Pascal Rechatin, regional director, Asia Pacific, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers said at the opening, “Our business has laboratories and R&D facilities in different countries and regions globally such as the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.  The new R&D facility in China is the latest member joining our worldwide customer development and support network. The facilities all collaborate with one another to help increase competitiveness of our customers. This will help to enhance existing products, and bring new products to market more quickly, efficiently and cost effectively.”

At the heart of the new R&D Facility is an industrial scale 9-layer blown film co-extrusion line which will support the development of film structures for the packaging and industrial film markets. The line is capable of producing film structures with a film lay flat of up to 1.27metres and from 30 to 250microns in thickness. With a separate extruder for each layer, the line will be a versatile development tool, able to produce a broad range of structures including barrier films. The investment also includes a small lab scale 3-layer blown film co-extrusion line for rapid prototyping and smaller scale development work. This equipment will be used to serve the packaging, consumer goods and industrial markets on a global basis. It will help customers in developing innovative solutions, materials and structures to boost their business growth.

DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers supplies a broad variety of materials used in blown film co-extrusion, including DuPont™ Surlyn® ionomer resins, Nucrel® acid copolymer resins, Bynel® adhesive resins, Selar® barrier resins, Elvax® ethylene vinyl acetate resins, and Elvaloy® AC acrylate copolymer resins and a variety of other specialty materials.

In addition to new product development capabilities, the new R&D Facility is also equipped with a variety of testing and analysis equipment. These include material identification and characterization testing. These capabilities will be used for trouble shooting customer problems, assist customers to enhance product quality and optimize their production processes. Additional material processing facilities located in the China R&D Centre include compounding and injection molding capabilities.

“We are confident of the industry’s potential for expansion in Asia Pacific region and worldwide. China’s economy in particular is advancing quickly. By setting up the new R&D facilities in China will strengthen our overall R&D capabilities and allow us to work more closely with local customers in China as well as in the region.” Mr. Tom Powell, chairman and president of DuPont China Holding Company Ltd. added.

DuPont is a science company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel.