“This expansion is a reflection of the relationships we’ve built with our customers,” said Debora Hense-Hric, technical director. “As their needs have evolved, we’ve applied our technical expertise to their coatings’ formulation needs. The added facility helps us continue supporting them in the ways they’ve come to expect.”

According to the company, the newly acquired space allows Stonebridge to enhance operational efficiency, increase capacity, and further develop its growing capabilities in custom coatings manufacturing.

“Lubrizol introduced CPVC technology to India more than two decades ago, and since then, we have witnessed strong growth of the market alongside the country’s expanding economy,” said Abhishek Shrivastav, managing director, Lubrizol IMEA. “With the commissioning of this world-class facility in Vilayat, we are strengthening our manufacturing capabilities in India by following a local-for-local approach. This investment underscores our long-term commitment to India by enabling consistent access to high-quality, locally produced materials backed by Lubrizol’s global standards of innovation, reliability, and performance.”

According to APC, the company is implementing Albert’s AI-native operating system for chemistry and materials science to centralize experimental data, capture institutional knowledge, and enable more efficient collaboration across research teams. As the company continues to expand its footprint, the investment supports a more connected and scalable innovation environment.

“Innovation in polymer coatings is driven by the quality of our scientific insight. As our research programs expand, having a structured platform to capture and analyze experimental knowledge allows our team to move faster, build on prior work, and continue advancing the performance of next-generation coating technologies,” said Jeremy Pasatta, vice president of Technology and Process, Advanced Polymer Coatings. “Using Albert’s AI capabilities, we’ve been able to cut development time in half—screening out unnecessary experiments and reaching optimized formulations much faster.”

“Innovative companies like APC demonstrate how structured scientific data and AI-driven tools can transform R&D by empowering scientists with tools that connect experimentation and insight. Organizations can accelerate innovation while leveraging knowledge to drive long-term competitive advantage,” said Nick Talken, CEO, Albert Invent.

According to the company, Brazil, and the wider Latin American region, represent attractive growth markets, particularly in segments such as food, beverage, and consumer packaging.

“Ensuring continuity for our customers is our highest priority,” said Saul Rios, managing director LATAM at Stahl. “By maintaining supply and service from the outset, we provide a seamless transition while building a strong foundation for future growth.”

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the upcoming weeks, subject to regulatory approvals.

“Karlovy Vary is an important pillar for our silicone activities in Europe and a central building block in our specialties strategy,” said WACKER executive board member Christian Kirsten at the opening ceremony. “With the new site, we are expanding our position as a solution provider for customers in key industries.”

According to the company, Karlovy Vary will be responsible for supplying customers of silicone specialties going forward. In the future, liquid silicone rubber will be manufactured in Burghausen, while thermally conductive silicones, potting compounds for the automotive industry and silicone gels for wound care will be produced in Plzeň. Room-temperature-curing silicones and solid silicone rubber will be located in Karlovy Vary.

“Karlovy Vary will make our integrated production network in Europe much more flexible, agile and efficient,” said Kirsten. “Karlovy Vary complements our existing sites and, thanks to state-of-the-art production technology, creates the underlying conditions for extremely high levels of efficiency and quality. Going forward, this will enable us to serve our customers even better thanks to high-quality and innovative products. With Karlovy Vary, we are beginning a new chapter in our silicones’ success story.”

“Our expansion into Mexico is a natural evolution of Palmer Holland’s North American growth strategy and reinforces our commitment to being a trusted partner throughout the region,” said Tim Skufca, CEO of Palmer Holland. “By investing in people and operational capabilities, we are positioning ourselves to provide faster response times, stronger technical support, and greater supply chain continuity for our customers and supplier partners across Mexico.”

According to the company, Palmer Holland’s investment in Mexico is expected to contribute value to the local industrial community through job creation, supply chain investment, and long-term commercial partnerships. The company’s presence in Querétaro adds infrastructure and resources that can support manufacturers, suppliers, and customers operating throughout the region.

Notably, enactment of this comprehensive housing legislation was a top ACA advocacy priority set forth under the association’s Strategic Plan, as paint and coatings products will continue to play a vital role in both new construction and renovation efforts.

On June 23, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 358-32 for the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act just one day after the U.S. Senate passed the legislation by a vote of 85-5.

