Agr International Inc. expands Asian presence with new sales and service center in Bangkok

On April 1, 2013, Agr officially opened Agr Bangkok, Ltd, a new sales and service office located in Bangkok, Thailand. This centrally located office will provide expanded services for Agr products over the entire Asian region.Over the last few years, southern Asia has been one of the fastest growing packaging markets. This has been evident with significant growth in Agr’s customer base within this area. To better support this growing customer base, Agr made the decision to establish a local sales and service operation utilizing Agr personnel that was central to this market and could respond to customer needs in a timely and cost-effective fashion.Agr’s commitment to this region is evident in the appointment of Mr. Martin Küstner, a 14 year veteran of the Agr organization, to head Agr Bangkok, Ltd. In his previous position, Mr. Küstner was regional director of Agr’s Central and Northern European sales and service territory, headquartered in Munich, Germany. Along with Mr. Küstner, Agr Bangkok Ltd. will sport an experienced technical sales team as well as several Agr factory trained service technicians, all certified by Agr International. Agr’s previously established Chinese sales and service team will also work under the supervision of the new Bangkok office. “Emerging markets have been growing tremendously for Agr over the last few years. Because of this, Agr felt it necessary to make a long-term commitment to better serve the customers in this region. . . . We had been selling to and servicing this region remotely until now. This was less than optimal. Going there directly made more sense for us and our customers” claims Mr. Küstner. In addition to providing a high level of technical assistance, equipment support and product application information to Agr’s diverse customer base, Agr Bangkok will also offer a series of American Glass Research sponsored seminars for the industry, including the popular fracture seminars and other training programs pertinent to the glass manufacturing and packaging industry. According to Mr. Robert Cowden, Chief Operations Officer of Agr International, “The time is right to grow our local presence. Agr enjoys productive business relationships with customers located throughout the Asian theater including Japan, Korea, India, China, Thailand, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. . . . Martin Kustner is an ideal person to lead this effort given his unique blend of knowledge and experiences. . . . This is just the beginning. We are excited by the long-term growth prospects and the possibility of strengthening our customer ties.”Agr International Inc., develops and manufactures a full line of laboratory and on-line testing/quality control devices for containers and similar products. American Glass Research, a division of Agr International provides a wide range of testing, training and consultative services to the worldwide glass industry. The Agr headquarters and main manufacturing facility is located in Butler, PA, USA 29.04.2013, Agr International Inc.