current environment of overcapacity, the capacity increase created by Cooper River plant is less than 10% of the current production, and these products can be completed by other DuPont plants, the first choice is Richmond plant in Virginia
currently, there are 113 employees in Cooper River plant. DuPont said that they will be eligible for positions in other DuPont plants, including Richmond. DuPont will work with these employees to ensure that they get jobs, whether they continue to serve in DuPont or not. At the same time, the Cooper River plant will retain the function of Hytrel production department
DuPont plans to officially stop the production of Kevlar aramid fiber from Cooper River in June 2017, and the equipment will be removed by the end of July. The company plans to transport the surplus aramid fiber production units to other aramid fiber production plants to improve the utilization rate of the equipment
source: compiled by the Organizing Committee of China 1nternational composite materials exhibition