Huber Engineered Materials, a division of J.M. Huber Corporation, has announced that construction of its new dental silica plant is complete in the coastal city of Qingdao in the Shandong province of China.
The facility has produced its first test batches of dental silica and internal trials have been conducted of all dental silica products that will be produced at the facility. “We are very excited that our Qingdao silica plant is operational, as the new facility significantly expands our global silica manufacturing footprint and is a critical part of our strategy to meet the needs of customers in this important region,” said Chuck Herak, vice president and general manager of Huber’s silica business unit, adding: “The state-of-the-art plant will operate under GMP standards and offer a complete portfolio of Huber’s Zeodent dental silicas.” Martin Schulting, director of global sales for Huber’s silica business, commented: “We’re pleased to be working closely with our customers in China to produce a broad range of high performing dentifrice products from our proven thickeners to our cleaning abrasives. “We plan to be as successful at meeting our customers’ needs in China as we are elsewhere in the world.” The plant will produce over 40,000 metric tons of precipitated dental silica annually and enable Huber to more effectively serve its growing customer base in the Asia Pacific region. The Qingdao silica plant joins six other Huber global silica manufacturing locations: Havre de Grace, MD (US); Etowah, TN (US); Oostende, Belgium; Hamina, Finland; Uddevalla, Sweden; and Jhagadia, India.
