Materials maker Penn Color Inc. is finalizing a location for a new manufacturing site in Asia.
Doylestown, Pa.-based Penn Color also is in the process of selecting an R&D location in the region, officials said in an email to Plastics News. Senior positions for the new locations already have been filled, they added.
"We are committed to extending our global footprint in Asia," President Kevin Putman Jr. said in a news release. "That means investing in the people, products and technologies that will support the companies driving growth in the Asia-Pacific region."
Penn Color currently supplies the Asian market from Europe and the U.S. In Asia, the firm serves local customers as well as Europeans and U.S. customers that have operations in Asia.
"We have listened to those customers, who have expressed an interest in having Penn Color provide sales, R&D and manufacturing in closer proximity with their own Asia operations," officials said in the email. "We also see the opportunity to build on the leadership that Penn Color has in certain European and U.S. markets and expand this leadership in the same, but faster growing, markets in Asia."
They added that economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions and industry consolidation "open an opportunity for Penn Color to enter the Asia market as a most dependable and stable partner."
According to Penn Color officials, the Asia plan follows the firm's 2019 expansion in Venray, Netherlands, which added capabilities with engineering plastics color and additive masterbatches as well as high-end specialty coatings.
"In Europe, we invested in our customer's future, ahead of their needs," Putman said. "The situation is similar in Southeast Asia and China, where we see opportunities to use our unique capabilities to help customers get to market faster."
The Asia plan includes several locations, with resources and capabilities in sales, marketing, customer support, manufacturing, R&D and product design.
Penn Color officials said that market dynamics in Asia present several opportunities for the firm, both in plastics and for its inks and coating business. Those opportunities include PET and olefinic rigid packaging, fibers, building and construction, flooring and wall covering, and consumer goods.
"These are all growing segments where we can help brands expand their product lines and market share," they said in the email.
Penn Color is one of North America's 30 largest compounders and concentrate makers, according to Plastics News estimates. The firm's product mix includes color and additive concentrates, pigment dispersions and engineered coatings.
Worldwide, Penn Color has annual sales of more than $200 million and employs more than 650 at eight plants — five in the U.S. and individual plants in the Netherlands, India and China. The firm's Chinese plant makes ink and coatings products, but not plastic materials.