SHANGHAI — Compounder PolyOne Corp. opened its new Asia Innovation Center and Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai on June 23 with a grand opening ceremony attended by local officials and customers.
The facility is located in Jinqiao Development Zone, a high-tech park in Shanghai. The center holds laboratory facilities, an interactive product display and a modern training facility. PolyOne technical and marketing teams will work there on regional and global R&D projects, focusing on high-growth end markets, such as healthcare, packaging, transportation, electronics, and consumer goods, said company representatives.
Robert Patterson, president and CEO, spoke at the event. “We continue to invest in Asia so that our customers can innovate and grow, and that's exactly what will take place through improved collaboration at our advanced, new Innovation Center.”
The center is in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
“This allows us to leverage the zone's development and align with China's economic upgrade strategy,” said Christopher Murphy, vice president of research and development and chief innovation officer, in an email interview.
“The new facility will improve collaboration, help to fast-track application development and increase speed-to-market for our customers across the Asia Pacific region,” said Patricia Hubbard, global technology director for Specialty Engineered Materials, in an email interview. “We will be better able to work closely with our customers during the design and development phase and drive innovation and excellence in their end products.”
Hubbard continued: “We have committed ourselves to development in this market, investing in R&D, production, logistics and marketing, all of which will improve our market competitiveness and spur sustained development in this region.”
“Our commitment to customers in Asia has never been stronger,” added Rob Bindner, vice president, Asia.
“Asia is the key to PolyOne's global growth strategy and investments in emerging markets,” Hubbard said. “In 2014, we delivered record revenues and operating income in Asia, Indicating that our “invest to grow” strategy in the region is clearly working.”
Avon Lake, Ohio-based PolyOne reported 2014 sales of $3.8 billion, with 32 percent to customers outside of the United States. Asia sales in 2014 were $246.2 million, an increase of 2.92 percent from 2013.
PolyOne has 6,900 employees and 75 manufacturing sites and eight distribution facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
