Cabot Corporation recently announced plans of opening a new application innovation laboratory in Shanghai, China. It will serve as the Asia Technology Centre with infrastructure and labs supporting all businesses within the region.The new facility will be pivotal to Cabot’s continued delivery of world-class and innovative materials to customers across the globe.
The aim of this investment is to accelerate innovation and applications development. The new lab will be co-located at Cabot’s regional headquarters in Shanghai and will feature state-of-the-art analytical and application testing equipment. It will be initially staffed by more than 30 highly skilled researchers and scientists working together with extended research teams throughout Cabot’s extensive global network. In addition, the new lab environment aims to promote best practices and idea sharing across businesses and will foster open innovation to increase collaboration with customers.
“As stated in our new corporate strategy, we are focused on driving application innovation with our customers. In order to drive and enable advancements in our world, we must continue to innovate based on our deep understanding of applications – ensuring that our materials can deliver maximum performance for our customers,” said YakovKutsovsky, senior vice president of Research and Development (R&D), and chief technology officer. “We already have strong manufacturing and commercial capabilities in Asia. With a highly experienced team and state-of-the-art equipment, the Asia Technology Centre will enable us to offer our customers more collaborative services, faster development times and extensive testing and trialing in Asia. Furthermore, we will have the ability to showcase our strengths in research, development, innovation and industrial applications.”
The latest technologies and testing equipment will be featured in the new facility to provide global, best-in-class technical service. The lab will also support Cabot product lines including activated carbon, rubber and specialty carbons, fumed metal oxides, masterbatch and compounds, and inkjet colorants with testing and development capabilities that closely represent Cabot’s customer applications. The facility will also be designed with a product showroom to further enhance the customer experience and showcase Cabot’s capabilities and innovation. With this lab, Cabot can better meet the unique requirements of its China- and Asia-based customers across a range of critical applications.
“This lab will promote the development of emerging technologies for a variety of end markets and reaffirms our multi-disciplinary research and development capabilities to drive innovation in key growth areas,” says Jeff Zhu, senior vice president, and president of the Asia Pacific Region. “This advanced R&D and applications laboratory is a prime example of our ongoing commitment to and investment in the development of world-leading solutions and services. We will be able to respond more quickly to our regional and global customers, delivering an even higher level of customer-driven innovation and value in the future. In addition, by extending our research and development capabilities in Asia, we are expanding our global reach while ensuring the latest technologies are able to connect the innovation of today with the future.”