TEXCHEM Resources Bhd is stepping up on research and development (R&D) activities for its packaging division to diversify its customer base.

The packaging division which comprises 12 subsidiaries is engaged in the manufacture and sale of packaging products for the electronics, electrical, semiconductor and disk-drive industries.

"We want to develop new materials which can be used to pack items for other industries which include the automotive and medical segments," Texchem chairman and chief executive officer Tan Sri Fumihiko Konishi said after the annual shareholders' meeting in Penang yesterday.

Present at the meeting was Texchem president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Lee Siew Khee.

Konishi said Texchem Polymers Sdn Bhd, which was set up two years ago, is engaged in polymer research in a bid to cater to all industrial plastic needs.

It has established collaborative partnerships with the University of Akron in Ohio, USA and the Tokyo Institute of Technology for R & D. Texchem Polymers staff are currently enrolled at both institutions.

"We will continue to work towards such collaborations with universities in Malaysia and Japan."

Lee said between RM3 million and RM4 million has been invested on equipment at Texchem Polymers and a further RM1.5 million would be invested this year.

On Texchem's food division which recorded a RM7 million deficit and losses of RM10.4 million last year, Konishi said the division is expected to turn around within the next few months.

"Profitability," he noted, " is being facilitated by the biomass boiler for our seafood production operations in Myanmar.

"We are also considering the use of biomass boilers to generate electricty," he added, saying that feasibity sturies were being carried out on the viability of using coal for this purpose.

Source