Just in time for Labor Day 2005, Marietta, Ohio, in Washington County, learned it would welcome a new $50-million plant from Solvay Advanced Polymers for the manufacture of sulfone polymers.

Solvay Advanced Polymers' $50-million investment in Marietta, Ohio, follows a previous investment made in 2002, when the company also expanded a monomer plant in Augusta, Ga.

   "The magnitude of this expansion demonstrates our commitment to sulfone polymers and allows us to supply large growing markets, such as automotive lighting, telecommunications and food service," said Roger Kearns, president of Solvay Advanced Polymers.
   Though the location had not been selected yet, the project was originally announced in December 2004. Construction on the plant, which will triple the entire company's polyethersulfone (PES) capacity, will begin during the fourth quarter of 2005, with full commissioning expected in 2006.
   Solvay is an international chemicals and pharmaceuticals group with headquarters in Brussels. It employs more than 30,000 people in 50 countries. The company's polymer division produces products with end-user applications stretching from periodontal probes to carburetor tubes, appliance handles to wine corks.
   Marietta, named for Marie Antoinette, was the first permanent settlement in Ohio and in the Northwest Territory, and was a lively port and shipbuilding center at the height of Ohio River trade. That same Ohio dealt the town a tough blow in the fall of 2004, with devastating flooding as a result of Hurricane Ivan.