Semblant (Scotts Valley, California), a protective nanomaterials provider for the electronics industry, recently opened a dedicated customer innovation center in Shenzhen, China.
The opening of the new facility follows the adoption of the company’s MobileShield waterproofing technology by multiple leading smartphone manufacturers in China, and the growth of additional vertical markets in Asia.
“We are excited to unveil our new customer innovation center,” says CEO Simon McElrea. “Shenzhen is the world’s epicenter for mobile phone manufacturing, both from an OEM [original equipment manufacturer] and contract manufacturing perspective. With six factory instalments completed in China to date, and many more planned, we have established this facility to demonstrate all aspects of our high-volume solution to current and future customers.”
The Shenzhen center provides existing and prospective customers with unique insight into the group’s nanotechnology capabilities. The facility features full high-volume manufacturing lines, including state-of-the-art metrology, quality, safety, handling, and maintenance systems, to enable engineering and operations managers to gain full hands-on experience. The site also provides product qualification and pilot-run services for a number of devices, in addition to providing turnkey partnership support and development services qualification to all of the company’s key customers.
The company also hired William Aw as its new vice president of sales for the Asia region. Prior to joining Semblant, Aw led the sales organization in China and global account organization for Greater Asia at Indium Corp. (Clinton, New York), a leading global supplier of advanced materials to the electronics, semiconductor, and thin-film markets. Aw has more than 30 years of experience building businesses and sales organizations in materials and consumer electronics companies in the greater Asian market.
“I am delighted to join at a time of unprecedented expansion for the company,” Aw says. “The consumer electronics waterproofing industry is at an inflection point in growth, and Semblant has the most proven material set and high-volume deployment model to service the market. We see tremendous opportunity for new products and new markets within China, and in the broader Asian region.”