Roehm Americas Opens New Innovation Center to Further Specialty Acrylics Compounds Business

In what is said to be the largest non-production investment in the Americas region by acrylic resins manufacturer Roehm Americas is the newly opened Roehm Innovation Center in Wallingford, Connecticut, close to a Roehm manufacturing plant.  Enhanced resources reinforce the company’s commitment to future innovation of its specialty, high-performance Cyrolite and Acrylite acrylic compounds. The Innovation Center launch follows  two previous significant investments last year, including the newly constructed headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. and the new world-scale methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Bay City, Texas.

The new 15,000 sq.ft. facility is equipped with a state-of-the-art materials development laboratory, featuring advanced processing capabilities for material compounding, injection molding, and extrusion. Included in the 2,000 sq.ft. lab is a full range of physical, mechanical, thermal, and optical material characterization techniques. The Innovation Center will soon be certified with ISO and IATF accreditations. Expanded functionality is expected to provide enhanced support and solutions for Roehm customers. The site is now home to technical, processing, and formulation polymer experts committed to the development of new Cyrolite and Acrylite molding compound solutions for the medical, automotive and lighting industries, as well as the household goods sector. The modern onsite lab features temperature and humidity control, ideal for plastic formulation and processing optimization. The site is also home to a visitor’s center - showcasing Roehm’s history of innovation, an internal/external training facility, and a customer hub built to respond quickly to customer requests such as technical data, samples, and application support.

As the global headquarters for medical research and development, the Innovation Center is the central hub for the development of new Cyrolite solutions in the medical device industry. The team will support medical OEM for infusion therapy, blood management, diagnostics, and other technologies. Activities also include development, design, and processing support for Acrylite applications in automotive lighting, extrusion, optics, and distribution in the Americas region. This work will encompass body add-on components as well as signal and interior lighting for the automotive industry. Applications such as appliances, general lighting, and custom-made compounds will be supported at this facility as well.

Said Thomas Spagnuolo, v.p. & general manager of molding compounds at Roehm America, “The space fosters collaboration of OEM’s, processors, and Roehm experts to create new PMMA-based solutions that meet the demanding requirements of our medical, and general industry clients. Improved technical resources provide our team with the tools needed for advanced product development with our customers.”