Woodbridge (Mississauga, Ontario / Canada; www.woodbridgegroup.com), a specialist for foams and mouldings for the automotive industry, is to strengthen its presence on the Chinese market. Together with car components supplier Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI, Shanghai / China; www.yfai.com), the Canadian company has established a joint venture under the name Yanfeng Woodbridge Lightweight Composites. A first facility for foams of expanded polypropylene (EPP) and mouldings for seats and interior coverings is to be built on the outskirts of Changzhou, Jiangsu. According to Woodbridge CEO Charles Daly, the plant is due to start production in mid-2019.

Woodbridge is shifting its global activities from Europe in the direction of Asia, having already parted with its minority share in PU and EPP processor Proseat (Mörfelden-Walldorf / Germany; www.proseat.de) – a JV with Recticel (Brussels / Belgium; www.recticel.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 27.02.2019. Recticel has since completed the sale of its 75% share in Proseat to Sekisui Plastics (Osaka / Japan; www.sekisuiplastics.com).

Without Proseat, Woodbridge is now setting up its own office in Europe to look after local customers here. The European facility will focus on sales and product engineering. A location has not yet been announced, although Woodbridge says the office is scheduled to open in spring 2019.