The new center in Shanghai will become one of the major R&D Center of Saint-Gobain and will be made up of three major parts: R&D Groups, TSS(Technical Share Service) Groups and General Supporting Groups.

Technical Shared Services Groups will include:
- Physical characterization
- Chemical characterization
- Structural analysis
- Material Processing (General, Polymer and Furnacing)
- Asia Grinding Technical Center (AGTC)
- Computer simulation

Research Groups will include at the start:
- Grains & Powders
- Crystals
- Abrasives
- Performance Plastics
- Ceramics
- Automotive Glass
- Piping

The primary focus will be on:
1. Research & Development
2. Piloting and testing
3. Transfer / Assign & license research testing
4. Provide services for: Plant start-ups, products and raw materials characterization, process optimization, application engineering, trouble shooting at customers and at plants, internal technical training, performance and quality monitoring