The Dow Chemical Company inaugurated its new Northeast Technology Center
(NTC) in Collegeville, PA.
A world-class, state-of-the-art 800,000
square foot facility, the NTC is a global
research and development hub of modern
lab and office facilities providing a fully
equipped, collaborative space for more than
800 employees and contractors. One of
the largest sites of its kind in Dow’s global
network, the NTC will play a pivotal role
as an innovation hub for many businesses
in Dow’s Advanced Materials portfolio – a
business unit headquartered in Philadelphia,
which brings differentiated solutions to
customers in key end-markets including
electronics, consumer and lifestyle, infrastructure and transportation and energy.
Dow in the Delaware Valley employs
approximately 2,000 people, generates
$1 billion in customer sales annually and
has had a presence in the region for more
than 100 years. Dow employees in the region play a significant role in innovative
chemistry that betters lives and contributes to the quality of life in the tri-state
area and its local communities. Products
developed locally include: acrylic technology for paints, coatings and construction materials; products used to fabricate
electronic chips; polymer technologies for
personal care, as well as technologies for
enhanced water purification and laundry
care. Dow has already started moving employees from its Spring House Technical
Center to the NTC and will continue the
transition through 2014.
Ashland Opens Gelcoats
Production Facility in China
to Serve Marine, Industrial
and Other Markets
Ashland Inc. recently celebrated the
grand opening of its new gelcoats pro-
duction facility in the Chemical Industry
Park of Changzhou Yangtze Riverside
Economic Development Zone. This $60
million dollar facility, which is Ashland’s
most advanced gelcoats plant in the
world, serves customers in marine, sani-
tary ware, transportation, wind energy
and industrial markets in China and the
broader Asia Pacific region. The plant
currently employs 30 people and is locat-
ed in Changzhou where Ashland also op-
erates an unsaturated polyester resins and
epoxy vinyl ester resins production facil-
ity that has been manufacturing products
in the region for more than 10 years.
Gelcoats are specialty resins that help
to improve the appearance of fiberglass
products and to protect structural layered
materials from corrosion. It is used in a
wide variety of consumer and industrial
products, including yachts, bathtubs, ba-
sins, high-speed trains, buses, wind energy
blades, nacelles, cooling towers and storage
tanks. Ashland’s product brands include
award-winning Maxguard and Enguard
gelcoats. The new facility will also pro-
duce adhesives, fire retardant resins and
low-profile additives for many industrial
products. With an initial annual capacity of
10,000 tons of gelcoats and 2,000 tons of
adhesives products, the facility is designed
for further expansion to meet increasing
market demand across Asia.
“China is an attractive market for
investment, despite some of the current
economic challenges. Ashland has made a
series of investments in the country over
the past few years to expand our ability to
serve local customers,” said Ted Harris, se-
nior vice president and president, Ashland
Performance Materials; and president,
Ashland Global Supply Chain. “This new
facility reflects Ashland’s commitment to
maintaining the highest production stan-
dards for gelcoats products. More im-
portantly, we are extremely proud of our
two-year zero incident record we main-
tained throughout the construction of this
plant. Thanks to the long-term support
provided by the Changzhou government,
I’m confident that this new facility will
soon become an integral part of Ashland
family and the local community.”
“Ashland started our gelcoats business
in China in 1995, and we have enjoyed
significant growth since then,” added
Baochang Zhang, vice president, Ashland
Performance Materials, Asia Pacific.
“This new facility will enable us to better
assist our customers in providing compet-
itive products to the marketplace while
strengthening our position as China’s
leading gelcoats supplier.”
“Ashland is committed to Responsible
Care,” said James Ying, operations director, Ashland Asia Pacific, “We have taken
all possible measures to make sure our gelcoats plant demonstrates the highest environmental, health and safety standards, as
other Ashland plants across the region.”
AkzoNobel Plans to Phase
Out Chemicals Production
at Deventer by 2016, Site
to Focus on R&D
AkzoNobel has announced plans to phase
out the production of organic peroxides
at its site in Deventer, the Netherlands by
the end of 2016. Under the plans, the production activities currently carried out in
Deventer will be moved to other existing
production facilities in Europe, North
America and China over the next three
years. The intention to stop production in
Deventer will impact approximately 215
employees at the site.
While AkzoNobel intends to phase out
the production of chemicals at Deventer,
the site’s regional R&D and Technology
Center will remain in full operation, em-
ploying approximately 235 personnel.
The production facility on the
Deventer site is one of eleven organic
peroxide manufacturing plants operated
globally by AkzoNobel. Organic perox-
ides are part of the company’s Functional
Chemicals portfolio within the Specialty
Chemicals Business Area. The chemicals
are used by AkzoNobel’s customers in
applications in, among others, the auto-
motive, rubber, packaging and polymers
industry and construction and consumer
product sectors.
Dow Inaugurates Northeast Technology
Center Innovation Hub