LOCALIZATION, INNOVATION & CUSTOMER ORIENTATION ENABLE COMPANY TO SERVE WELL AS EMERGING POLYURETHANE SUPERPOWER
16 August 2006 - Bayer MaterialScience AG

Peter Vanacker, Global Head of Bayer MaterialScience’s Polyurethanes Business Unit, said: “Since the invention of polyurethanes, Bayer has achieved a good reputation as a PU innovator with a strong focus on customers needs.” At the exhibition, the company will highlight PU rigid foam solutions for the construction industry to be able to meet the needs for most efficient thermal insulation of buildings, as well as new developments for the automotive sector, and the footwear and refrigeration industries. The company also aims to present its application and technology range in the specialty area, from bath tubs to ceiling lights and many other applications.

Frank Grunert, Regional Marketing Head of the Business Unit Polyurethanes at Bayer MaterialScience AsiaPacific, noted that the company’s booth reflected its view that China is emerging as a global polyurethane superpower. “China is set to become the world´s largest polyurethane market in the near future,” Grunert said. “We foresee a strong rise in demand for polyurethane raw materials for a broad range of applications, and demonstrate our capability to work with our customers to develop the materials they require.”

Grunert is confident that Bayer MaterialScience is well positioned to cater for the needs of the polyurethane industry in China.

In line with the company’s three-fold strategy to establish worldscale production capability to meet local needs; to increase development and technical service capabilities; as well as to establish an extensive marketing and distribution network, Bayer MaterialScience has implemented various steps to help to ensure proximity with its polyurethane customers.

In September 2006, the Polyurethanes Business Unit of the company officially inaugurates its first isocyanate facility in China, as well as other production facilities that have been built at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai. The 80,000 tons/year MDI splitter separates monomeric and polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate from crude MDI. MDI is a key raw material for the polyurethane industry.

Construction of a 350,000 tons/year backwards integrated MDI facility is also currently underway in Shanghai, which is scheduled to be the largest single-train MDI complex in the world by the time it will be completed in 2008. Bayer MaterialScience intends to build a 160,000 tons/year TDI facility at the site to be completed by 2009.

In addition to providing polyurethane raw materials, Bayer MaterialScience also offers its customers state-of-the-art polyurethane processing technology and service at PU China 2006 through its subsidiary Hennecke GmbH, which newly established its joint venture Hennecke-Maruka Shanghai in March this year. This company will be represented at the show at booth no. 1006, located close by Bayer MaterialScience’s booth, introducing two innovations at once: the high-pressure metering machine Baseline and PUR-Composite Spray Moduling technology.

In line with the second prong of its strategy, Bayer MaterialScience also offers its customers an extensive range of technical and development services at its
Polymer Research & Development Center, located also in Shanghai. Here, experienced polyurethane development and technical service engineers work in close cooperation with Bayer MaterialScience’s technical centers in Japan, the US and in Germany, to develop innovative and tailor made solutions for their polyurethane customers. At the beginning of September, the PRDC will celebrate the completion of a major expansion with more than doubling the space, then hosting facilities for four of the company’s business units under one roof, Polyurethanes, Polycarbonates, Thermoplastic Polyurethanes as well as Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants.

The company is also expanding its international network of system houses under the umbrella brand “BaySystems”. Bayer MaterialScience recently started to set up its first integrated systems house on the Indian subcontinent in New Delhi, operating under the name BaySystems India. BaySystems ASEAN is a new systems house currently being set up in Thailand, close to Bangkok. Bayer also has a Taiwanese manufacturing site to provide BaySystems polyurethane formulations, Bayer Polyurethanes Taiwan Ltd. in Kaohsiung. Customers in Japan are served by Sumika Bayer Urethane Co. Ltd. in Amagasaki. With BaySystems the company aims to create a global customer service quality standard for its systems house customers.

At the PU China exhibition, experts from Bayer MaterialScience will deliver a series of lectures to explain in further detail a variety of new applications and technologies. The topics to be covered range from composite applications, structure parts production, innovations in footwear, products for the Chinese construction market and polyurethane instrumental panel systems for the automotive industry.

With 2005 sales of 10.7 billion euros, Bayer MaterialScience AG is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. Bayer MaterialScience employs approximately 18,800 people with 40 production sites around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.

http://www.bayermaterialscience.com

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