Bayer MaterialScience adds innovative Design Center to Color Competence Center at Newark, Ohio, compounding facility
Bayer MaterialScience adds innovative Design Center to Color Competence Center at Newark, Ohio, compounding facilityIn a demonstration of its commitment to the local community and its plastics customers, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) LLC officially opened an innovative Design Center addition to the Color Competence Center at its Newark, Ohio,compounding plant. A number of BMS executives, including Rainer Schorr, Head of Polycarbonates in the North American Region, and Dr Lora Rand, head of production and development, Advanced Resins Division, Polycarbonates, were joined by Ohio Lieutenant Gov. Lee Fisher and other local dignitaries for the ribbon- cutting ceremony and facility tour.
BMS' new Design Center at its Color Competence Center is good news for the Newark community and the plastics industry. Through the opening of this center combined with Bayer's strategic growth strategy, the company is in the process of staffing for the needs of today and in the future. “The Newark facility has played an important role in our plastics business for nearly 30 years,”said Dr Rand. “This investment will help ensure that our operations here will continue to play an instrumental role in our business success for many years to come.”
Schorr agreed: “This expansion is a key component of the aggressive growth strategy for our plastics business. Furthermore, it demonstrates that our commitment as a resin supplier is not just for today, but for the long term.”
Bayer is an innovator and leader in the production of polycarbonate with facilities strategically located around the world to support its global Makrolonwpolycarbonate (PC) product line. At the Newark facility, Makrolon PC, as well as Bayblend “PC/ABS resins, are tailored to specific customer needs by compounding the resin with other polymers and additives.”
The new Design Center will bring ideas utilizing BMS' LEDAwcompounded color technology to life. LEDA compounded resin technology is one of five technologies included in Fantasiaw color technologies –the industry's most complete, one-stop solution for color and special effects for plastic part design. LEDA compounded color technology adds colorants and special effect additives right in the pellet to yield molded-in colors and special effects such as metallic, sparkle, shimmer, pearlescence and glow-in-the-dark.
Creative, by design
By its very design, the new hands-on design center – purposely intended to be as “non-manufacturing” as possible – encourages customers to be actively involved in the design process. The result is a more personalized and streamlined process for BMS customers to obtain custom color matches.
At the center, customers work hand- in-hand with dedicated personnel to create precise color matches and select effects to meet their needs. The center also offers customers unique and valuable access to BMS' color archive, with its thousands of color samples and effects.
The state-of-the-art Design Center and Color Competence Center also feature molding equipment so that, in most cases, customers will be able to leave the facility with molded samples in the desired custom color. As product life cycles grow increasingly shorter – particularly in such consumer markets as electronics – BMS' ability to provide customers with custom colors in a mere hours, rather than days, offers an important competitive advantage.
Around the world ... or around the block
The Newark, Ohio, Color Competence Center is joining a global network of similar centers – either in use, construction or planning – in Filago, Italy; New Delhi, India; Shanghai and Guangzhou, China; and Map Ta Phut,Thailand. These centers bring the organization's considerable technology,innovation and service closer to its customers in order to provide them with fast, local service.
“By establishing these innovative centers of expertise, BMS is harnessing its global resources for the benefit of our valued customers,wherever they may be,” said Schorr. “It's just another example of how BMS is continuing its efforts to be the resin supplier of choice in the plastics industry.”
Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with nearly 14,900 employees at 30 sites around the world and 2006 sales of e10.2 billion from continuing operations. Our innovative developments in coatings, adhesive and sealant raw materials, polycarbonates,polyurethanes and thermoplastic urethane elastomers enhance the design and functionality of products in a wide variety of markets, including the automotive, construction, electrical and electronics, household and medical industries, and the sports and leisure fields. Our inorganic basic chemicals unit produces chlorine and related essential products for the chemicals industry. Let us give life to your vision. Bayer MaterialScience – Where VisionWorks.
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG,an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, Bayer had 2006 net sales of e7.8 billion and employed 17,200 at year end. Bayer's three subgroups, Bayer HealthCare,Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience, improve people's lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose, prevent and treat diseases; protect crops and enhance yields; and advance automobile safety and durability. Bayer AG stock is a component of the DAX and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: BAY).
