WACKER Expands Technical Center in Korea by Lab for VINNAPAS® Dispersible Powders

Munich / Suwon, The Munich-based chemical Group WACKER has finished the expansion of its Suwon Technical Center in South Korea. Thus, the Korean center will be able to develop and test not only dispersions but also VINNAPAS® dispersible polymer powders for modern construction applications. The investment is intended to boost the company’s local research and development competency in the construction sector, and to further increase and improve customer support on the Korean market. Through the expansion, WACKER is promoting internationally recognized quality standards and the exchange of expertise with regional customers and partners.

The technical center, situated 40 km south of Korea’s capital Seoul, covers a space of more than 300 square meters. The focus of the new lab is on VINNAPAS® dispersible polymer powder formulations for manufacturing polymer-modified dry-mix mortars for the regional construction industry. Thus, the technical center offers customers support in developing new products and product applications for the Korean market. Furthermore, it conducts comparative lab testing of construction products with regards to locally available raw materials, climatic conditions and regional construction methods. Alongside research and applications labs, the Technical Center also houses sales, marketing, customer-service and administrative functions. Bundling a sales and technical center under one roof enables closer teamwork between the sales and development teams, resulting in optimum customer support.

With the expansion, WACKER wants to bolster its technological leadership in top-quality chemical raw materials in the Korean market. “The expansion of our technical center in Suwon is another important milestone in our growth strategy,” explained Matt Cho, Managing Director of WACKER in Korea, at the official opening ceremony. “Our objective is to meet the individual needs of our Korean customers locally and to support and test innovative applications for polymer binders with them.” In this way, the Munich-based WACKER Group intends to further consolidate and expand its market position in collaboration with its customers.

WACKER has been producing polymer powders and dispersions for the construction industry for more than 50 years. Today, WACKER is a global market and technology leader in the field of vinyl acetate-based copolymers and terpolymers. VINNAPAS® polymer powders and dispersions are thermoplastic, plasticizer-free polymers derived primarily from vinyl acetate and ethylene. They can be used in diverse building applications such as tile adhesives, self-leveling flooring compounds, exterior insulation and finish systems, plasters, repair mortars or water-proofing cementitious sealing slurries. In the end product, they enhance important properties such as adhesion, cohesion, flexibility and flexural strength. Water retention, processing properties and weatherability also benefit from VINNAPAS®.

The WACKER Group has already been supplying chemicals to Korea since the middle of the 1980s. In 1996, the local subsidiary Wacker Chemicals Korea Ltd. has been established. Since January 2008, WACKER is producing vinyl-acetate-ethylene dispersions in Ulsan in Korea’s South East. Furthermore, a technical center for research and applications technology servers customers and partners locally.