Coatings World - May 2011

AkzoNobel boosts growth momentum
with China expansion

AkzoNobel plans to invest more than € 60 million in boosting production capacity for its Bermocoll cellulose derivatives (paint and building material thickeners), providing additional momentum for the company’s accelerated growth strategy, which includes doubling revenue in China to $3 billion by 2015. As well as constructing a new facility at its Ningbo multi-site in China, the company will also debottleneck the existing manufacturing site in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The two projects will increase capacity to close to 40,000 tons per year, the company said.

“This investment is all about meeting
rapidly increasing customer demand and
seizing an ideal opportunity to become
market leader by establishing production in
Asia,” said Rob Frohn, AkzoNobel’s board
member responsible for specialty chemicals.
“High growth markets are central to our
growth strategy and adding a second pro-
duction unit for Bermocoll in Ningbo will
add further impetus to our ambition to
double revenue in China by 2015.”
The debottlenecking project in Sweden
is due to be completed by the end of this
year. The majority of the investment, how-
ever, has been earmarked for the new
plant in Ningbo, where the company’s
Functional Chemicals business already
operates facilities for chelates, ethylene
amines and ethylene oxide. An organic
peroxides facility is also due to come on
stream in 2011. The new Bermocoll unit
should be on stream in early 2013 and the
funding allocated for this facility will
bring the total investment in Ningbo to
more than €320 million.

“Ningbo is the ideal location for the
new facility as the infrastructure is already
in place and we have access to on-site pro-
duction of ethylene oxide, as well as being
close to other key suppliers,” said manag-
ing director of AkzoNobel Functional
Chemicals, Jan Svärd. “The fact that Asia
is the world’s fastest-growing market also
means that building the plant in China
makes perfect strategic sense.”
Based on a natural polymer, the com-
pany’s cellulose derivatives are sourced
from wood pulp or cotton linters. The
main application areas are water-based
paints, building additives and
pharma/healthcare. AkzoNobel currently
employs approximately 6,700 people in
China, with revenue for 2010 totaling
€1.3 billion. The company now has 27
manufacturing locations in China.

Bayer Corporation invests $17
million at U.S. headquarters

Bayer Corporation will invest $17 million in a “Workspace of the Future” renovation project at its U.S. headquarters in Pittsburgh. The project focuses on two buildings, which house the largest number of employees, approximately 825 of the 1,500 employees at the suburban Robinson Township campus. Completion is expected by June 2013.

The new working environment will integrate and showcase Bayer MaterialScience products in the design. For example, Bayer invented polycarbonate, a synthetic thermoplastic resin used in a wide range of products. Bayer MaterialScience’s Makrolon MAK clear polycarbonate will be used at the workstations, allowing natural light to filter throughout the work-place. LED (light-emitting diode) light fixture lenses will be made of the polycarbonate material, as will lobby architectural panels displaying the Bayer logo.

Another Bayer MaterialScience prod-
uct, Technogel, will be incorporated into
employee and guest seating throughout
the buildings. The polyurethane “liquid
solid” substance is designed to provide
greater ergonomic comfort.

Bayer will invest $17 million in its new US site.

An interior view of Bayer's future workspace.

thermal insulation and environmental friendliness.

Bayer is pursuing LEED-CI ( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Commercial Interior) gold-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the project.