Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Middle East Foam & Polyurethane
  • UTECH Asia/PU China
  • UTECH Europe
  • UTECH Las Americas
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Coronavirus
  • News
    • Asia
    • Americas
    • Europe
    • M & A
    • Financial results
    • Automotive
    • Japan's lacklustre PU production continued in November 2020
      PU prevents freezing damage to railway tunnels
      Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Construction starts for Jason Furniture plants in China and Vietnam
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      US footwear imports up 25% in November 2020
      Introducing UTECH Southeast Asia 2022
    • EC approves Kingspan's TeraSteel and Wetterbest purchases
      BTC Europe to distribute BASF’s polyurethane ingredients
      World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Bosnian producer to invest in new PU panel factory
    • PPG buys polyurea company Versaflex
      Recticel buys FoamPartner
      Recticel upgrades Q3 outlook despite raw material tightness
      Covestro broadens PU portfolio with DSM purchase
    • Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      Stellar Q4 performance saves Wanhua 2020 earnings
      2020 proved fruitful for Vitafoam Nigeria
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Car sales down 25% in Western Europe in 2020
      Patchy coronavirus effects hit global car sales in November
      November continues fall in Western Europe's car sales
  • Data
  • Information
    • Country Overview
    • Market Sector overviews
    • Technical articles
    • Company profiles and strategies
    • China’s PU industry on the path to recovery; plans for technology upgrades
      Chinese cold chains grow bigger
      Flexible foam rises to challenges in the Middle East and Africa
      Life at the cross-roads: what does the GCC offer PU?
    • Europe's flexible foam makers face rising prices as outages hit markets
      Western European car registrations rebound slowed in September
      Western European car registrations regained some ground in August
      Western European Car registrations rebound continued in July
    • Take out the VOC with hybrid release agents
      Batteries give pultrusions power
      Seeing a way through VOC and FOG
      Aromatic polyols for simpler rigid PU formulations
    • Hennecke and Frimo: an automotive partnership
      Pushing ahead: AutoRIM drives KM’s UK growth
      BASF opens it first ‘Creation Center’ in Mumbai with a PU twist
      Persistence pays off for CTM
  • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Conferences
    • Webinars / Livestreams
    • Become a Speaker
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Issues
  • Subscribe
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Information
September 28, 2017 11:00 PM

Air Products blending into Evonik

Simon Robinson
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    Evonik’s recent purchase of Air Products’ polyurethane catalyst business caused a stir in the polyurethane industry. At PU China 2017, senior managers at Evonik discussed with Simon Robinson what the purchase means for the industry and those involved.

     

    Evonik has gained a lot with the purchase of Air Products. It has gained more people, complementary technology, and access to additional market segments in Advanced Polyurethanes – CASE to the rest of the industry.

    Kjeldsen: Great people came with the deal.

    It has also gained a longer term five or 10-year horizon in polyurethane research and development, explained Lauren Kjeldsen, SVP and general manager of Evonik’s Comfort & Insulation business line, and Roland Hubel and Christian Eilbracht, who are both VPs in this group.

    The three were speaking exclusively to Urethanes Technology at the recent PU China event in Guangzhou.

    As Kjeldsen explained, ‘There are considerable opportunities to develop the business because of the complementary nature of the two companies’ products. Because Evonik concentrated on surfactants and Air Products on polyurethane catalysts, there are opportunities to further develop the two businesses.’

    Both sides of the coin

    She added that the aim is to leverage the two businesses’ core competences. ‘In the past, each focused in their core area,’ she said. ‘We would see a catalyst problem and may not have known how to fix it, while Air Products would see a surfactant problem. In most markets, you need both sides – catalyst and surfactants – to make good products. The merger is creating a new solution space. We are sitting together to examine the problem.’

    Following the agreement to buy Air Products’ PU catalyst business, the first step was getting the business running smoothly for our customers, said Eilbracht. ‘The next step is to start innovating,’ he said.

    Kjeldsen continued: ‘We bought not only physical assets, but we also got great people and the know-how that came with them. We now have the opportunity to use this talent and mindset, focusing into new areas that were less focused on in the past.’

