Ashland Specialty Ingredients, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc., established a Care Specialties Technical Center in Mumbai, India, to better support producers of personal and home care products in India and Southeast Asia.
The, located in the heart of Mumbai in Jaswanti Landmark, will serve as a focal point for the company's R&D activities, with operations in the region. Activities at the new facility will bring personal and home care innovations to market and providing technical support that may be required to meet consumers’ rising expectations for higher-performing products.
Ashland has found a need for R&D in India based on a number of requests from companies in the area over the years. Principle among the activities in Mumbai is collaboration with marketers and manufacturers on new product innovations directed at consumer needs in the region. In addition, the Mumbai technical team will provide preservative efficacy studies and general formulation support upon request. The center will also serve as headquarters for key account managers in India and as a base of operations for distributor training and technical seminars.
The Mumbai facility has dedicated formulation laboratories to hair, skin, oral and home care; controlled environment laboratories for measurement science to support claims substantiation; a microbiology laboratory for preservative optimization and micro challenge test; consumer science laboratories including a hair salon; a laboratory designed for customer collaborations; and a fully equipped training room.
The Mumbai technical center expands Ashland’s global network of R&D and technical support facilities dedicated to the advancement of personal and home care products. The new facility and 10 others around the world include centers of excellence in the United States, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and China, and technical laboratories in Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
