By Jung Sung-ki
Dutch high-strength fiber maker DSM Dyneema is seeking to expand its business in Korea in an effort to broaden its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, the firm said Wednesday.
Headquartered in Urmond, the Netherlands, the company The company manufactures personal protective equipment, such as bullet resistant vests, helmets and inserts. It also supplies mooring and tugging ropes as well as light weight safety gloves and garments. The firm had 288 million euro ($396 million) in sales globally last year. The figure was up nearly 30 percent from that of the previous year, Lim Chul-soon, a spokesman for the firm, told The Korea Times.
“DSM Dyneema is the inventor and manufacturer of Dyneema, the world’s strongest fiber,” Lim said. “Dyneema is an ultra-strong polyethylene fiber that offers maximum strength combined with minimum weight, and is finding an ever-increasing array of applications in the high-performance-demanding life protection sector.”
The company is participating for the first time in the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition that opened Tuesday, aiming to put a strong emphasis on the Asia-Pacific market.
“Asia-Pacific is a key region for DSM Dyneema as it is home to many high growth economies, which are all seeing rising demand for strong, light and durable fiber solutions,” the company said in a news release.
DSM Dyneema first set up its regional headquarters in Shanghai in 2005 to serve the fast-growing Chinese market.
Today it operates from seven offices in five countries across the region, including its twin regional headquarters in Shanghai and Singapore. It has offices in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Mumbai.
Earlier this year, it set up its APAC Technical Center in Singapore, which is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Lim.
The center will house DSM Dyneema’s first ballistic testing center in Asia, the second of its kind globally for DSM Dyneema, as well as a fiber solution research and development facility that will focus on developing applications to serve the specific needs of its Asia-Pacific customers.
“The APAC Technical Centre is DSM Dyneema’s third global ballistics testing facility and our first such centre in Asia Pacific. It will also be home to the regional headquarters for DSM Dyneema Life Protection business.” says Marco Kleuters, vice President of Life Protection APAC. “We are setting up a world-class organization that inspires innovation and the creation of sustainable value chains, driven by regional demands.”
With a global staff of approximately 750 employees, DSM Dyneema has manufacturing plants in Heerlen, the Netherlands; Greenville, North Carolina, the United States; and Flaach, Switzerland as well as a joint-venture manufacturing plant with Toyobo in Japan.