Specialised polymer materials provider PolyOne Corporation is establishing a new Innovation centre in Shanghai, China, that will focus on R&D using its engineered materials. Spanning 1,700 sq m, the facility will that will employ 50 persons will facilitate collaboration, accelerate application development and increase speed-to-market for customers in the Asia Pacific region, said Mark Crist, Vice-President of PolyOne Asia.

The facility will be located in a new high-tech industrial park in the JinQiao Development Zone and will focus on R&D projects generated within the company's Specialty Engineered Materials business segment. It is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Said Crist, “We expect realignment to better collaborate with customers and improve speed to market of new products. It will also consolidate the engineered materials businesses into one in Shanghai, since the facility is located 7 km from our colour centre in Shanghai, thus allowing better collaboration with other businesses for Asia.”

According to Eng Guan Soh, General Manager Asia, the company will also realign its assets in Singapore and Suzhou. “This means we will move the R&D from Singapore and Suzhou to Shanghai. But the two facilities will still maintain production, sales/marketing and other commercial aspects of the business,” he explained during a press conference held in conjunction with Chinaplas 2014 in Shanghai. Eng did not want to disclose the investment into the new facility.

Commenting on PolyOne's recent growth in Asia, Crist said that 2013 saw record revenues and operating income in Asia. “Our 'invest to grow' strategy in the region is clearly working, and our new Innovation centre is yet another step in what we expect will be continued growth for our customers.”