Covestro and Haier Sign Global Strategic Cooperation Agreement
Year:2017 ISSUE:21
COLUMN:ECONOMY AND BUSINESS
Click:302    DateTime:Nov.30,2017
Covestro and Haier Sign Global Strategic Cooperation Agreement

On October 25, Covestro and Haier jointly held a signing ceremony of a strategic cooperation agreement in Qingdao, announcing an expansion of their decade-long  partnership on a global scale, including the newly acquired GE Appliance in America. This extended partnership will enable the two parties to constantly develop advanced products featuring the latest material solutions to address the market demands of the global home appliances industry.
“Covestro is committed to exploring advanced technology to empower Haier and the household appliances industry globally,” said Daniel Meyer, global head of Covestro’s Polyurethanes Business Unit. “This year while we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the invention of polyurethanes (PUR), we also strive to lead the upgrading of global insulation technology development and broaden the global strategic cooperation by leveraging our expertise in innovation and global network.”
“Under the Internet Age, Haier has entered our fifth Strategic Phase – Networking, when we aim at building up an ecosysterm for co-creation and win-win partnership,” said Wu Yong, General Manager of China Refrigeration Industry of Haier Group. “The extended partnership with Covestro will support our worldwide business strategy by utilizing the latest material solutions in our products in different regions to meet the upgrading needs of global consumers, as well as taking a leading role among Chinese companies going global.”
The expansion of the strategic partnership will further bring out the strengths of both parties to boost the long-term growth in a global scale, in terms of business and technology development.
In the extended partnership, Covestro will be positioned as Haier’s preferred partner to develop material solutions based on the latest global home appliances trends and consumer insights. Through constantly driving innovation to expand PUR-based applications, Covestro is well positioned to support Haier to develop high performance applications that meet the rising demands of global markets and support the leading Chinese company’s globalization strategy with its long established global production and R&D network. Meanwhile, Haier’s global sales network will provide opportunities for Covestro’s innovative material solutions to be adopted in major markets, including Asia Pacific, the United States and Europe.
The long-standing partnership was forged since Haier’s foundation in 1984, when Covestro (previously Bayer MaterialScience) began supplying PUR for Haier to produce the thermal insultation layer of refrigerators. Later in 2006, Haier became one of the first clients of Covestro’s integrated site in Shanghai with a trading volume of over 10 000 tons of MDI. And since 2008, Haier started to purchase system formulation from Covestro developed by its Shanghai Polymer Research and Development Center (PRDC). In addition, in order to inspire more innovation based on Covestro’s expertise in material science, the  two parties began to organize a series of technical exchange activities in 2010.
At one of these activities – 2014 Haier Technology Innovation Day, Covestro’s Baytherm? Microcell Project was selected as one of Haier’s key projects. This new technology requires no further investment and enables faster production with less material consumption. It can also further improve the thermal insulation performance of household refrigerators, so as to meet the improved energy efficiency standards set by the Chinese government that came into effect since October 1, 2016. In 2017, Baytherm? Microcell has already been successfully commercialized.
Going forward, Covestro and Haier will nurture this win-win partnership and collaborate to lead the global household appliances industry through jointly developing advanced products.