ment officials and members of
Whitford senior management
from around the world, along
with the local team of 20 Whitford employees.
Dave Willis, president of Whitford, lights the
Lamp in the traditional Indian ceremony for
new ventures.
After opening speeches, Whitford celebrated in classic Indian tradition with the
“Lighting The Lamp” ceremony, which
symbolizes a prosperous beginning.
The new India facility encompasses
more than 20,000 square feet, with
15,000 dedicated to production and warehousing and the remainder divided up
into office, laboratory and maintenance
space. The property also has a large
amount of space for future development.
Manufacturing will concentrate primarily on coatings for consumer products—cookware, bakeware, etc.—along
with a few specialized industrial applications. Sales are projected to double in
three years.
BASF starts construction of
new polyurethane system
house in Tianjin, China
BASF broke ground on the construction
of its new Polyurethane System House in
Tianjin, China. The new facility will be located in Tianjin Economic-Technological
Development Area (Hangu Modern Industrial Zone). At the new system house,
BASF will deliver customized
polyurethane solutions to its customers,
fully supported by local production, in-house sales, technical service and development teams. The plant is expected to
start up in 2012.
“The Northern China region is wit-
nessing a thriving PU market with above
average growth rates and considerable in-
creases in production and demand in the
years to come,” said Dr. Melanie Maas-
Brunner, senior vice president of
Polyurethanes in Asia Pacific. “Tianjin is
at the heart of the boom and this strategi-
cally located, new System House shows
we are committed to the China market. It
further boosts our capacity to provide sus-
tainable and energy efficient polyurethane
solutions to support and serve rapidly
growing sectors such as the construction
and automotive industries, and emerging
markets for renewable energy like wind
and solar energy.”
China is already the largest
polyurethane market in the world and
forecasted to maintain a strong growth
rate in the coming decade. The planned
System Houses in Chongqing, will join
two current state-of-the-art System
Houses and Regional Development Cen-
ters in Shanghai and Nansha.
LORD Corporation opens Asia Pacific technology center
Whitford’s new facility is located in
Bangalore, India.
“Strengthening our presence in this remarkably dynamic market is key to our
future in Asia,” said Whitford president
Dave Willis. “We now have complete
manufacturing facilities in Singapore,
China and India.”
LORD Corporation has opened its new Asia Pacific Technology Center. The new center, located
in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, is a two-story 1,900 square-meter facility that will house office, meeting, laboratory and testing space. According to Hirokazu Omoto, vice president, technology,
LORD Asia Pacific, the Nagoya location was selected because it is the center of automotive technology in Japan, enables LORD to serve many of its key customers that are located in the area,
and is located near a strong talent pool with neighboring industries and universities. It also enables convenient access for travel.
LORD will move its development staff from Kofu and Amagasaki to the new center, as well
as equipment including major physical/environmental testing and rubber processing machines.
The new center is equipped with an explosion-proof room for chemical synthesis. Key areas of
focus include rubber-to-substrate bonding, high performance coating for elastomers, electronic
materials and structural adhesives.
According to David Siporin, president, LORD Asia Pacific, this new center is a natural extension of LORD Corporation's technological capabilities to the Asia Pacific region as it enables the
company to work closely with key Asian and global customers, improve responsiveness as well
as enable technical collaboration.
"Research and development is very important to LORD and it has been a hallmark of our
company since its founding 86 years ago. In fact, as a percent of sales, LORD spends two to three
times what our peers in our industry spend on R&D," said Siporin.
LORD has had a presence in Asia for more than 40 years. LORD Asia Pacific is headquartered
in Hong Kong with sub-regional offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. In addition to the new Asia Pacific Technology Center in Nagoya, LORD Asia Pacific also has technical centers in Shanghai, China and Nashik, India, as well as manufacturing sites in Kofu, Japan;
Shanghai, China; Nashik, India and a joint venture manufacturing facility in Pyungtaek, Ky-ounggi-Do, South Korea.
• Forty-eight percent of customers say they painted a bedroom; 37 percent say they painted
a living room and 33 percent painted a bathroom.
The 2011 U.S. Interior Paint Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 8,900
customers who purchased and applied interior paint within the previous 12 months. The study
was fielded between March and April 2011.
www.coatingsworld.com
June 2011
