MUNICH, Germany – Wacker Chemie AG, Munich, Germany, is expanding its presence in Mexico and Brazil. The company is extending its existing technical center in São Paulo, Brazil, and creating a new technical center in Mexico City, Mexico. At the same time, the group’s international training center – the WACKER ACADEMY – will be expanded at the São Paulo site, and a new academy will be opened in Mexico City. Both projects are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013.

The expansion of the group’s technical center in Jandira, Brazil, near São Paulo, focuses mainly on the labs for dispersible polymer powders, which are used in dry-mix mortars for concrete applications, tile adhesives and sealing slurries. The test area for polymer binders will more than triple in size, and the new labs will get testing equipment in line with international standards. In addition, the WACKER ACADEMY training center will be equipped with a new, larger training lab, which will allow participants to carry out extensive practical tests.

In Mexico, polymer binders are the focal point of the new technical center, due to the strong growth of the regional economy, especially of the construction and paint industries. Covering an area of over 800 square meters, the facility will house the new offices of the local sales subsidiary Wacker Mexicana S.A. and the R&D labs for dispersible polymer powders and vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersions. These binders find application in coatings and adhesives. Due to the rising number of training inquiries from the region, a training center for the Spanish-speaking market will be created with the WACKER ACADEMY Mexico. Bundling sales, applications laboratories and the training center under one roof will foster closer teamwork between the sales and development teams and thus optimize customer support in the region.

Both the expansion of the technical center in Brazil and the opening of a new one in Mexico are scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013. The technical center in Mexico will support customers from Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, the Caribbean, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia. The technical center in Brazil will continue as the South American hub for customers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.