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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has
accelerated changes that form part of the company’s G.R.O.W. strategy, announced
at the end of 2019, due to the “new economic reality linked to COVID-19”,
reported Chemweek.
The strategy
involves a reorganization of the company's businesses and efficiency
improvements to create a new operating model and simplified portfolio. When
announcing the strategy, Solvay said it was targeting cost cuts of EUR300-350
million (USD366-427 million) by 2024. G.R.O.W. stands for “growth, resilient
cash, optimize, win.”
Solvay says in a statement emailed to CW on
Wednesday that it is re-examining its business support activities, which has
accelerated the changes. These activities include human resources, facilities,
information technology, communications, finance, procurement, industrial,
strategy, and legal functions.
“In the new operating model, corporate
functions and business support activities will be led centrally and deployed
locally as needed, sharing the same global standards, processes, and tools
across the board and leveraging operational efficiency within the group,” the
statement says.
The decision to implement the new operating model for
business support activities will be taken after a consulting phase, Solvay says.
The implementation should start in the second quarter of 2021 and be fully
implemented by mid-2022, it says.
Solvay issued the statement in response
to Belgian press reports that it plans to cut hundreds of jobs as part of a
restructuring plan. Newspaper De Tijd reports that an unidentified source has
said 900 jobs would be affected. Solvay, which has a workforce of about 24,000,
reportedly informed employees and trade unions of its plans on Wednesday
morning.
As MRC informed earlier,
in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business,
BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new
technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing
services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its
R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced
capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop
advanced material solutions for key industries.
We remind that BASF-YPC,
a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its
naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start
turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance
unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene
capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000
mt/year.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene
(PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports.
Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits
to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries,
Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to
create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet
plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources
and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to
safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer
goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water
and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the
world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and
delivered net sales of EUR10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext
Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are
traded through a Level I ADR program. |
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