Honeywell specialty materials expands R&D centre
The $3.2-million expansion will triple laboratory space for Specialty Materials in Asia. The new lab space is part of a larger, $13.5-million expansion of Honeywell lab and administrative space at the facility, which is located in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai.
"Our Asia Technology Centre is a strategic part of Specialty Materials' global research and development efforts," said Nance Dicciani, president and CEO of Honeywell Specialty Materials, at a groundbreaking ceremony at the facility. "Our approach is to identify local market needs and develop safe, energy-efficient, environmentally preferable technologies and applications to support sustainable economic growth."
Specialty Materials currently has 17,000 square feet (1,600 square meters) of research space at the Shanghai facility. The 16 Specialty Materials labs at the Honeywell facility, which opened in 2004, include six analytical labs, four chemical synthesis labs, three application labs, and two electronic material development labs. Current research projects focus on fluorine chemicals, specialty chemicals, electronics materials and performance materials used for application-related research and development.
The new expansion will add 39,000 square feet (3,600 square meters) of research space. Ten new labs will be added, including a clean room and chemical blending lab for electronic materials research; an air conditioning and heat pump lab; and a high bay area for a polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, extrusion line to develop, test and evaluate performance additives. Construction of the new buildings is expected to start this month and be completed in July 2007.
