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Bayer Rubber Houston Plant to Close at End of July

30 July 1998

Bayer Rubber Houston Plant to Close at End of July

    PITTSBURGH--(AutomotiveWire)--July 29, 1998--Bayer Corporation announced final plans for the consolidation of Baypren(R) polychloroprene production at Bayer's Dormagen, Germany, plant, where significant amounts of Baypren are already being produced. The Bayer facility in Houston, Texas, where Baypren polychloroprene has been manufactured, will close at the end of July. The site will be decommissioned thereafter.
    The strategic transition into one main Baypren polychloroprene production facility in Germany permits more efficient use of Bayer resources in a global market where there is reduced demand for the product.
    Bayer Corporation acquired the Houston plant in 1988 from Denka Chemical as part of an agreement that brought manufacturing capacity for polychloroprene and maleic anhydride to Bayer. Maleic anhydride operations at the site were closed in 1997, and production was consolidated at the company's Baytown, Texas, facility.
    Bayer's focus is to make the transition for the customers as smooth as possible and to meet business objectives in the most efficient manner.
    Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences, chemicals and imaging technologies. The company had 1997 sales of $9.3 billion and employs more than 24,000 people. Bayer Corporation is investing $9 billion in capital expenditures and research and development from 1995 through the year 2000. 1998 capital investment and R&D expenditures are projected to total $1.7 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $32 billion chemical and pharmaceutical company based in Leverkusen, Germany.