US compounder PolyOne has opened an Innovation Centre in Seoul to serve its growing colourants and additives business in South Korea and added on other technology in Shanghai, China, and the US.

The new facility in South Korea expands the network of PolyOne technical centres to 11. The firm says it is equipped with the full portfolio of capabilities from PolyOne Color & Additives Asia as well as ColorMatrix’s DosiXpress rapid colour development cell, an advanced liquid colourant system that typically reduces colour development time “from weeks to hours.”

In Shanghai, PolyOne’s Colorant Chromatics subsidiary has added new equipment to make speciality colour concentrates and formulations. It will also serve as a centralised sales and development hub for the Asia-Pacific region, catering to customers in key markets such as personal care, beverage packaging and household products.

Colorant Chromatics manufactures concentrates and speciality formulations for applications in aerospace, medical, automotive, electronics, telecommunications and other markets.

Meanwhile at its US innovation centre, PolyOne has increased production capacity and expanded capabilities to include prototyping of film, sheet and injection moulding processes. Also included is a comprehensive design idea library showcasing the impact of colour and special effects on different shapes and materials and additional twin-screw extrusion capacity to provide quicker solution turnarounds, as well as advanced equipment to address increased demands for specialty performance additives.

And at its Avon Lake headquarters, PolyOne has launched fused deposition modelling capacity for rapid prototyping. That type of modelling uses computer drawings to directly manufacture working prototypes, eliminating the costly and time-consuming step of machining moulds from metal.

US private equity firm Carlyle Group has paid US$4.9 billion to acquire DuPont Performance Coatings.

German chemicals firm BASF has set up a new research laboratory for thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) in the US.

German automotive products supplier Mann + Hummel GmbH is expanding in China by acquiring Bengbu Haoye, a manufacturer of filters for the automotive industry.

US-based Emerald Kalama Chemical is building a facility to manufacture environmentally friendly materials in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at the plant it acquired from DSM in 2010.

Mitsui Chemicals of Tokyo has established a company for functional polymeric materials in Shanghai’s Jinshan district.

Five years after Huntsman Polyurethanes teamed up with renewable resource-based polyol producer Alberdingk Boley to co-develop PU solutions for the coatings market.

Solvay Advanced Polymers is upping capacity for its Spire polyetheretherketone (PAEK) by 70% at its Panoli, India, plant.

In lieu of a growing lighter vehicles trend, Lanxess opens its first US$20 million worth production plant for high-tech plastics plant in Gasronia in the U.S. state of North Carolina, to help meet the increasing demand for premium, lightweight plastics.