Wacker sets up, expands Moscow tech centre

Moscow – Wacker has opened, and already expanded, a technical centre for silicones in the Russian capital of Moscow since May 2015.

The expansion, according to Anna Tsareva, head of the technical centre in Moscow, was in response to growing demand in the Russian market.

“The Russian market for silicones has always been distinguished by its specific requirements for both properties and processing methods,” said Tsareva in interview with Wacker’s internal newsletter last month.

According to Tsareva, difficult climatic conditions and Russian safety standards call for “special solutions and strong local technical support”.

Also commenting on the new centre’s activities, Alexander Serov, managing director of Wacker Russia, said the centre would try to target the Russian energy industry.

“Our new technical centre for elastomers will initially focus on energy. Electrical grids in Russia, which consist of 135,000 kilometres of transmission grids and 2.2 million kilometres of distribution grids, are quite old and demonstrate very high electricity losses compared to western Europe.

“The Federal Electrical Grids Company is interested in improving the situation,” said Serov adding that Wacker’s silicone insulators could be the answer to the problem.

Another trend, he said, is fire safety for buildings, adding that Wacker’s 'ceramifying' silicone rubber grades could be used for the production of safety cables.

In terms of slowing Russian economy, Serov said that the technical centre was expected to provide the opportunity to develop cost-efficient solutions for local needs while maintaining quality.