The specialty chemicals group ALTANA
held the grand opening of its BYK USA
Inc. expanded facility in Wallingford,
Connecticut. With this new plant, BYK
more than doubles production capacity
in the U.S. and increases worldwide supply chain security for its additives.
The expansion project represents a
$50 million investment from ALTANA,
the largest single investment the Group
has made outside of Germany.
“Today marks a very important moment in ALTANA’s growth strategy,” said
Matthias L. Wolfgruber, CEO, ALTANA
AG. “With this expanded facility we will
accelerate our growth in North America.”
Currently, ALTANA operates eight
subsidiaries, 18 production facilities and
19 laboratories in the U.S. With more
than 1,000 employees here, the company
generated sales of approximately € 290
million, or 16 percent of its entire global
business in 2013.
“This expansion enables us to efficiently service our U.S. customers with
an enhanced portfolio of BYK additives manufactured in a facility built
to the highest standards of safety,” said
Dirk Plas, president, BYK USA Inc.
“We are fully committed to investing
in our customers’ future and to growing our business.”
BASF Leading in Research
and Innovation
BASF recently released a report that it has
increased spending on research and development to €1.8 billion (2012: €1.7 billion) in 2013. “In absolute terms, we lead
the field in the chemical industry with our
research and development expenditures,”
said Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the
board of executive directors of BASF SE
and research executive director, at the
Research Press Conference on the topic
”Nanotechnology: Small dimensions –
great opportunities” in Ludwigshafen.
BASF has a workforce of approxi-
mately 10,650 employees working in
international and interdisciplinary teams
on 3,000 research projects to find an-
swers to the challenges of the future and
secure sustainable profitable growth for
the company.
Vencorex Opens Customer
Service Center in Asia
Pacific
After announcing a new HDI derivatives
production unit in Thailand, and recently
opened entity Vencorex China, Vencorex
is now opening its new office in Bangkok.
The Vencorex new customer service offices aim to get closer to its local customers and enhance their satisfaction level by
providing reactivity and high quality of
services to better serve the specificities of
Asia’s growing market. As a key supplier
to the polyurethane industry, Vencorex is
combining the development of a local approach with a global strategy to satisfy
customers’ needs wherever they may be.
American Chemistry Council
Names Bayer Responsible
Care Company of the Year
Bayer Corporation had been named
a 2014 Responsible Care Company of
the Year by the American Chemistry
Council (ACC) in recognition of its commitment to continual improvement in
environmental, health, safety and security
performance.
ACC’s top honor is awarded to member companies that have enhanced and
embraced the Responsible Care ethic
throughout their organizations. Each
year, the ACC names Responsible Care
Company of the Year recipients in the
small, medium and large company
categories.
Superior Materials Wins
IMERYS Service Award
Imerys Corporation announced that
Superior Materials Inc. of Garden City,
NY has won its 2013 Top Sales Award
for Exceptional Service and Support
to Imerys and their customers for the
Imerys calcium carbonate product line.
The award was presented by Michelle
Mercurio, Imerys’ national distribution
manager to Steven Kafka, president of
Superior Materials, Inc. Imerys’ U.S.
calcium carbonate business unit is based
in Roswell, GA and has manufacturing
facilities throughout the U.S. Superior
Materials, Inc., soon celebrating its 70th
anniversary as a privately held, fourth
generation distributor of specialty chemi-
cals and ingredients, covers the Mid-
Atlantic, Northeast, and near Mid-West
for large, recognized leaders of their re-
spective fields, selling into CASE, Plastics,
Inks, Personal Care, Food and Pharma
and allied industries.
SCAQMD Grants
Certification for Green
Solvent
TBF Environmental Technology Inc., an-nounced that the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (SCAQMD) of
California has approved and certified
TBF Environment Technology Inc.’s solvent ZemaSol as being VOC-exempt and
containing no hazardous air pollutants or
ozone depleting materials, and does not
contribute to global warming.
The ruling by SCAQMD allows
ZemaSol to be sold throughout the U.S.
because it meets the EPA and SCAQMD
requirements as a VOC-exempt solvent.
TBF’s alternative solvents work effectively across a range of applications and
are designed to be safe for people and
the environment. ZemaSol’s approval by
SCAQMD also solves an ongoing problem that formulators of paints, coatings,
inks and adhesives have been struggling
with for many years. Using ZemaSol in
a formula does not count against in the
calculation of the overall VOC of the
product. This allows formulators greater
latitude in designing new product that
meets increasingly stringent environmental regulations. CW
ALTANA Increases Production Capacity
for BYK Additives in the U.S.
