Sidney composites plant wins new production, 8 new jobs

A Japanese company is looking to add a production line and eight new jobs to its American subsidiary operation in Sidney.

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. will set up a new production facility for Milastomer thermoplastic olefin elastomer at the Sidney plant of its U.S. subsidiary Advanced Composites, Inc., the company said in a release this week.

The material has a variety of uses, the company said.

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“Auto parts, building gaskets, toothbrushes, golf club grips and more,” the company said in its release. “Global demand is projected to rise, primarily for applications such as automotive interior covers, weather strips, air bag covers and steering bellows. Demand for use in automotive interior covers is expected to expand especially in North America.”

Construction will begin in January 2019 of a production line designed to produce 6,000 tons of the material annually. The line will be completed in June 2019, the company said.

A spokeswoman for the Dayton Development Coalition, citing Advanced Composite’s vice president of manufacturing, said the expansion will mean eight new jobs at the plant.

The new work will be performed in a 60,000-square-foot plant addition completed last year. The Milastomer expansion means an additional $14.1 million investment in the plant.

“Even with this new opportunity, they have room for continued growth,” coalition spokeswoman Shannon Joyce Neal said Thursday.

The company’s Sidney plant is at 1062 Fourth Ave.

The company’s initial announcement on the project earlier this week made no mention of new jobs at the Sidney plant.

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