Dow and Milliken Collaborate on New AGILITY(TM) NX(TM) Clarified PP Offering Sustainability, Cost, Performance and Aesthetic Benefits
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CHICAGO - The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and Milliken & Company (Milliken) have announced the launch of AGILITY(TM) NX(TM) clear polypropylene (PP) resins, a next-generation family of PP offering excellent aesthetics, excellent functionality and enhanced operational efficiencies for greater impact on the sustainability profile of PP. The announcement was made at the 2011 International Home & Housewares Show in Chicago.
The new AGILITY NX resins bring together Dow's breakthrough polymer design and production capabilities for random copolymer PP resins with Milliken's innovative Millad® NX(TM) 8000 clarifying agent. These new resins are suitable for clear, injection-molded food and consumer storage containers, thin-wall retail food packaging and other demanding consumer goods applications.
AGILITY NX is the first family of products in Dow's new AGILITY portfolio of high-performance polyolefins, engineered to improve functionality, efficiency and aesthetics.
"When two industry leaders come together to tackle a challenge, the results can be extraordinary," says Dow's Jason Eckel, Market Manager, Thin-wall Rigid Packaging & Housewares. "Building on a long history of open collaboration, Dow and Milliken have raised the bar for clarified polypropylene to offer consumers, retailers, converters and manufacturers exactly what they've been wanting. This is clearly a case where the end result is much greater than the sum of the parts."
"The synergies between Dow's and Milliken's technologies have resulted in a solution that can make a measurable difference for all stakeholders, whether it's higher quality for consumers, shelf appeal for retailers or system cost reduction for the housewares sector," says Milliken's Brian Burkhart, Global Marketing Manager, PP Clarifiers. "Our ongoing collaboration with Dow continues to produce improvements to polypropylene resins and deliver benefits across the industry."
Operational Efficiency and Reduced Eco Impact
Through a combination of Dow resin technology and Milliken Millad NX8000 properties, AGILITY NX resins offer converters the opportunity to run equipment at lower processing temperatures, thereby reducing energy use. The resins also process faster and release from molds more easily, allowing converters to achieve cycle time reductions by up to 10 percent or more.
Clearly Improved Aesthetics
Consumer demand for clear containers and packaging is growing. The AGILITY NX resins offer an improvement in the clarity and color of containers and lids by combining the excellent clarifying performance of the Millad NX8000 agent with Dow resin innovations. As Eckel explains, "AGILITY NX offers improved shelf appeal, and that is critical to a brand's success."
Enhanced Functionality
With conventional material, improved efficiencies and aesthetics are typically exchanged for a reduction in durability, functionality, and design freedom. AGILITY NX resins break through conventional polypropylene constraints by offering resins that allow for greater efficiency and aesthetic benefits while enabling improved design freedom for lighter-weight, thin-wall configurations that combine an excellent balance of stiffness and toughness with excellent taste and odor response.
For further information about AGILITY NX resin, please visit www.DowAgility.com.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: Dow) combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses deliver a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2010, Dow had annual sales of $53.7 billion and employed approximately 50,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
About Milliken & Company
A leading international corporation, Milliken is a privately-held, technology-based company serving textile, chemical, and floor covering markets, and is dedicated to building a strong culture of integrity, innovation, and excellence.
Milliken Chemical, a division of Milliken & Company, specializes in developing and producing additives and colorants for the global plastics and household care industries. Milliken Chemical has application and development centers around the world dedicated to customer support.
For more information about Milliken Chemical, please visit www.millikenchemical.com and www.clearpp.com.
For editorial information:
Jason Dananay
Porter Novelli
(312) 856-8828
jason.dananay@porternovelli.com
Eddie Keels
The Dow Chemical Company
(281) 966-4688
ekeels@dow.com
For more editorial information:
Brian Burkhart
Milliken & Company
(864) 503-1928
brian.burkhart@milliken.com
