U.S. operation kickstarts 2nd leap by developing SKC Georgia Plant into general materials complex


SKC Georgia Plant (SKC Inc.) is located on a 1.65 million-sq. meter plot in Covington, a roughly 40-minute drive from Atlanta, Georgia. The plant, which has been producing polyester film since 1999, records 200 billion won in annual sales, and controls 15 percent of the U.S. polyester film market, rendering it one of the top three film makers in the U.S. SKC established a strategy to expand the Georgia Plant from a film production plant into a general materials complex to develop a global hub for the North American region. Accordingly, the Company began a project to transform the plant into a general materials complex, including the construction of a polyurethane system house plant and solar cell materials plant. As a result, the plant is poised to become a general materials complex that produces polyester film, solar cell materials and polyurethane materials in 2011.

Breaks ground for construction of solar cell materials plant after inauguration of polyurethane system house plant

Last year, SKC (Park Jang-seok, President), began constructing a polyurethane system house plant capable of producing 20,000 tons of polyurethane materials for automobile interiors and insulators for construction and refrigerators; the company inaugurated the facilities in its phase one project to develop the Georgia Plant into a general materials complex during a ceremony on May 25 . In attendance at the ceremony were dignitaries from the U.S. and elsewhere, including SKC Chairman Chey Shin-won, a U.S. Senator for the State of Georgia, the Mayor of Covington, and the Company’s major buyers and dealers.

Timed with the launch of the polyurethane system house plant, SKC also broke ground on construction of a solar cell materials plant as it accelerated its drive to transform the plant into a general materials complex. The solar cell materials complex will be armed with two production lines for EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) sheets, and will be capable of supplying 12,000 tons of EVA sheets beginning in 2011.

Currently, SKC has completed installing one production line for EVA sheets, and is building three additional lines at its Jincheon Plant. When the two new lines at the Georgia Plant in the U.S. are completed in 2011, the Company will have secured a total of six production lines. With the Company planning to install four additional lines at its major production hubs, including its U.S. site, it will ultimately have the capacity to churn out 60,000 tons of EVA sheets per annum in 2015, emerging as a global EVA sheet maker controlling 25 percent of the world market.