Final phase of a $40 million expansion further enhances Toray’s leadership role as a global strategic partner in foam innovation
North Kingstown, Rhode Island (March 17, 2020)—Toray Plastics (America), Inc., announces that it has opened the PEF Division Innovation Center at its operations in Front Royal, Virginia. The new $4 million, 5,000-square-foot Innovation Center houses a state-of-the-art, custom designed pilot line, which enables Toray to explore and qualify new resin systems and technologies, develop new products quickly, and commercialize customer-specific solutions. The Innovation Center is a component of the company’s recent $40 million expansion, which increased the facility’s footprint by 74,000 square feet and also includes a new extrusion line, a new irradiation unit, and a new salt bath unit.
The PEF Division manufactures advanced, precision-engineered, irradiation-crosslinked, polypropylene and polyethylene foam for automotive, flooring, and industrial applications, including gasket, tape, and composites. Toray’s foams are recognized for their consistent thickness and density. The ToraSoft® brand is established worldwide as the premier foam for luxury haptics in automotive applications. It is specified by OEMs, trim component processors, and Tier 1 suppliers and used on more than 160 automotive models globally.
“Toray is renowned for its high-quality foams and expertise as an innovator, and the new Innovation Center will allow us to do more of what we do best: innovate on behalf of our customers,” says Jack White, Director of Sales, PEF Division. “The markets we serve are diverse and evolving. More customers are requesting specific solutions for their material systems. Having an in-house lab equipped with a proprietary pilot line allows us to leverage our intellectual property freely. We can now compound, extrude and coextrude, and laminate foam to custom materials and constructions with even greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. These capabilities, coupled with our expanded manufacturing capacity, allow us to be a customer’s true strategic partner in foam innovation.”
Toray Plastics (America), Inc., is a leading manufacturer of polyester, polypropylene, and metallized films, and polypropylene and polyethylene foams. The company is committed to environmental, social, and corporate governance and aims to contribute to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies, and products that help address global issues. R&D is focused on the development of materials that are fossil fuel-free, compostable, biodegradable, and/or recyclable. The company’s sustainability initiative, launched in 2004, includes the operating of one of Rhode Island’s larger solar farms and two cogeneration systems, energy and water conservation, recycling, and zero landfill.
Toray Plastics (America) is a subsidiary of the Toray Group, which believes that materials can change lives and provide real solutions to the challenges the world faces. The Toray Group is the world leader in synthetic fibers and textiles, carbon fibers, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and high-performance films and has annual sales exceeding US$21 billion. For more information about Toray Plastics (America)’s products, contact Mary Osso at Mary.Osso@Toraytpa.com or 401-667-2281. Toray Plastics (America), Inc., headquarters is located at 50 Belver Avenue, North Kingstown, RI 02852-7500; telephone 401-294-4511, fax 401-294-3410. Visit the Toray Plastics (America), Inc., website at www.toraytpa.com.
Caption: Toray Plastics (America), Inc., has opened the PEF Division Innovation Center at its operations in Front Royal, Virginia. The new $4 million, 5,000-square-foot Innovation Center houses a state-of-the-art, custom designed pilot line.