Nalco Opens New Corporate Office and Technical Support Center in India

2024-04-17 03:31:18 Business

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Nalco (NYSE: NLC), providing essential expertise for water, energy and air, today opened a new corporate office and research and development facility in Pune, India. The $8.5 million, 60,000-square foot facility will serve as the headquarters for sales, marketing and supply chain operations for NLC Nalco India Ltd. as well as house a new, state-of-the-art technology and innovation center.

?India, as the fifth largest economy in the world, is a critical part of our BRIC+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East) growth strategy,? said Erik Fyrwald, Nalco Chairman and CEO. ?The investments we have been making in India, both in terms of facilities like this and in hiring more people, are beginning to pay off, as we have seen strong sales growth and increased market share throughout the country.?

The Pune laboratory will eventually employ more than 100 engineers and chemists, three quarters of who will have advanced degrees.

?Pune Center will become one of Nalco\'s major innovation hubs for water and energy technologies. Its immediate focus will be to provide technical support to our Energy Upstream (oil field) and Downstream (refinery and chemical processing) customers throughout the eastern hemisphere, including the Asia Pacific region, the Caspian, Middle East, North Sea and West Africa,? said Dr. Manian Ramesh, Nalco?s Chief Technology Officer.

?It will focus on troubleshooting and customer problem-solving areas and will transform into another Center of Innovation for Energy in addition to our Sugar Land, Texas laboratories. The Pune Center will also focus on water and process research by developing integrated solutions that uniquely combine chemistry, engineering, equipment, performance data and service automation. It will build water sustainability solutions for our global customers incorporating leading research done at our Naperville, Ill. center.?

In addition, a global knowledge solutions group will develop advanced modeling tools for water, wastewater and thermal energy systems. These models would help identify areas of improvement in industrial water use, recycle, and energy conservation.

?The Pune technology center includes an advanced analytical laboratory that will provide diagnostic services to a broad range of customers,? added Peter Scrivener, Managing Director for NLC Nalco India Ltd. ?Within the next year we plan to expand Pune?s capabilities by adding a microbiology services laboratory.?

The Pune Center, under the leadership of R&D Director Dr. Hari Reddy, will be an integral part of Nalco\'s innovation network and will collaborate with existing Nalco laboratories in the United States, Europe, China and Brazil.

About Nalco

Nalco is the world?s leading water treatment and process improvement company, delivering significant environmental, social and economic performance benefits to our customers. We help our customers reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance air quality, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products while boosting the bottom line. Together our comprehensive solutions contribute to the sustainable development of customer operations. Nalco is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. More than 11,500 Nalco employees operate in 150 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers to serve a broad range of end markets. In 2009, Nalco achieved sales of more than $3.7 billion. For more information visit www.nalco.com.

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This news release includes forward-looking statements, reflecting current analysis and expectations, based on what are believed to be reasonable assumptions. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected, stated or implied, depending on many factors, including, without limitation: ability to generate cash, ability to raise capital, ability to refinance, the result of the pursuit of strategic alternatives, ability to execute work process redesign and reduce costs, ability to execute price increases, business climate, business performance, economic and competitive uncertainties, higher manufacturing costs, reduced level of customer orders, changes in strategies, risks in developing new products and technologies, environmental and safety regulations and clean-up costs, foreign exchange rates, the impact of changes in the regulation or value of pension fund assets and liabilities, changes in generally accepted accounting principles, adverse legal and regulatory developments, including increases in the number or financial exposures of claims, lawsuits, settlements or judgments, or the inability to eliminate or reduce such financial exposures by collecting indemnity payments from insurers, the impact of increased accruals and reserves for such exposures, weather-related factors, and adverse changes in economic and political climates around the world, including terrorism and international hostilities, and other risk factors identified by the Company. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the Company will meet future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. This paragraph is included to provide safe harbor for forward-looking statements, which are not generally required to be publicly revised as circumstances change, and which the Company does not intend to update.

To view the photographs, please click on the links given below:

Left to Right: Erik Fyrwald, Chairman & CEO, Nalco Company, Mohan Singh Rajpal, Mayor, Pune

Left to Right: Dr. Manian Ramesh, CTO, Nalco Company, Eric G. Melin, Executive Vice President, President Asia Pacific, Nalco Company, Peter Scrivener, Managing Director, NLC Nalco, Erik Fyrwald, Chairman & CEO, Nalco Company, Hari Reddy, Director R & D, Asia Pacific, NLC Nalco