Mar 31 2005
Bayer MaterialScience AG, the world market leader for polyurethanes, is currently developing its global network of polyurethane system houses. The company is founding its first integrated system house on the Indian subcontinent near New Delhi. With more than a billion inhabitants, India is an up-and-coming country with a dynamic economy. Major customers for the polyurethane systems developed in the new system house will be the automotive, domestic appliance and footwear industries. The system house is scheduled to go live at the start of 2006.
"The main aim of our system house strategy is to tap new markets," says Peter Vanacker, Head of the Polyurethanes Business Unit at Bayer MaterialScience. "Our system houses combine the strengths of our technology and raw materials with opportunities for regional production and technical service expertise. This enables us to offer our customers high-quality products and services." "With this new system house, we are looking to gain a foothold in the promising growth market in India, where demand for polyurethane is growing at over ten percent annually," says Dr. Joachim Dohm, Vice President Global System House Integration in the Polyurethanes Business Unit at Bayer MaterialScience. "Many of our Indian customers are located in the New Delhi area and the founding of this new system housemeans we will soon be in a position to provide these clients with a more customized and flexible service."
Polyurethane system houses provide ready-to-use polyurethane raw material systems for use in the manufacture of heat-insulating foams in the construction, cooling unit and hot water sectors and many special applications in the automotive, footwear and sports equipment industries. System houses ensure an even faster supply to polyurethane processors and offer the possibility to collaborate on customer-specific solutions.
In addition, Bayer Jinling Polyurethane Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Bayer AG and Sinopec Jinling Petrochemical Corp. of Nanjing, China, is set to double its annual production capacity by the end of 2005. The products manufactured there are utilized in countless applications for the Chinese automotive industry. They are also used as insulating materials for cooling systems, in the construction industry, for container construction and for district heating pipes. The foam technology used and production expertise was developed in the Bayer MaterialScience Polymers R&D Center in Shanghai.
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