FORT SASKATCHEWAN, ALBERTA, CANADA - The Westaim Corporation today announced it has selected a site in south Edmonton for its new coating application plant. Westaim has reached an agreement with Carma Developers Ltd. on a 50-acre parcel of land in Carma's new Ellerslie Technology/ Industrial Park development at the southern entrance to the city. The agreement is conditional on servicing and subdivision timing requirements. The new plant will employ 86 workers initially, with plans to expand to approximately 300 employees during the next five years.
"The new plant will give us the capacity to actively begin marketing our new CoatAlloy-I product line," said Kevin Jenkins, President and CEO of Westaim. "We will begin to aggressively target the ethylene industry with our coking-reducing solution."
Westaim has developed proprietary coating technologies that have been shown to reduce the rate of coking or carbon build-up in ethylene furnace tubes by up to 90%, leading to longer and more economical ethylene production runs. The build-up of carbon in furnace tubes is a major problem for ethylene producers because it leads to costly decoking steps, reduces efficiency of operation and increases the rate of metal corrosion and erosion. The coking problem is estimated to cost the worldwide ethylene industry more than $2 billion annually in lost production alone.
"This is another example of a made-in-Alberta technology solution," said Anne McLellan, the Federal Minister of Justice, Attorney General of Canada and MP for Edmonton West. "Westaim's plant will not only create new jobs, but it will make a solid contribution to the economics of the ethylene industry."
Scott Builders Inc., an Alberta-based company, has been selected as the general contractor for construction of the new facility. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in the spring and will create approximately 150 jobs. The new plant is slated to begin production in the fall of 1998 and will have a capacity to process 10,000 meters per year of 150-millimetre diameter tubes. When fully operational, the plant capacity can service approximately 9 per cent of the North American ethylene industry.
"This is great news for the City of Edmonton," said Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith. "We welcome the high-tech jobs that Westaim brings and the contribution they will make to our local economy."
"We are very happy with Westaim's decision to locate at our new Ellerslie Development site," said Doug Kelly, Senior Vice President of Carma Developers. "Westaim's vote of confidence is a major boost for Carma's launch of an integrated light industrial and residential development covering nearly 3,400 acres in the Ellerslie area."
The Technology
Westaim has developed two groups of proprietary technologies: engineered coating systems (surface alloys) that are capable of providing unique surface properties in severe operating environments, and enabling coating application methods for processing commercial products previously considered uncoatable due to their complex shape or geometry.
The Product
The first product line, called CoatAlloy-I, will consist of standard commercial-alloy steel tubes and fittings whose inner walls are coated using Westaim's technology. The selected tubes and fittings, which will be sourced from major producers in Japan, Europe, Canada and the United States, have an established performance record in an uncoated condition. When coated, they provide significant value-added performance to the end user. CoatAlloy-I can increase the capacity of ethylene plants by 2% to 8%, and lead to lower unit production costs and increased profitability for ethylene producers. Westaim has completed three commercial furnace retubes in three different furnace types.
The Market
Ethylene is the single most important hydrocarbon in the world today as it serves as a basic building block of compounds used in the manufacture of plastics. Ethylene demand is growing rapidly as products derived from ethylene are displacing conventional materials in packaging, building materials, automotive and other applications. World production of ethylene is forecast to grow from 73 million tonnes in 1996 to more than 100 million tonnes by 2005.
Ethylene producers currently consume $400 million per year of tubular products worldwide and are projected to consume $600 million per year by 2005. The market is typically 80 per cent for maintenance or retubing of existing furnaces and 20 per cent for new installations.
Other Markets
Other potential markets for Westaim's coated products and technologies include severe or critical service applications in the petrochemical, aerospace and defence industries.
Westaim has a portfolio of new business opportunities consisting of Westaim Surface Engineered Products, Westaim Biomedical and Westaim Display Technologies. Westaim also manufactures aerospace materials, chemicals and coin blanks. Westaim is a TSE 300 company listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange, The Alberta Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange under the trading symbol "WED".
For more information contact:
Tony Johnston
Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs
(403) 234-3103
tjohnsto@westaim.com
Web Site: www.westaim.com
|