GUANGZHOU, China—Materials firm A. Schulman Inc. is in the midst of an expansion that is more than doubling capacity at its compounding plant in Dongguan, China, part of a broader effort to make Asia a much larger portion of global sales.
The Fairlawn, Ohio-based firm added a compounding line for engineering plastics in Dongguan in late 2012, and plans to add one more each for engineering plastics and masterbatches there in the next 18 months.
It's one of a series of investments planned to grow Asian revenues from less than 10 percent of global business to something more balanced with its other major regions, said Derek Bristow, vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific for A. Schulman, in a May 22 interview at the Chinaplas trade show.
"In the next five years we would like to quadruple sales in Asia," he said. "We have fairly ambitious growth plans for Asia."
Bristow said the company also is looking at buying other companies or factories.