Global Car Production Threatened by a break in the Supply Chain

When a fire in the small town of Marl in the west of Germany closed down an obscure chemical plant on 31 March, it barely made headlines.

Two people died and that was a personal tragedy for their families and friends, but the shock waves did not resonate far beyond.

Except, it turns out, to the other side of the Atlantic - in Detroit, Michigan.

So tight is the global car industry's supply chain that one break in a small link threatens the lot.

About three weeks after the fire, executives from the world's biggest auto-makers and their suppliers have met with furrowed brows to take stock of the implications of the fire.

And they are serious.

It turns out that the braking and the fuel systems of cars depend on a resin called PA-12.

And PA-12 is made out of an inelegantly named chemical: cyclododecatriene, or CDT.
Evonik Industries' plant in Germany was responsible for a good chunk of the world's supply - one estimate put it between a quarter and a half.


From BBC Business News. Read the article in full here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17769466