On Thursday May 15, 2008 Patrick Niels, BU director of DSM Powder Coating Resins, performed the official opening ceremony for the new R&D synthesis laboratory at the DSM Powder Coating Resins site in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China (PRC).

At the ceremony Patrick Niels said: “Today’s opening is a important step forward for us in China. In addition to our existing production base in Kunshan and local marketing and sales force, this lab will become the new incubator of our innovation competences and will help us respond faster to the developments in Asia, and especially China. The economy is growing at such a high rate here, and therefore it is more and more important we can test and develop products locally. Responding more quickly to customer requests will give us a competitive edge over the competition.”

The success of powder coatings originates from the attractive combination of features they offer: ecological soundness, cost effectiveness, energy saving and excellent product performance. In order to give a faster response to customer needs in China the laboratory will provide them with technical service support. It is the intention that the lab will move to the DSM China Campus in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai (PRC) when construction on this new site has been completed. The DSM China Campus is foreseen to open at the end of 2008.

General Manager of AKZO Taiwan, Mr. Moore Lee states: “I am very happy to see DSM is setting up their lab in Asia, it proves the commitment from DSM and will surely benefit both the market and DSM as an important supplier. We expect that a market leader like DSM plays the role to lead the powder coating resins market to a direction building additional value in the value chain from this knowledge foothold in China”.

Mr. Weiming Jiang, President of DSM (China) Ltd. adds: ”China is important for all three drivers of DSM’s strategy Vision 2010 – Building on Strengths: market-driven growth and innovation, increased presence in emerging economies and operational excellence. The new powder coating resins R&D facility will be part of our R&D center in DSM China Campus in construction in Zhangjiang. This is another confirmation of DSM’s confidence in the Chinese market and its commitment to sustainable business in China.”