Ashland Inc. recently announced the opening of its new gelcoats production facility in the Chemical Industry Park of Changzhou Yangtze Riverside Economic Development Zone. This $60 million facility, reportedly Ashland’s most advanced gelcoats plant in the world, serves customers in marine, sanitaryware, transportation, wind energy, and industrial markets in China and the broader Asia-Pacific region. The plant currently employs 30 people and is located in Changzhou, where Ashland also operates an unsaturated polyester resins and epoxy vinyl ester resins production facility.

The new facility will also produce adhesives, fire-retardant resins and low-profile additives for industrial products. With an initial annual capacity of 10,000 tons of gelcoats and 2,000 tons of adhesives products, the facility is designed for further expansion to meet increasing market demand across Asia.

“China is an attractive market for investment, despite some of the current economic challenges,” said Ted Harris, senior vice president and president of Ashland Performance Materials, and president of Ashland Global Supply Chain. “This new facility reflects Ashland’s commitment to maintaining the highest production standards for gelcoats products. More importantly, we are extremely proud of our two-year zero incident record we maintained throughout the construction of this plant. Thanks to the long-term support provided by the Changzhou government, I’m confident that this new facility will soon become an integral part of Ashland family and the local community.”

For additional information, visit www.ashland.com.