New-look Benvic set for Fakuma debut – Oct 17, 2023

The company’s DNA and 60 years of experience in materials compounding has been central to creating these new and tailor-made materials for a sustainable world.

Benvic Product Marketing Manager Eric Grange will manage the company’s multi lingual presence at the October show in Friederichshafen, Southern Germany: He says that ‘the Fakuma 2023 space is perfect for the introduction of Benvic’s new material technology, in particular our polypropylene, recycled, PLA and elastomeric compounds, which will complement and – in some cases – substitute in our legacy markets for PVC-based materials.

Benvic’s expanded portfolio of 2,500 + material compounds now give the company’s customers - injection moulders and extruders in particular – many more options for cost-effective processability and product performance. 

New ranges : Dotcore & Dotflex

Included in Benvic’s new product family are: specialty polypropylene (PP) compounds DotCore; and TPE-based compounds, named DotFlex. Such new product families firstly allow Benvic to provide extra solutions for products traditionally sourced from PVC materials. 

PVC compounders are usually 'pure players' and usually behave as such - not getting involved with customer needs for different material options. Benvic, however, is different - providing a wide palette of other compounds that can help its customers succeed - whether the application be rigid or soft, or filled with additives or with recycled polymer. 

Benvic's DNA is ideally suited to this direction - continually developing customized compounds for those plastics processors who increasingly demand performance at cost. 

Investing in the circular economy

In addition, Benvic positions itself alongside the needs of various user industries - such as domestic appliances, electrical applications, and automotive -  in order to anticipate and provide the levels of accuracy, adaptation and specificity that those OEMs businesses need in today’s circular economy.

Benvic’s Plantura is the bio-brand fast gaining traction in technical markets; and substituting for many engineering polymers. Benvic biobased compounds help all kinds of injection moulders thrive in markets for drastically reduced greenhouse gas emission performance.

Meantime Benvic’s PVC-based materials have been rechristened under the ProVinyl label. Materials here include rigid, plasticized and recycled grades, with custom-made ProVinyl formulations for sustainable use.

Benvic will also use Fakuma 2023 to help visitors and customers through all the issues of sustainable manufacture that arise from the new global circular economy. Trends in this regard are now heavily demand-driven, with OEMs everywhere seeking to satisfy both consumer and legislative demand for environmental materials.

As the materials compounder, Benvic finds itself in the position of coordinating and organizing many variables or – more accurately – designing material ‘recipes’ that not only meet environmental requirements but also equal or exceed the functionality of previous polymers – for processing and for product service.

In this regard, the company will be satisfied with nothing less than sectoral leadership. Benvic’s ambitious new mantra for the C21 is ‘Redesigning plastics. For good.’

Eric Grange says that ‘our Fakuma 2023 booth will be open to help our visitors and customers to a variety of recycled and bio materials that are as consistent, dependable, repeatable, processable and functional as before.’

In addition, Benvic is also working to make these new sustainable compounds available in volume and as commercially viable as various markets require. 

Benvic’s recycled and bio materials closely follow on from the company’s core polymer compounds:

• ProVinyl R, for example, is growing in popularity and has a number of volume-based customers in the building and construction sectors.
• DotCore R is Benvic’s flagship for its recycled compounds, mainly polypropylene, working from various post-use applications in consumer goods and the automotive sectors. Aside developing recycling solutions aside existing polymer types,  Benvic is developing innovations here by designing compounds based on 100% recycled content but with unique approach to get rid off the recycled feedstock impact and targeting engineered polymers such as PA. This innovation called “SET” for sustainable engineered thermoplastic is available at sample phase.
• Last but not least, Benvic’s PLA-based bio material, Plantura, has been attracting the attention of product engineers and designers, not least for its abilities to confidently substitute for engineering plastics in many applications. For example, Plantura partnered with BASF and Röchling at the K 2022 Show last year  – demonstrating its success as a substitute for engineered polymers as an automotive front grill component. This gives tyraction on applications where predictable and high performance is needed.

Eric Grange notes that ‘both recycling and bio sourcing are solutions that allow engineers to design products with much reduced environmental impacts.’ 

He adds that ‘these are new sciences – often without absolute solutions, and tackling multiple levels of materials technology - resins, additives, fillers, and recyclate.

And this is where long-standing compounding expertise is critical. I am pleased to say that Benvic’s legacy foundations, our materials know-how, and our careful acquisitions now put us in pole position to advance the sector.

We look forward to sharing all our compounding solutions with visitors and customers at Fakuma 2023.