Released on February 10, 2009

Ashland India Private Ltd., Mumbai, India, has announced the opening in Pune, India, of a casting design services center that includes computer-aided design and engineering analysis.

“We’re offering access to our proven global capabilities to design complex sand core packages,” said Mike Swartzlander, managing director of Ashland India, a subsidiary of Ashland Inc., Dublin, Ohio. “The growth in production and design of engine blocks and heads in India is phenomenal, and we are now able to offer our services to the OEMs [and metalcasters] here as they manufacture these components.”

The new center will offer various simulations of sand core modeling, metal flow and solidification processes. Ashland India will continue to focus on the Ashland Performance Materials business, a manufacturer and supplier of specialty chemicals and services to the metalcasting industry, among others.

Ashland also maintains two Indian joint ventures: Chembond Ashland Water Technologies Ltd. and Valvoline Cummins Ltd.