State-of-the-Art Innovation Center

PolyOne Corporation, a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, today announced the opening of its newest Innovation Center in Gaggenau, Germany. This facility will support application development for the PolyOne Global Specialty Platform by providing customers with state-of-the-art capabilities for development, testing, process optimization and color matching. PolyOne has invested over €1 million ($1.2 million USD) in the center.

“The ability to replicate manufacturing conditions will facilitate faster and more efficient product launches for our customers, thereby reducing their time to market, risk and design costs,” said Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, global marketing director, PolyOne Global Engineered Materials. “This new facility demonstrates our firm commitment to delivering specialized service and material solutions that create value for customers and help them bridge the gap between concept and commercialization. By streamlining the design process, customers can slash development time while optimizing efficiency – two keys for a major competitive advantage.”  
The Gaggenau Innovation Center features an advanced testing laboratory that includes a spectrum of processing and color matching equipment as well as computer simulation software. These state-of-the-art tools are supported by an experienced staff of scientists and engineers.
 
Testing can be conducted for mechanical properties such as modulus, ductility, and strength; physical properties such as density, electrical resistance, and creep; and rheological and flammability behaviors.
Production-grade processing includes twin-screw extrusion lines for TPEs and engineering materials, a profile extrusion line for quality assessment of TPEs, and injection molding machines (one and two component) for sample geometries and prototypes.

Design collaboration will be supported by injection molding simulation software (MoldFlow and SimpoeMold), 3D-CAD and FEM analysis software, and color matching software and hardware.

In addition, PolyOne’s Innovation Center staff can provide special services to accommodate specific customer requests.

PolyOne operates a network of nine Innovation Centers around the world to support customer application development from concept to commercialization. In Europe, the new facility in Germany joins two other locations in Assesse, Belgium and Cergy, France.

About PolyOne
PolyOne Corporation, with 2009 annual revenues of $2.1 billion, is a premier provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions. Headquartered outside of Cleveland, Ohio USA, PolyOne has operations around the world. For additional information on PolyOne, visit our Web site at www.polyone.com.