Dow's newest MobilityScience studio exhibits PU expertise

When Dow Inc. set out to find a home for its third MobilityScience Innovation Studio, it knew a couple of things.

Mainly, location mattered.

And that made Correggio, Italy, stand out.

"It is right there in the home of Italian motorsports — right in the motor valley of Italy — or within very quick driving distance of world recognized premium brands: Ferrari (and) Maserati," Ryan Smith, global marketing director for Dow MobilityScience, told Rubber News, a sister publication of Plastics News. "That region has a reputation for design that is both aesthetically pleasing and high-performing. And that is a part of the culture that we wanted to embed ourselves into."

Correggio also happened to be a place that Dow already called home. There, the company operates a technical lab that focuses on building and refining its polyurethane know-how, designing and developing products for the automotive industry.

Moreover, that facility had room for something new. About 2,000 square feet of room, in fact — just enough for an Innovation Studio space.

According to Smith, the newest MobilityScience Innovation Studio "is a refurbished space … (built) with the intention of creating a collaboration space, meeting space and display areas showcasing all of our materials side-by-side.

"That is something we found that can be a challenge in the industry where a lot of the value proposition comes from those intangibles — the haptics, the feel, how something sounds when you hit it. So getting your hands on the product is instrumental for our customers learning more about Dow's value proposition."

When it comes to new mobility, there are plenty of areas where Dow's expertise is needed. "From the seats to the dash pedals to airbag systems," Smith said, the company's portfolio of polyurethanes — and silicones solutions — are used in a variety of ways from adhesives to thermal management.

Seating, though, is an area where Dow's polyurethane expertise shines, especially as the industry transitions away from genuine leather and other traditional fabric seating options to what it deems more sustainable options.

"Each material has positive and negatives to it," Smith said. "It allows the customers to feel them, to sense them all side by side without feeling that high-pressure sale or being forced into one material set. We are here to give you the toolbox and the accurate understanding so you can make the best choice as an OEM, as a tier or as a customer."

And the pursuit of greater sustainability brings its own set of unique challenges, especially as governments and policymakers set guidelines that help to drive the sustainability transition.

Because of Dow's wide-ranging expertise and global presence, Smith said the company is able to meet the most stringent guidelines and offer products that meet the highest performance and safety expectations as well.

"We find that the OEMs are all global. So they really pursue global standards whenever they can," Smith said. "With that, then, you tend to be designing to the most restrictive standard, which can vary on the particular question being asked. The products that I share with Mercedes would be similar to those I share with Ford or GM because they are all looking for the same things. They want to have higher performance at a lower weight and higher levels of safety with lower total costs."

The Correggio facility may be Dow's first MobilityScience Innovation Studio in Europe, but it's the company's third globally. Dow also maintain two U.S.-based MobilityScience studios, in Lake Jackson, Texas, and Midland, Mich.

Each facility has its own area of specialization. Lake Jackson, for instance, operates heavily in plastics componentry and offers insights into sealing and powertrains.

"There, it is looking at EPDM for compounding, extrusion for weather seals, injection molding of the thermoplastics or TPOs," Smith said. "That is where we have the most testing equipment related to that."

Midland meanwhile, brings an expertise in and testing capabilities for acoustics and noise, vibration and harshness. The facility, with its computer modeling expertise, also is well-positioned to serve the battery assembly and power electronics industries.

Then there's Correggio, which brings additional depth with its polyurethanes focus.

Smith, though, was quick to note that while each MobilityScience Innovation Studio has its own specialization, the teams at each have broad understanding of a range of materials, products and applications. This allows any of the facilities to serve any need the customer may have, especially because they continue to collaborate on a global scale.

And in the end, it's the breadth of Dow's expertise that adds depth and insight to its offerings. Because the mobility science know-how isn't limited to MobilityScience. Dow's wide range of materials, products and applications allow it to meet customer needs in innovative ways, Smith said.

"One of the reasons I am thrilled to be here is (Dow's) willingness and desire to tackle the world's biggest problems," Smith said. "…We approach the global industries related to four market verticals: packaging, infrastructure, consumer and mobility. And I highlight all of those because all of them reinforce each other."

For MobilityScience, it could mean bolstering offerings by tapping insights about recycling and renewable materials capabilities in the packaging and consumer sectors or leaning into infrastructure insights.

Ultimately, he said, Dow's strength lies in its materials science breadth. And ensuring that cross-vertical collaboration is essential to moving Dow — and the industries it serves — further.

Take, for instance Dow-Sil.

"The Dow-Sil line that goes into construction and is used to hang curtainwall glass for a majority of the world's iconic skyscrapers," Smith said. "… And that, naturally, reinforces automotive where, again, we want to stick stuff to stuff and make sure it stays there for the life of the car. Those technologies can really reinforce each other."