WACKER to Establish Silicones R&D Center in Michigan
MUNICH/ADRIAN, MI – WACKER, the Munich-based chemical company, is expanding its research and development facilities (R&D) for silicones by establishing a new R&D center located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The facility will support WACKER’s overall business and product development in the North, Central and South America regions. In a first phase, the group is mainly investing in the equipment and installation of the labs. The facility will officially open in the first half of 2017.
Based at Michigan Innovation Headquarters, a co-work campus facility in Ann Arbor, the center consists of several labs for R&D and analytics. Projects WACKER intends to pursue right from the start include health and medical care applications, solutions for coatings and paints, silicone-based softeners, and personal care products. The labs will be operated by Wacker Chemical Corp. (WCC), WACKER’s Adrian, Michigan-based subsidiary for North, Central and South America, and staffed with highly specialized experts in the field of silicone and polymer chemistry.