Atotech opens in China and India

Within the space of ten days in mid-March, Atotech announced that its new production site in China and its R&D centre are both fully operational. The company, which is based in Berlin, specialises in advanced electroplating. These developments bring its total network of sites to 17, including eight in Asia.

The manufacturing facility at Yangzhou is Atotech’s second chemistry plant in China. It houses 14 production vessels with 27,000 tonnes/year of capacity. Key features include a manufacturing execution system, auto-stop-filling mechanisms and a wastewater system that combines precipitation, evaporation and biological treatment in ways that keep discharges significantly below industry levels.

Atotech said that the new site will provide additional capacity to serve the large and growing electronics and general metal finishing markets in China. It also “creates important redundancy with the company’s largest chemistry production site in Guangzhou”, the firm said.

The Atotech Development Centre (ADC) at Manesar (pictured) has been fully operational since late 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its official inauguration. This was finally done virtually on 19 March.

CEO Geoff Wilds called it “a critical component in strengthening our global R&D organisation”. Covering 20,000 m2, the ADC is the largest technical centre of its kind in India, containing 17 fully automated plating lines and 39 high-end laboratories. The company said that it serves as a global hub for its development, testing and qualification of surface finishing products.