Oct 21 2010
Grace Construction Products, an operating segment of W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA), is celebrating the official grand opening of its new manufacturing facility in Hai Duong, near Hanoi, Vietnam with a ceremony attended by customers, local officials, regional Grace leaders and employees.
The Hai Duong facility manufactures cement additives and concrete admixtures. Its establishment enhances service and improves delivery times to customers in North and Central Vietnam.
“This facility shows our commitment to the growth and development of customers in Vietnam,” said Andrew Bonham, President of Grace Construction Products and Vice President of W. R. Grace & Co. “The Hai Duong facility is the latest of our series of emerging market investments, following new manufacturing sites in Chongqing, China and Dammam, Saudi Arabia opened earlier this year.”
Grace cement additives can help Vietnam cement producers improve cement quality, reduce cost and produce in energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly ways. The company’s concrete admixtures help concrete producers manufacture high strength and durable concrete.
“Since 2007, when we opened our first specialty construction materials manufacturing facility in Vietnam in Ho Chi Min City, both our customers and the overall Vietnamese construction industry have grown significantly,” said Phil Krichilsky, Vice President and General Manager of Grace Construction Products Asia Pacific. He added, “Our investment near Hanoi, the country’s second-most populous city, positions us to extend high quality and consistent service to an increasing number of customers in the northern and central regions.”
Grace developed the plant design in house. By incorporating the latest technologies, the company created highly efficient, automated and computerized work processes that shortened new plant setup time and improved productivity.
In addition to manufacturing cement additives and concrete admixtures, the 30,000 ft2 facility in Hai Duong houses a sales and technical service office and a quality control laboratory. The laboratory staff conducts tests on each batch of product manufactured onsite, to ensure consistently high product quality. Like all Grace facilities worldwide, the Hai Duong plant implements strict quality, environment, health and safety standards in all production processes. Vietnamese customers receive additional technical support, product formulation and testing services from Grace’s Asia Pacific Technical Center in Singapore, an important component of Grace’s global network of R&D centers.
Source: http://www.graceconstruction.com/