BEIJING, CHINA - Surface Engineered Products Corp., a subsidiary of The Westaim Corporation, today announced the opening and staffing of its Asian sales office in Beijing, China. The announcement was made today at Surface Engineered Products’ first-ever Anti-Coking Symposium for Chinese ethylene producers, held at the Alberta Petroleum Institute in Beijing.
“Opening this office demonstrates our commitment to serve the needs of our customers internationally, and will help us target the growing interest in our CoatAlloyTM coatings for tubes and fittings from Asian ethylene producers,” said Ted Redmond, President of Surface Engineered Products. “CoatAlloyTM coatings are now the largest selling anti-coking coatings in the ethylene industry. We will continue to increase sales by working with our customers to develop products to meet their needs.”
The company also appointed Michael Ennis as Regional Sales Manager for the Asia/Pacific region. Prior to joining Surface Engineered Products, Mr. Ennis worked for 15 years for a large provider of products and services to the Petrochemical Industry in the Sales and Business Development areas. The last three years he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Asia Pacific region.
“Michael brings a wealth of experience in marketing value-added products in the Asia/Pacific arena and will help to ensure our penetration into this strategic market,” said John Page, Surface Engineered Products’ Vice President of Customer Service, Marketing and Sales.
The Beijing symposium featured case studies with actual furnace data of producers using Surface Engineered Products’ CoatAlloyTM -1100 coating and was attended by representatives from major ethylene producers in China.
“Hosting a symposium in China is important to our marketing of CoatAlloyTM-1100 coating as China is roughly 20 per cent of the Asia/Pacific market, which is the second largest market for ethylene production in the world,” said Page. “Customers in China are interested in the CoatAlloyTM -1100 coating technology and its resulting economic benefits.”
To support the company’s Sales Managers, Surface Engineered Products has also appointed sales agents in a number of countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Brazil. Negotiations are ongoing to sign up agents in other countries.
About Surface Engineered Products
Surface Engineered Products develops, manufactures and markets proprietary products and services which reduce operating costs and increase productivity in high-severity operating environments found in the petrochemical and other process industries. Its first coating product, sold under the brand CoatAlloyTM, targets the ethylene industry, which loses $2 billion in annual production due to the build-up of coke (carbon) in ethylene furnace tubes.
CoatAlloyTM coatings for tubes and fittings reduce the rate of coking in ethylene pyrolysis furnace tubes thereby increasing run lengths by 2 to 5 times. Lower coking rates also allow ethylene producers to increase furnace feed rates and raise ethylene yield resulting in increases in ethylene plant throughput of up to 15 per cent. This leads to higher revenues, lower unit-production costs and overall increased profitability.
About The Westaim Corporation
The Westaim Corporation is a technology accelerator that launches exceptional technologies into the marketplace. In addition to Surface Engineered Products, its technology investments include Westaim Biomedical Corp., which has developed an infection control technology for use in the treatment of wounds, iFire Technology Inc., which has developed a revolutionary low-cost flat panel display, and Savvion, a leader in e-business management software. Westaim’s common shares are listed on Nasdaq under the symbol WEDX and on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol WED.
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*CoatAlloy is a trademark of Surface Engineered Products Corp.
For further information please contact:
Brandy Luedemann
Surface Engineered Products
+1 (780) 431-4116
www.surfaceengineered.com
coatalloy@surfaceengineered.com
This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and the Company can give no assurance that these expectations are correct. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements, including financial considerations and those predicting the timing and market acceptance of future products. The Company disclaims any intention or obligations to revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this Cautionary Statement.
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