Quality, Innovation and Sustainability

Covestro in Taiwan

Covestro is one of the world-leading manufacturers of high-quality polymer materials and their components. With its innovative products, processes and methods, the company helps enhance sustainability and the quality of life in many areas. Covestro supplies customers around the world in key industries, such as mobility, building and living, as well as the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, polymers from Covestro are used in sectors such as sports and leisure, cosmetics and health, as well as in the chemical industry itself. The company is committed to becoming fully circular and is striving to become climate neutral by 2035 (scope 1 and 2).

Covestro Taiwan’s headquarters are located in Taipei, and there is one global Energy Curing Innovation Center, one APAC TPU Research and Development Center, and four factories – two in Changhua, one in Kaohsiung and one joint-venture plant in Pingtung.

In the field of research and development, the Global Energy Curing Innovation Center shoulders a great responsibility for R&D in resin synthesis and fiber optic coating for the Covestro Group, while the APAC TPU Research and Development Center provides high-performance materials and innovative solutions to Taiwan and Asia-Pacific markets and customers.

In the field of production, the Zhangbin site produces energy-curable monomer products, and it is also the company’s largest global production base for energy-curable resin synthetic. The Changhua site mainly produces Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) resins and is also the largest TPU production site in Asia. The core business of Covestro Linyuan site is to produce polyether polyol and supply customized long-chain and short-chain-based PET solutions for the local market, as well as for mainland China and other Southeast Asian countries, while the joint venture production site with Eternal Material in Ping Tung is the factory that supports the global supply of powder-coating polyester resins at Covestro.

Covestro’s headquarters are located in Leverkusen, Germany.

RD centers and production sites – The start-of-the-art facilities with leading technology

There are four major production sites in Covestro Taiwan, along with one global energy curing RD center and one APAC TPU RD center. In addition, there is an APAC level RD center and an integrated site located in Shanghai which provides quality products and service for customers.

Global Energy Curing Innovation Center

The Energy Curing Innovation Center in Taiwan shoulders a great responsibility for R&D in resin synthesis and fiber optic coating for the Covestro Group. Covestro is one of the technology leaders in the field of UV energy curing technology, holding numerous patents. It provides a beneficial life cycle assessment (LCA) performance in the coating field by curing coatings easily and instantly without solvents, using light sources such as UV.
Covestro Taiwan Zhangbin Site

In addition to being Covestro’s sole global manufacturing site for energy-curable monomer products, the Zhangbin site is also the company’s largest global production base for energy-curable resin synthetic, and it is equipped with a fiber optic cable material production line. UV-curable resin can be used on a wide range of coating applications, such as fiber optic cables, solar panels, electronic materials, ink printing, floors, protective coating for premium wood items, and others.
Covestro Taiwan Linyuan Site

The Linyuan plant, located in the Linyuan Petrochemical Complex in Kaohsiung City produces polyether polyols (PET) and formulated PET with shipping and supports other functions at the site. The products of Linyuan are commonly used for furniture, automotive, construction, electronics and other areas.
Pingtung Site in Taiwan

Covestro Eternal Resins (Far East) Ltd., a joint venture production site with Eternal Materials in Ping Tung, is the factory that supports the global supply of powder-coating polyester resins at Covestro. Its products are used in a wide range of applications, including building materials, automobiles, electronics and appliances, home appliances, furniture, the general industry, and large machinery industries, etc.
Polymer Research and Development Center

Covestro hosts technical development and research facilities for its three major business units in the Shanghai Polymer Research & Development Center (PRDC). Each of these business units has the capacity to provide technical services, new application development, and training for customers of the Asia-Pacific region and staff. PRDC is also one of the world's three major technological innovation service centers.

2015

New company - Covestro

On September 1, Bayer MaterialScience became a separate legal entity operating under the name Covestro. Covestro (Taiwan) Ltd. was established on the same day. The global headquarters is located at Leverkusen Germany. Covestro was listed in the Frankfurt stock exchange in October of the same year.
2014

CO₂ as new raw material

Bayer MaterialScience plans to use carbon dioxide as a new raw material for the production of high-quality foams and is building a production line for this purpose at the site in Dormagen, Germany. A three-year research and testing phase showed that the new process works and that the CO₂-based materials have the same high quality as products produced using conventional methods.
Expand HDI production systems

Announced the expansion of HDI production systems, and begins construction of systems at Integrated Site Shanghai for annual HDI production capacity of 50,000 tons.
Opening of the TDI plant

A state-of-the-art, large-scale plant for the particularly eco-friendly production of the polyurethane component TDI is brought on stream in Dormagen, bringing one of the most important capital expenditure projects of the last decade to a successful conclusion.
2013

Renamed as Bayer MaterialScience Taiwan Ltd.