    In terms of business processes, Kjeldsen said, the next stage is to get into network optimisation, bringing the two sets of fundamentals together. ‘This phase is starting right now,’ she said. ‘We are asking, “How are we able to ship materials altogether in more efficient ways? Can we streamline order processing? Can we make this more efficient?” Our customers will start to see this in the next few months as our business systems become harmonised.’

    In terms of continuity, she added, the two groups of people that are joining together have a long history in this market. As part of the integration process, workers from each company train each other Eilbracht explained.

    ‘The sales people get special training because we really want them to become experts for both sides of the business,’ he said. ‘There are cross selling opportunities, and we want to be even closer to the customer than we are already today. We have more boots on the ground in the organisation to provide even better technical and commercial services.’

    The integration process comes in phases, Kjeldsen claimed. ‘We can do some of the network part first, then we can do some of the innovation part, and our customers will see the benefit of it. It can also echo what Christian [Eilbracht] says. Air Products PMD was a US-based company and they have big assets in America. Evonik is a German-based company, with big assets in Germany. Both organisations had a significant presence in Asia. As a result, our new organisation is well balanced globally, and can provide best-in-class offerings in all regions.’

    Looking to Asia, Kjeldsen said, this region is particularly important because of the number of new product developments and demands that are coming out of the region, especially in the areas of automotive VOC reduction.

    And this brings us back to materials. The combined business will focus on three product pillars: flexible foam, rigid foam and advanced polyurethanes.

    In Advanced PU, Evonik will, for example, focus on products with very high density, Hubel said. He hinted that there could be more opportunities in thermoplastic polyurethanes and the polyurethane composites sector.

    Evonik is looking to see which areas will benefit most from the extra talent. ‘We can now move additional resources into areas which we couldn’t serve properly as individual companies,’ Kjeldsen claimed. This is as true of the research and development teams as it is of sales and more customer-facing parts of the business. ‘We have double the capabilities in R&D and they are globally distributed.’

    The senior team at Evonik can see a real opportunity for the combined business. This is because of the reduction of the number of systems houses in the polyurethane industry over the past 30 years.

    ‘We can provide R&D, and we can help the customers differentiate,’ said Eilbracht. ‘This will help to continue to support our customers and the industry.’

    As example, Evonik sees two areas for development in the medium to long term: sustainability and flammability. ‘These are two big challenges for the foam industry and these are two areas that our development teams are focusing on,’ Kjeldsen said. ‘At the same time, we look at this highly fragmented industry, from machinery to commodity raw material suppliers and ask how do we all come together and enable the technology to get on the board.’

    This process could accelerate, Eilbracht suggested. ‘With two businesses, we get more R&D resources,’ he said. ‘Evonik is a financially stable company,’ added Hubel, ‘If it commits to something, it will be supported.’

    ‘We’ve been in the business for more than 50 years, and we support the customers when needed,’ said Eilbracht. ‘We have managed the balance between the urgent and important things. We now have a great chance to work with the important things, such as long-term projects. We always knew where we were going in the mid-term, but now we know where we are going in the long-term.’

    Recommended for You
    EU production growth heads eastwards
    EU production growth heads eastwards
    Making the case for TPUs
    Making the case for TPUs
    From cell to slope
    From cell to slope
    Latest Issue
    Click HERE for Free Download
    View All Archives
    Get our newsletters

    Breaking news and in-depth coverage of essential topics delivered straight to your inbox.

    Subscribe today

    Register to access our archive of leading information on the polyurethanes industry.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Youtube

    Follow us on social media for the latest polyurethanes industry news and event updates.

    Logo
    Contact Us

    Office 127,
    61, Willow Walk,
    London
    SE1 5SF
    E-mail us
    +44 (0) 203 287 5979

    Customer Service:
    +1 313 446 0450

    Resources
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Coronavirus
    • News
      • Asia
      • Americas
      • Europe
      • M & A
      • Financial results
      • Automotive
    • Data
    • Information
      • Country Overview
      • Market Sector overviews
      • Technical articles
      • Company profiles and strategies
    • Events
      • Exhibitions
      • Conferences
      • Webinars / Livestreams
      • Become a Speaker
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Issues
    • Subscribe