Fantasia Color Technology News

Industrial Designers Society of America members visit Bayer MaterialScience LLC Design Center: Designers see art and science mixed into a colorful array of innovative plastic products

May 5, 2008

Newark, Ohio, May 5, 2008 –– More than 80 members of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) toured the Bayer MaterialScience LLC (BMS) Design Center of Bayer’s Color Competency Center at its Newark, Ohio, plastics compounding facility April 11. The tour was offered to IDSA members in conjunction with the IDSA Mideast District Annual Conference held in Columbus, Ohio, April 11-13, 2008.

The BMS Design Center, which opened in June 2007, brings ideas utilizing BMS’ LEDA® compounded color technology to life. LEDA compounded resin technology is one of five Fantasia® color and special effect technologies – the industry’s most complete, one-stop solution for color and special effects for plastic part design. LEDA compounded color technology adds colorants and special effect additives right in the plastic pellet to yield molded-in colors and effects, including metallic, sparkle, shimmer, pearlescence and glow-in-the-dark.

The Design Center offers customers a hands-on experience and encourages them to be actively involved in the design process. Customers work hand-in-hand with dedicated BMS personnel as they create precise color matches and select special effects to meet their product design needs within a matter of hours rather than days or weeks.

The tour offered the IDSA visitors a similar experience. With Bayer’s material experts as guides, they toured the Center’s design gallery filled with innovative applications using high-tech thermoplastics, watched custom color mixing using BMS’ proprietary AURA® infusion technology process, and saw actual injection molding of sample parts, a first-time experience for many of the designers.

“Attending the tour was a valuable learning experience for IDSA members, comprising a mix of professional industrial designers and design students,” said Frank Tyneski, executive director, Industrial Designers Society of America. “Bayer demonstrated a sincere interest and commitment to understanding what design and color mean in the product development process and, in turn, was able to glean important feedback and insights directly from the visiting designers – many of whom are likely to source Bayer's materials.”

Michael George, site laboratory manager, BMS, echoed Tyneski’s comments. “We were pleased with everyone’s interest in the color and technology selection process and had several meaningful discussions about product design and future trends,” said George.

The BMS Color Competence Center is one of a global network of similar active or planned facilities in Italy, India, China and Thailand.

Bayer MaterialScience LLC is one of the leading producers of polymers and high-performance plastics in North America and is part of the global Bayer MaterialScience business with nearly 15,400 employees at 30 sites around the world and 2007 sales of 10.4 billion euros. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, medical, and sports and leisure industries. Our inorganic basic chemicals unit produces chlorine and related essential products for the chemicals industry. Let us give life to your vision. Bayer MaterialScience –– Where VisionWorks.

Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, Bayer had 2007 net sales of 8.1 billion euros and employed 16,800 at year end. Bayer’s three subgroups, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience, improve people’s lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose, prevent and treat diseases; protect crops and enhance yields; and advance automobile safety and durability.

For more information about Bayer MaterialScience, call 1-800-662-2927, e-mail pcinfo@bayer.com or visit www.bayermaterialsciencenafta.com.

For more information on the complete Fantasia Color and Special Effect Technology program, visit www.BayerFantasia.com.

For more information about the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), visit www.idsa.org.

Media Contact(s)
Contact:	Scott Hunsberger
Tel:	412-777-5200
Company:	Bayer MaterialScience
e-mail:	scott.hunsberger@bayerbms.com

Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) members tour the Bayer MaterialScience LLC Design Center in Newark,

Ohio. Part of the tour included a journey through a design gallery filled with innovative applications using high-tech thermoplastics.

AURA infusion technology allows processors to custom color parts on demand after they are molded/formed by infusing color directly into the part.

The color viewing room is a walk-in light booth in which visitors have the ability to view thousands of colors and create ideas within minutes.