Bayer MaterialScience in Taiwan completed its Spin-off from Bayer Taiwan and merged with Bayer-Uretech and Bayer Polyurethanes Taiwan, and was renamed as Bayer MaterialScience Taiwan Ltd.
Innovation hub for the Asia-Pacific region in Shanghai

The Shanghai PRDC builds an innovation hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
2010

Expansion of business in China

Beginning in 2010 the company is investing about another EUR 1 billion to expand its facilities at the site in Shanghai, China. Production capacities are to be more than doubled as a result. Including the expansion, the total investment in the site amounts to more than EUR 3 billion. In addition, the headquarters of the Polycarbonates Business Unit is being transferred from Leverkusen to Shanghai.
2008

Shanghai Integrated Site announces a series of production plans

Groundbreaking and operational launch of a 250,000 ton plant for TDI (toluene diisocyanate).
2007

Acquired Uretech, established Bayer-Uretech Ltd.

With a goal of enhancing its TPU market share in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Bayer MaterialScience acquired Uretech in July and established Bayer-Uretech Ltd. in Taiwan. Now it is the Changhua site of Covestro Taiwan.
2003

Bayer group formed Bayer MaterialScience as its subgroup

Bayer MaterialScience established.
2000

Acquired Lyondell Polyol, established Bayer Polyurethanes Taiwan Ltd.

Bayer acquired part of US-based Lyondell Chemical Company. This move makes the German group and later Bayer MaterialScience the world’s biggest producer of raw materials for polyurethanes. Its LY Site was also renamed as Bayer Polyurethanes Taiwan Ltd at that time. It was the first production site in Taiwan. Now it is called the Covestro Taiwan Linyuan site.
1982

First Makrolon® automobile headlamp

For decades, car headlamps were made of glass. From the 1980s the transparent high-performance plastic Makrolon® has become the material of choice – being lightweight, tough and easy to shape. The trend began in the United States and Japan and came to Europe in the 1990s. Some of the modern headlamps that fit so harmoniously into the complex contours of the body would be impossible to manufacture from glass.
Birth of the audio CD

On August 17, PolyGram begins large-scale production of the first compact disc (of classical music). For this purpose, Bayer had developed a special grade of Makrolon® that is still used today as the base material for all optical storage media.
1967

K67 is world’s first all-plastic car

The sports car that Bayer presents at the plastics fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, is made almost entirely from various kinds of plastics. Only the engine, gearbox and wheels are of metal. Today, plastics make up about 15 percent of the weight of an average car – a figure that continues to rise.
1963

Makrolon® conquers kitchens and camping sites

At the plastics fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, visitors are fascinated by the lightweight plates, cups, dishes and bowls made of this shatterproof plastic that are increasingly finding its way into kitchen and caravans.
1962

Rigid foam in the cooling chain

Polyurethane rigid foam is launched as insulation material for cooling devices. This helps to considerably increase the energy efficiency of refrigerators.
1959

Chemistry in fashion

Moltopren®, a lightweight flexible foam, was presented to the public in 1952 as an ideal material for upholstered furniture. It will soon be adopted by the fashion industry for garment processing.
1958

Bayer Group entered into Taiwan market with chemical material

Bayer Group entered into Taiwan market with chemical material
1953

Hermann Schnell discovers polycarbonate

The Bayer chemist, working at the Group’s Central Scientific Laboratory in Krefeld-Uerdingen, succeeds in synthesizing polycarbonate more or less at the first attempt. The event passes almost unnoticed, except in specialist circles. But just five years later, Bayer will begin producing the transparent and versatile plastic, known by its brand name Makrolon®, on an industrial scale.
1937

Otto Bayer discovers polyurethanes

The invention by the chemist – who is not related to the family that founded the Bayer Group – revolutionizes the chemical industry, but his discovery is by chance. After mixing two chemical substances, Otto Bayer succeeds in synthesizing the first polyurethane foam. Initially nobody has an idea what it can be used for, and it will take another ten years of development work before customized materials can be manufactured from polyurethanes.