READING, PA — Brenntag North America Inc., part of the Brenntag Group, the global market leader in chemical and ingredients distribution, announced the grand opening of its new Coatings & Construction Technology & Innovation Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The new center will further support customers in the United States and Canada who face coatings and construction formulation opportunities with technical solutions and inventive ideas. The Coatings & Construction Center is the latest addition to Brenntag North America’s Technology & Innovation Hub, which also includes centers for the Food & Nutrition, Personal Care and Home Care industries.

Steven Terwindt, Chief Operating Officer, Brenntag North America, said, “We are committed to invest in our technical and innovative capabilities to solidify our North American Specialties leadership position and drive strong growth with our strategic supplier partners. This new, state-of-the-art Coatings & Construction Technology & Innovation Center will offer our valued customers improved formulation expertise, technical solutions and service excellence.”

The new center is run by a team of industry experts and chemists and is fully equipped to handle the industry’s latest formulation challenges and new application development in the adhesives, coatings, construction, elastomers and sealants market segments. In addition, the center will provide raw material evaluations, product performance testing, and physical, subjective, and visual testing.

“Our expanded applications capabilities will significantly bolster the service level of our dedicated North American Coatings & Construction sales team, which consists of technical commercial experts,” said Ted Davlantes, Vice President, Coatings & Construction, Brenntag North America. “We want to continue to be the complete solutions provider and partner of choice for our valued customers when it comes to connecting them with the various chemistries of our suppliers.”

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, the new center is headed by Robert Souerwine, Technical Director of Coatings & Construction, who commented, “Our move from the original North Wales location to Brenntag’s Innovation Hub in Allentown allowed us to redesign and utilize a larger, more efficient space, with state-of-the-art equipment. Our new technical capabilities will significantly improve our design and testing of coatings and construction applications and help our customers to create unique solutions to fit the rapidly changing market trends.”