By tackling barriers such as zoning and land-use restrictions, enhancing stakeholder engagement with state and local governments to boost housing production, expanding access to guaranteed loan programs, and modernizing borrowing strategies to better reflect current construction costs, this new law takes meaningful steps toward increasing housing supply. Equally important are the provisions supporting whole-home repairs and preservation of the existing housing supply, as well as measures like those in the Build Now Act that tie community development resources to accelerated homebuilding.

ACA hailed this bipartisan Congressional effort to address the nation’s housing challenges through a bipartisan framework that recognizes the need for regulatory reform, expanded financing tools, and maintenance of the current housing inventory.

The scope of extrusion coatings covered by this PCR is defined as coatings that occur during “the method of manufacturing a metal part, typically aluminum or steel, using an extrusion process.”

The scope of coil coatings covered by this PCR is defined as coatings that are “applied to continuous coil of metal, typically aluminum or steel, that is unwound, cleaned, surface-treated, coated, heat-cured, and rewound in one operation.”

The new PCR for Metal Coil and Extrusion Coatings is available for free download on ACA’s website, /.

PCRs provide an agreed–upon framework for measuring the environmental impacts of a product based on a defined set of criteria, enabling manufacturers to conduct life-cycle assessments (LCAs) of their products in a standardized way, and publish this information in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), if they choose.

PCRs are timely and useful resources given that many sustainability guidelines and green certification programs provide preferential treatment to products with verified EPDs. Additionally, LCA results can be used to demonstrate performance attributes of products, including durability. LCA also provides paint and coating manufacturers with the opportunity to exhibit improvements in resource efficiency across the supply chain.

Notably, the PCR for Metal Coil and Extrusion Coatings specifies that the type of EPD created shall be cradle to grave, requiring the following life cycle stages: Production (A1 to A3); Construction (A4 to A5); Use (B1 to B7); and End-of-Life (C1 to C4). The life cycle stage, Benefits & Loads Beyond System Boundary (Module D), is optional. This PCR requires metal coil and extrusion coatings to be assessed as a product system, as opposed to individual coatings or layers.

In this expanded agreement, Azelis has been appointed to distribute Chemetall’s surface treatment solutions for general industrial applications throughout the region. The partnership for Canada began in November 2025, followed by Mexico in April 2026, and the U.S. agreement in May 2026.

“This expanded partnership with Azelis is an important step in strengthening Chemetall’s position across North America and advancing our long-term growth strategy,” said Karlheinz Zander, BASF’s vice president Surface Treatment North America. “By combining Chemetall’s innovation leadership with Azelis’s market reach, digital capabilities and local technical support, we are creating a more integrated, responsive experience for our customers across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Together, we are well positioned to deliver greater value, accelerate access to our technologies and seamlessly support our customers as their needs evolve.”

According to Todd Cottrell, CEO of Azelis Americas, “This expanded partnership reflects our shared commitment to delivering greater value to customers across North America. By combining Chemetall’s industry-leading surface treatment technologies with Azelis’s technical expertise, local presence, and digital capabilities, we are making it easier for customers to access the solutions, information, and support they need to succeed. Together, we are creating a more connected, efficient, and responsive customer experience that helps drive growth and innovation across the market.”

According to the companies, the ethyl acetate produced by Celanese contains 50% bio-based content, helping to reduce the use of fossil-derived raw materials compared to conventional alternatives. Siegwerk uses the bio-based solvent as a drop-in solution for its existing ink formulations.

“The partnership with Celanese directly aligns with Siegwerk’s SustainUP program, our global sustainable procurement initiative, which is a key pillar of HorizonNOW 2030 – Siegwerk’s overarching sustainability strategy,” said Cathleen Hansohm, Global Supplier Sustainability manager, Siegwerk. “The use of a 50% bio-content ethyl acetate supports our ambition to expand the use of renewable feedstocks in a responsible and scalable way.”

“Collaboration is key to driving meaningful progress toward sustainability,” said Kevin Norfleet, senior director, Sustainability, at Celanese. “By working closely with Siegwerk, Celanese contributes to solutions that reduce the use of fossil resources while maintaining the high performance standards required in demanding applications such as printing inks.”