Our company was established in 1924. We have been supplying engineering plastics to UK moulding companies since 1960.
This is the second installment of the full story of the history of Hardie Polymers. The first article covered the birth of J&G Hardie Limited by the original founders.
The Second Generation of Hardies saw the company come to specialise in synthetic rubber compounds and move into supplying the fast growing plastics sector.
The Cycolac Years & ABS Engineering Plastics
In 1961 Anchor formed a Joint Venture with Marbon Chemical of the USA. They established a plant at Grangemouth to make thermoplastics – Marbon Cycolac ABS.
ABS was one of the earliest engineering plastics available and started being used in a huge number of applications such as telephones and business machines. Between 1961 and 1967, global sales for Cycolac jumped 350%, cornering half the market in ABS resins.
Hardies were closely involved with the sale of Cycolac to Hoover for their vacuum cleaners which were manufactured in Cambuslang near Glasgow and also to NCR in Dundee for their early cash register machines. Another major customer at that time was the Singer Sewing Machine company in Clydebank.
The company was also responsible for the sales of Cycolac to the Irish market with Krups (food blenders) being their largest customer.
Cycolac was then acquired by Borg Warner Chemicals, and then sold on again to General Electric (GE) Plastics in 1988. Hardies continued as the Sales Agent for both companies until 1999. (In 2007 GE Plastics was acquired by SABIC from Saudi.)
Hardies continue to offer Cycolac ABS to our customers to this day, along with a vast range of other engineering polymers.
If you have any questions then feel free to call us 0141 952 1900 or email [email protected]
Finally, read about one of the many awards our team have won. See page 15 of the Executive Awards winners supplement HERE.