The Axson Technologies group (F-95310 Saint-Ouen-l´Aumone; www.axson.com) was set up at the end of 1994 by Lionel Puget, managing director of Hexcel Euroresins since 1988, following the buyout of Hexcel France and three of its European subsidiaries (Germany, Italy and Spain). The group currently claims to be the world No. 2 in high-performance polyurethane and epoxy resins for design, tooling and prototyping applications. Ever since Axson Technologies was first set up, it has expanded its activities throughout the globe and now has nine subsidiaries. After the US, Brazil and Mexico, the group is currently establishing itself in Asia following the purchase of the Japanese Ace Kaken company near Nagoya in 2002. “Ace Kaken occupies a top-rank technological position in Japan and Northern Asia for prototype modelling, and especially for rapid prototyping, and it has been made into the competence centre in this field for our entire group,” explains Lionel Puget. Two branches have been set up in parallel, one in Shanghai focused on China and the surrounding countries of South-East Asia, and the other at Taipeh, to serve Taiwan. The Axson Technologies group is opening a sixth production site at Pudong near Shanghai this year to ensure an immediate and constant supply of resins. “Our aim is to systematically create a production site dedicated to the markets in its particular sphere of influence. In the case of China, this is the automotive market with VW, the footwear industry, the foundry sector, toys and rapid prototyping. In the near future, some thirty employees will be producing the same range as in Europe on this 1,700 square-metre site, together with resins for the encapsulation of electronic components, and adhesives,” explained Lionel Puget. Axson Technologies is expecting sales to rise 10% in the course of 2003, from EUR 49m in 2002 – 74% of which was generated outside France. The next expansion stage planned by Lionel Puget is a site in eastern Europe “perhaps in Hungary or the Czech Republic.”