Rohm and Haas has broken ground on a new 46,000-sq.-ft. technical research center in Lansing, IL. The building, located just two blocks away from the company’s existing automotive coatings facility, will be completed in mid-2003.
The new center will feature a coating trial line that will allow the company to demonstrate new technologies to finishers. The line will include a power wash station, an applications stage and a thermal finishing unit to simulate typical auto parts finishing lines.
Rohm and Haas’ automotive coatings business makes coatings for plastic add-on parts such as bumpers and spoilers. The unit reported sales of approximately $100 million last year. The company is investing between $12-15 million in this new facility.
l Akzo Nobel Coatings has purchased a 50% stake in Mexican powder coatings producer Industrial de Acabados, S.A. de C.V. (INDA).