Asahi Kasei Plastics North America Inc. (APNA) hosted the official opening of its newest plastics compounding facility. The facility’s grand opening marks the newest North American investment for Asahi Kasei Corp., creating approximately 50 new jobs for the region.

“We are happy to have built this facility in Athens,” said Yuji Kobayashi, vice president, representative director, and executive officer for material business sector at Asahi Kasei Corp. “We have found Asahi Kasei’s core values as a company to be in line with the city of Athens: forward-thinking open mindedness and willingness to embrace diversity.”

Asahi Kasei Plastics’ second facility in North America will manufacture high-performance plastic compounds for OEMs and tier suppliers in the automotive, industrial, furniture and trucking markets.

“We know our success here is possible when our customers succeed,” said Hiroshi Yoshida, president of Performance Polymers SBU and lead executive officer at Asahi Kasei Corp. “We are committed to contributing to our partners’ success by being available in various capacities, through our best-in-class applications development team and technical support.”