Resource-efficient production has helped lightweight honeycomb core manufacturer ThermHex keep raw material usage to a minimum and overcome supply problems.
Since the beginning of 2021 there has been a shortage in raw plastic materials. This has resulted in an exponential increase in their price. The cost of polymer resins used to make plastic rose by a quarter between December 2020 and May 2021, the highest price in the last six years.
More than 90% of plastic converters within Europe were directly affected by the supply crisis. This has resulted in many companies having no choice but to take on little to no new business and only able to honour agreements with their existing customers.
Recyclates specifically have seen a huge decrease in availability at sufficient quantities and a consistent level of quality. This has led to increasing in price and decreasing in availability for both virgin and recycled polymers.
Fortunately for ThermHex its highly automated and patented production process of polypropylene honeycomb cores and Organosandwich have barely been impacted. Its production process for honeycomb cores is continuous and saves resources by using much less raw material compared to monolithic materials, like plywood.
Dr Jochen Pflug, CEO of ThermHex said “The shortage of raw materials over the past few months has been difficult for the entire industry. Using of the sandwich construction principle makes especially sense in times of material shortage. Our ThermHex honeycomb cores help customers, which require only thin skins to make stiff and thick panels and can thus contribute to solve the recent shortages of raw materials”.
In the interest of all those involved in the value chain, ThermHex hopes that the situation on the raw materials market will soon normalise.
The production technology used by ThermHex Waben was developed by the Belgian company EconCore and is used under license to manufacture honeycomb sandwich panels in different material configurations and for different applications.