NAPERVILLE, Ill., Dec. 3, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nalco (NYSE:NLC), providing essential expertise for water, energy and air, today opened a new research and development facility in Campinas, Brazil, serving Latin America. Strategically located near top Brazilian universities, the $2 million facility will serve water, process and energy customers throughout the region.
"Brazil is one of the 10 largest economies in the world, making it a key growth market for Nalco and a cornerstone of our BRIC+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East) strategy," said Erik Fyrwald, Nalco Chairman and CEO. "Despite a poor global economy, we are investing in critical areas that will drive our future success as the world's economy turns up."
The Campinas laboratory is located in the Techno Park Campinas, which covers more than half a million square meters and serves more than 60 companies.
"We selected Campinas because of its proximity to many research centers and universities, such as the University of Campinas -- one of the finest in Latin America -- and the research facilities of several of our customers. It is also close to Sao Paulo and other key industrial and business areas," said Mani Ramesh, Nalco Chief Technology Officer. "The intellectual capabilities of these facilities provide tremendous opportunities to strengthen our open innovation strategy of collaborating with customers, national laboratories and universities to develop cutting-edge solutions for water, energy and air."
The new laboratory will support customers in the paper industry, sugar, food and grains, and energy production, working in concert with the Company's research centers in Sugar Land, Texas and Naperville, Illinois in the United States.
"The Campinas facility allows us to be closer to our customers in Brazil and in Latin America," said Sergio Sousa, Nalco Managing Director for Latin America. "In addition to developing new technologies specific to Brazil and Latin America, it will assist in deploying important, patented Nalco programs such as 3D TRASAR(R) automation technology for cooling water and NexGuard(R) technology for boiler systems."
About Nalco
Nalco is the world's leading water treatment and process improvement company, delivering significant environmental, social and economic performance benefits to our customers. We help our customers reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance air quality, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products while boosting the bottom line. Together our comprehensive solutions contribute to the sustainable development of customer operations. Nalco is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. More than 11,500 Nalco employees operate in 130 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers to serve a broad range of end markets. In 2008, Nalco achieved sales of more than $4.2 billion. For more information visit www.nalco.com.
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This news release includes forward-looking statements, reflecting current analysis and expectations, based on what are believed to be reasonable assumptions. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected, stated or implied, depending on many factors, including, without limitation: ability to generate cash, ability to raise capital, ability to refinance, the result of the pursuit of strategic alternatives, ability to execute work process redesign and reduce costs, ability to execute price increases, business climate, business performance, economic and competitive uncertainties, higher manufacturing costs, reduced level of customer orders, changes in strategies, risks in developing new products and technologies, environmental and safety regulations and clean-up costs, foreign exchange rates, the impact of changes in the regulation or value of pension fund assets and liabilities, changes in generally accepted accounting principles, adverse legal and regulatory developments, including increases in the number or financial exposures of claims, lawsuits, settlements or judgments, or the inability to eliminate or reduce such financial exposures by collecting indemnity payments from insurers, the impact of increased accruals and reserves for such exposures, weather-related factors, and adverse changes in economic and political climates around the world, including terrorism and international hostilities, and other risk factors identified by the Company. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the Company will meet future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. This paragraph is included to provide safe harbor for forward-looking statements, which are not generally required to be publicly revised as circumstances change, and which the Company does not intend to update.