To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Chinese country organization, Wacker invited customers, government officials and long-standing business partners to Shanghai. The chemical group had set up its first sales office in 1993. The company now has an extensive network of several production, research and service sites there.
In his address, Christian Hartel, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG, emphasized the importance of the region: "China offers a wide range of development opportunities, which we at Wacker intend to continue to systematically exploit." As recently as May this year, for example, the company had commissioned new plants for the production of dispersions and dispersible polymer powders in Nanjing. In September, the Group also announced the construction of several new production lines for the manufacture of functional silicone oils, silicone emulsions and silicone elastomer gels at its Zhangjiagang site. "In total, we have invested around €1 billion in production, customer service and research in China over the past 30 years," says Hartel. Today, the Group operates four production sites, two technical centers, eight sales offices and a Wacker Academy for training purposes there and employs more than 1,700 people.