July 5, 2007 -- Avery Dennison Corporation opened a new specialized tape facility in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China last week. The new facility will produce pressure-sensitive tapes for industrial and consumer customers in the Asia-Pacific region. Officially opened on June 19, 2007, Avery Dennison has invested US$10 million in the new 6,500 square-meter state-of-the-art facility that will house research and development, quality, supply chain, finance and marketing operations.

"This [facility] will enable Avery Dennison to provide faster, more customized and better coordinated service to our customers in the region," Richard Chow, General Manager of Avery Dennison's Speacialty Tape Division Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

Specializing in pressure-sensitive labels and office products, Avery Dennison's growth in China and Asia-Pacific takes advantage of the continued growth in the office services and supplies market. According to Datamonitor, an online provider of database and analytic services, the global office services and supplies market was worth $139.4 billion in 2005, a 2.8% rise over 2004.

"We are confident that China's strong economic growth will continue to be a major driver of both worldwide economic expansion and our own corporate growth," said Keith Young, Vice President and General Manager of Avery Dennison's Specialty Tape Division, in a statement. When contacted by Emerging China, an Avery Dennison spokesman declined to comment further.

As Avery Dennison's nineteenth facility in China, and third in 2007, the specialized tape plant reinforces their commitment to the region in lieu of increasing Chinese government regulation of investment.

"Despite the central government's introduction of new regulations to head off environmental, civic, and economic challenges at home, China remains the location of choice for FDI," Matt Livingston, a Shanghai-based corporate strategy consultant with Tractus Asia, told Emerging China.

Avery Dennison has invested over US$200 million in China since it entered the market in 1995. The company has operations in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Kunshan, Nansha, Suzhou and Tianjin. Earlier in 2007 the company opened a Retail Services Information Center in Suzhou and the Philip M. Neal Research Center in Kunshan. In China, Paxar has three facilities employing a total of 5,000 people. After the acquisition, Avery Dennison will have 22 facilities in China and employ 11,000 people.