Royal DSM has announced a substantial investment in its Wilmington,
Massachusetts manufacturing facility.
The company will upgrade its facilities to
produce state-of-the-art waterborne resins for inks and coatings.
Patrick Niels, president of DSM
Resins & Functional Materials, said: “We
believe that, together with our industry
partners, we can transform the coatings
market towards healthy and environmen-
tally-friendly technologies and solutions.
Introducing waterborne products that de-
liver on sustainability as well as improved
performance, creates significant growth
opportunities for our customers.”
“This substantial investment in our
full range of waterborne urethane capa-
bilities in Wilmington shows our com-
mitment to the success of our customers
and our belief in the North American
market,” said Rijoy Putatunda, president
DSM Coating Resins, at the ground-
breaking ceremony in Wilmington.
Lubrizol Acquires
EcoQuimica
The Lubrizol Corporation has acquired
EcoQuimica Industria e Comercio
Produtos Quimica Ltda., a manufacturer and supplier of coatings technology
for products sold into decorative paints,
textiles, cement, elastomeric coatings
and paper coatings. Headquartered in
Paulínia, a municipality in the state of
São Paulo, EcoQuimica (formerly under common ownership with Mercia
Industria e Comercio Produtos Quimica
Ltda.) will expand Lubrizol’s performance coatings footprint in the Latin
America marketplace.
“The acquisition of EcoQuimica will
enable Lubrizol to broaden our already
comprehensive portfolio on a global
basis and provide us a stronger local
presence in this market,” said Tesh Gor,
vice president and general manager of
Lubrizol Performance Coatings. “The
combined technologies and knowledge
of our two companies will allow us to
provide our customers with more com-
prehensive solutions in both the global
and regional markets.
In addition, Lubrizol recently purchased land adjacent to the EcoQuimica
facility to support future expansion.
“With the combined property situated in
a prime location in São Paulo, Lubrizol
plans to expand with the addition of a
warehousing facility as well an applications and technical services lab,” said
Gilson Santos, Lubrizol vice president,
Latin America.
EcoQuimica is now part of Lubrizol
Advanced Materials, reporting into
Lubrizol’s Performance Coatings business. This transaction includes all intellectual property, trademarks and customer
lists of EcoQuimica. Financial terms of
the agreement were not disclosed.
BASF Starts Up New
Polymer Dispersions Plant
in Malaysia
BASF is expanding its production footprint in Asia Pacific with the start-up of
its first production plant for polymer dispersions in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. This
production plant is built at the existing
BASF production site, located in the Pasir
Gudang Industrial Park of the Johor Free
Trade Zone. The plant is BASF’s third
polymer dispersions plant in ASEAN,
complementing the existing dispersions
plants in Jakarta and Merak, Indonesia.
This wholly-owned BASF production
plant will benefit from close proximity to raw materials such as the acrylic
monomer complex at BASF PETRONAS
Chemicals in Gebeng, Kuantan. Local
production in Malaysia will enable BASF
to better respond to the fast-changing
market situation in Asia Pacific.
“The plant is built with BASF’s ad-
vanced production technology, which
can accommodate a broad spectrum of
acrylic products that are being developed
in our Asia Technical Center in Shanghai,
China. These cutting edge products with
tailored properties can be made in this
versatile production facility, addressing
the increased customers’ requirement,”
said Jeff Knight, senior vice president,
Dispersions and Pigments, Asia Pacific.
“This new highly automated facility
will provide flexibility for new product
introduction and increase our production capacities for the next generation
innovative polymer dispersions, meeting
the growing demands in ASEAN. We are
confident that this production plant will
further strengthen our competitive edge
and help customers for future success,”
said Daniel Loh, managing director, BASF
(Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
The new plant will focus on the
production of a variety of acrylic base
polymer dispersions for decorative
coatings, construction and adhesive industries, serving the entire Asia Pacific
region, especially for South East Asia.
Commercial production started at the
beginning of 2015.
This investment represents another
milestone in the implementation of BASF’s
Asia Pacific strategy. By 2020, BASF aims
for local production of approximately
75% of the products it sells in the Asia
Pacific region in order to intensify its collaboration with and strengthen its supply
position to customers in Asia Pacific. To
achieve this, BASF is investing € 10 billion
together with its partners from 2013 to
2020 to further develop its local production footprint in Asia Pacific.
Michelman Acquires
Sales Partner Supack
International; Names Pankaj
Shah Co-Director
Michelman has acquired its longtime sales and service partner, Supack
International P/L, making it an integral
part of Michelman India. Michelman
India is dedicated to the development
of the Indian market, with an immediate focus on the growing printing and
DSM Announces Investment in U.S.
Manufacturing Facility for Sustainable Resins
