ARNHEM, the Netherlands - CEO Hans Wijers officially opened Akzo Nobel's new powder coatings facility at Langfang in China on November 15. The new site - located between Beijing and Tianjin - not only consolidates the company's position as the world's largest manufacturer of powder coatings, but will also ensure that the business' growth momentum is maintained in what is the fastest growing global market for the product.

Strategically placed in one of the most rapidly developing industrial regions of northern China, the new facility was constructed to replace a former plant in Beijing. Built on a 22,000-square-meter site that includes scope for further expansion, the Langfang facility is being inaugurated just a few months after the company's Powder Coatings business expanded its operations in South China with the opening of a second plant at Baoan in Guangdong Province.