H.B. Fuller Announces Opening of Asia Pacific Technology Center

17-02-2009: H.B. Fuller Company announced the opening of its regional technical center in Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, China. The new lab, part of the company’s five-year strategic plan, will promote in-market innovation and customer intimacy in the Asia Pacific region. This is the company’s first regional technical center in Asia Pacific, and will house research and development, applications testing, sales and regional leadership.

“Opening our first regional technical center reaffirms our commitment to the Asia-Pacific region,” said Michele Volpi, president and chief executive officer of H.B. Fuller. “The lab is also the freshest example of H.B. Fuller’s deep dedication to our philosophy of customer intimacy. To be an effective partner, we are bringing sources of innovation closer to our customers’ doorstep and dramatically shortening their value chain.”

H.B. Fuller’s regional technical center will focus on next-generation adhesive applications, helping the company promote product development and localization of initiatives in a variety of key market segments, ranging from insulating glass, packaging and nonwovens and fiberglass sizing and binding, to footwear and textiles, lean flooring and reverse-osmosis filtration.

“Extending our presence in China is a smart venture for H.B. Fuller because it is an investment in the success of our customers,” added Kevin Gilligan, vice president for the Asia Pacific region for H.B. Fuller. “Our products often lie at the heart of our customers’ manufacturing processes and we now have a unique opportunity to help them improve those processes, enhance their efficiency and help them produce better products. We will continue to progress in this region by breaking ground on our previously announced manufacturing facility in 2009. That facility, combined with the research and development capabilities that we launch today, will enable us to comprehensively serve our customers’ needs in this region.”