Ashland celebrates opening of Changzhou gelcoats plant

Ashland Inc celebrated the grand opening of its new gelcoats production facility in the Chemical Industry Park of Changzhou Yangtze Riverside Economic Development Zone.
This US$60M facility, which is Ashland’s most advanced gelcoats plant in the world, serves customers in marine, sanitary ware, 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 that has been manufacturing products in the region for more than 10 years.
Gelcoats are speciality resins that help to improve the appearance of fibreglass products and to protect structural layered materials from corrosion. It is used in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products, including yachts, bathtubs, basins, wind energy blades, nacelles, cooling towers and storage tanks.
Ashland’s product brands include award-winning Maxguard and Enguard gelcoats. The facility will also produce adhesives, fire retardant resins and low-profile additives for many industrial products. With an initial capacity of 10,000t/yr of gelcoats and 2000t of adhesives products, the facility is designed for further expansion to meet increasing market demand across Asia.