SABIC Innovative Plastics (SABIC IP) - A Global Leader in Specialty Chemicals

SABIC's acquisition of GE Plastics in 2007 gave it access to groundbreaking thermoplastic technologies developed and cultivated over 75 years. This culture of continuous technological innovation combined with SABIC's dynamic chemicals expertise produced a formidable competitive advantage in the marketplace. It spawned a broad portfolio of plastics solutions that give SABIC IP's customers a vast array of choices within multiple industries, markets, and applications. Combine this broad portfolio effect with continued technological innovation and a relentless focus on customer needs, and it becomes clear why SABIC is such a dominant force in the world of plastics.

These business characteristics underpin SABIC's success in the major segments that it serves, including market applications within healthcare and aerospace and defense, as well as the multiple applications that use light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Customer-Focused Culture

In the healthcare industry, for example, SABIC is a clear leader in the development of new solutions for medical device fabrication. Continued technological innovation, emphasis on customer needs, and the provision of a wide range of products and services are embedded in the company's strategies for this sector.

SABIC's commitment to the healthcare industry is reflected in the strong technical expertise of its field team, close collaboration with customer engineers, and a keen focus on processing as well as material innovation. In the company's Centers of Excellence, for example, materials innovation comes to the fore as engineers address such challenges as developing plastics to replace glass which also resist repeated sterilization.

SABIC's broad plastics portfolio, through which it touches a majority of segments within the multi-faceted healthcare industry, ranges from the inclusion of widely used materials, such as Cycolac* resin, to high performance compounds, such as Ultem* resin.

Reflecting its customer focus, SABIC's customizing capabilities for healthcare device fabrication enables its engineers to inquire about specific application needs and then tailor a solution that may even exceed the client's specifications.

Just as important to SABIC's customers is the Healthcare Policy it instituted about eight years ago that specified a nomenclature of its healthcare resins to give the company greater control over them. Previously, SABIC relied on industrial grades for its medical plastics. Under its Healthcare Policy, the company created a portfolio of more than 50 grades of healthcare plastics that are each rated in terms of biocompatibility, food contact compliance in many cases, and other specifications derived from ISO10993.

A key service SABIC delivers to its healthcare customers is to lock in a formula and strictly manage the change process. That is, the company will not make a change to a healthcare plastic's formulation without the customer's knowledge. This ensuring the security of supply is virtually unknown among healthcare plastic suppliers and has paid dividends to medical devices manufacturers that use SABIC's products.

The impact of providing a broad portfolio is evident in customer implementation, as is the significance of being able to offer multiple functionalities. For example, PWB Health Ltd in the U.K. chose SABIC's Lexan* HP polycarbonate resin for the lens of its Breastlight home-use device for self-examinations. PWB chose this compound for its optical clarity, impact strength, ability to be ultrasonically welded to the housing, and biocompatibility in accordance with the ISO 10993 standard.

Miami, Florida-based Biorep® Technologies used SABIC's Ultem HU resin for the Ricordi® Chamber that isolates and purifies islets for transplantation in patients afflicted with Type 1 diabetes, which cannot be controlled by conventional insulin injections.

Renal Solutions Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care headquartered in Warrendale, Penn., incorporated SABIC's Lexan HPM resins into its hemodialysis blood pump because of those resins' advanced hem compatibility. This characteristic of Lexan HPM resin prevents the buildup of thrombus on the walls of the pump that could impede patient treatment.

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