Name:  GE Plastics

        Address: One Plastics Ave.       

City: Pittsfield, Mass.

CEO:  Charlene Begley

Product: Plastic resins

Phone: 413-448-7110   Year Founded: 2005

      GE Plastics is a global supplier of engineering thermoplastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building & construction, telecommunications, and optical media applications. The company manufactures and compounds PC, ABS, ASA, PPO, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP line of high-performance specialty compounds. GE Plastics, Specialty Film & Sheet manufactures high-performance Lexan sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide.

      GE Plastics has its world headquarters in Pittsfield, Mass. and its European headquarters in Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands. The company actively supports and works with its customers to invent, test, and validate new practical solutions to help them meet marketplace challenges, differentiate their products and grow their businesses. The company has organized itself around customers’ needs, providing a total solutions approach from materials selection to technology, design, and application testing support through its Global Application Technology (GApT) centers and Customer Innovation Centers (CIC) around the world.

      As a global leader in high-technology materials science, GE Plastics is investing to help customers solve some of their toughest environmental challenges today and for generations to come. This is manifested in a multi-disciplined campaign called ecomagination. This is focused on applying GE technology to drive energy efficiency and improve environmental performance by providing materials that have the potential to be recycled, eliminate paint and halogenated materials, reduce weight and scrap and meet emerging regulatory standards like WEEE (Waste on Electrical and Electronic Equipment).

The following examples are ecomagination solutions at work.

 

Ultra-thin-wall wire coating
      Millions of kilometers of electrical wire are manufactured each year. In the automotive industry alone, more than 96 million kilometers/60 million miles of coated wire are produced annually. However, current wire coating and insulation materials can pose environmental concerns. Halogenated materials generate dioxins when burned, and many non-halogenated types cannot be easily recycled. GE is developing newer polymers that meet the requirements for halogen, lead, and cadmium free parts. Flame-retardant Flexible Noryl resin is one example where GE innovation helps its customers comply with strict environmental labeling requirements of the European Union’s Eco-label and others. Moreover, Flexible Noryl resins enable ultra-thin-wall coatings for smaller cables, which may reduce a car’s wire/resin weight by up to 25 percent.

VOC-free paint replacement  on auto body panels
      Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by paint have been shown to have a negative impact on air quality. By infusing plastic with pigment, GE Plastics is able to greatly reduce the use of paint in the automotive manufacturing process. Applying ecomagination initiatives, GE developed Lexan SLX resin, a material with super-high gloss, gorgeous metallic colors, excellent resistance to abrasion and chemicals, and outstanding weatherability. These resins are excellent candidates for automobile body panels that previously required primers and paint.

Overcoming design  barriers for medical devices
      GE Plastics is also pushing back the limitations for medical and healthcare device designers whose goals are typically improving ease, speed, effectiveness, and safety of device use. GE Plastics offers a full range of materials, such as Lexan resins and Ultem resins capable of meeting several stringent design criteria. These potentially bring weight and cost savings over metals traditionally used in many applications, while still satisfying typical medical device requirements, like gamma sterilization and steam autoclaving demands, as well as those of biocompatibility.

      One of the most promising areas for metal replacement comes with the evolution of plastic compounds. Compounds can deliver very high performance, including mechanical strength, lubricity, wear resistance, and dimensional stability that facilitate tight tolerances of application specifications. For example, GE’s LNP Lubricomp compounds are excellent candidates for applications where lubrication and wear resistance are required and the GE’s LNP Thermocomp compounds are known for their inherent toughness. These materials, when coupled with the critical design elements of the OEM, facilitate the achievement of device design and performance goals.

Advanced material solutions for aircraft interiors
      GE Plastics’ high-performance Ultem resin and sheet materials have been designed to help aircraft OEMs in the development of next-generation aircraft interior components. Well established products include: Ultem 9075 and 9076 resin for injection molding that help meets stringent OSU requirements, and Ultem 2300 resin used for hinges in a range of aircraft designs.

      Latest in these developments is Ultem 1668A sheet, which can be thermoformed, pressure-formed, twin-sheet formed, or used in flat or cold-formed applications. In aircraft interiors, this material is used to mold aircraft window reveals, air ducts, seating and flight deck components, galleys, stow bins, and sidewalls. Ultem 1668A sheet meets commercial aircraft interior requirements, including FAA smoke and flammability testing and toxicity standards BSS7239 and ABD0031.

Meet key needs of  automotive customers
      For automotive manufacturers seeking to differentiate themselves to their customers with top technological advancements for automotive exteriors, GE Plastics’ Automotive division offers a variety of innovative weight-reducing and cost-out solutions by its signature surfaces program comprised of body panels, glazing, and no-paint solutions.

      In the body panels segment, advanced Lexan SLX film provides automakers with a ‘paint-free’ option that can deliver a Class A surface finish with deep gloss consumer appeal. Furthermore, the film has the ability to withstand prolonged exposure to UV rays with minimal fading, and it offers greater scratch and chemical resistance when compared to similar films.

      For automotive engineers who require weight reduction, design flexibility, improved moldability, and impact protection for large body panels, GE Plastics has introduced two advanced, cost competitive materials, High Modulus Ductile (HMD) and High Performance ThermoPlastic Composites (HPPC).

      The newest grade of Noryl resin can help manufacturers produce blow-molded spoilers with lower system costs by means of maximized efficiency in manufacturing via reduced sanding time. Thinner wall capability with equal performance along with higher heat performance, tensile and impact strength, and better coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) versus ABS also help manufacturers to reduce system costs.

      Other new materials include high-heat, conductive Noryl GTX resin, which enables on- and in-line painting, while eliminating the need for a conductive primer. A new chrome plating grade of Cycoloy resin for exterior and interior door handles, running boards, wheel covers, grilles, roof racks and trim components.

      Automotive lighting systems made from GE Plastics’ resins have proven to be tough, stylish, and durable against the high heat of projector and fog lamps in millions of vehicles worldwide. The latest innovation is a broad new portfolio of high heat injection molding resins branded Lexan XHT. These offer a whole new level of heat and flow compared to earlier lighting resins.