2023 ASI Top 20: Wacker Chemie AG

Wacker’s Silicones business segment manufactures silicone sealants, along with elastomers, emulsions, resins, and many other products. With 6,019 employees as of December 31, 2022, the segment’s total sales reached nearly €3.45 billion (approximately $3.7 billion). This represents a 32.8% increase over 2021, which the company attributed to “significantly higher selling prices as well as product-mix and exchange-rate effects.” Regionally, sales grew in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. (The company declined to provide specific adhesives/sealants-related sales and other information.)

“Our product portfolio puts us in an excellent strategic position to support the rapidly growing business of electromobility in its entirety,” said Julia Henn, director of global segment management for WACKER’s Industrial Solutions unit and head of the Group’s E-Mobility focus project. According to the company’s annual report, WACKER is one of the world’s leading actors in the areas of potting compounds and silicone-based thermal interface materials.

NOTES: In May 2022, Wacker opened a new regional Innovation Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The facility will be used to develop biotech and silicone specialties while also serving as headquarters for the Wacker Chemical Corp. subsidiary. In July 2022, the company opened up a production site for manufacturing silicone rubber and silicone rubber compounds for electro-mobility, medical engineering, and electricity supply at its site in Panagarh, India. Also in July 2022, the company announced plans to build a new silicone production complex at its Charleston, Tennessee, site. Plans include production plants for high-consistency silicone rubber and silicone sealants.

In March of this year, WACKER announced planned expansion of production and cartridge filling capacities for silicone sealants at its Nünchritz site. Some €20 million has been budgeted for the new manufacturing lines, which are scheduled to begin production in the fall of 2024.The company announced this April that Dr. Thomas Koini would take over as president of the WACKER SILICONES division upon the retirement of Dr. Robert Gnann. The leadership change became effective on July 1.

Opening image courtesy of Wacker Chemie AG.