Momentive Advanced Materials Group (hereinafter referred to as Momentive), formally established in 2006 on the basis of General Electric’s silicone and quartz business, is the world’s largest silicone and related products, One of the producers of organosilanes, it has about 24 factories around the world, as well as many professional R&D departments, serving more than 4,000 customers in more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
On October 24, 2014, Momentive Group successfully completed its financial reorganization, thereby establishing a healthy financial structure and significantly improving its asset liquidity. At the same time, it improved the group’s comprehensive return based on free cash flow from the financial structure ability.
In the 2015 fiscal year, the group’s total revenue reached 2.3 billion US dollars; in the second quarter of 2016, despite the continued weakness in the global market, Momentive Group’s total profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) still reached 66 million US dollars , with a profit margin of 10%, an increase from the previous quarter. Mr. Anthony M. Lanchak, Global Vice President of Momentive Polyurethane Additives Business recently accepted an interview with PUdaily and shared his economic , the company’s business and the views and opinions on the development trend of the polyurethane additive (UA) industry.
The second from the right in the picture is Mr. Anthony M. Lanchak, Global Vice President of Momentive Polyurethane Additives
1. Facing the current global economic instability, how will Momentive respond?
Although the global economy is unstable, the company will continue to increase investment in the polyurethane additive business. In fact, when the market goes down, investment can better prepare for the market recovery. Ups and downs are the norm in the market , Being in an industry has to face these ups and downs. Some companies may choose to withdraw when the market is not good, but unfortunately, they also lose the chance of success when the market turns around. As a leader in the polyurethane industry, Momentive is well positioned to weather the ups and downs of the market.
Our CEO has formulated a new development strategy, that is, investing in advance, which has injected new vitality into the company’s development. The company is investing ahead of time in the polyurethane additives industry to ensure we are a market leader when the market turns around. The development of the polyurethane additive industry comes from many aspects. First, as the overall economy improves, the market will also rise accordingly. Second, as Momentive’s innovation capability becomes stronger and stronger, we can provide customers with new products with higher cost performance. Third, the improvement of infrastructure in various regions of the world will also bring new impetus to development. If a company does not have the ability to continue to develop, it will gradually lose its ability to meet the opportunities and challenges of the market and customers.
2. What do you think is the main driving force for the development of Momentive China’s polyurethane additive business? What are the driving forces for the development of the Chinese market?
Momentive’s strong manpower, technology and production advantages, and customer-centric philosophy are the key to the continuous growth of our polyurethane additives business in China. We not only have regional production advantages, but also global competitive advantages, which can provide customers with perfect services. We are very happy to come to China and firmly believe that the Chinese market will continue to grow well in the future.
The markets we serve for polyurethane additives mainly include: furniture, bedding, home appliances, construction, automotive interiors, electronic products, footwear and polyurethane leather, etc. We believe that these industries in China have room for further development. China’s urbanization process is accelerating, the proportion of the population receiving higher education continues to increase, the middle class continues to grow, and the purchasing power is increasing day by day. Consumer investment in furniture, bedding, automobiles, and electronic products will also gradually increase. This trend has gradually become apparent in recent years. And as the Chinese economy gradually shifts from investment to consumption, this trend will continue in the future. We firmly believe that we must succeed in the Chinese market before we can achieve global success, and of course we will continue to invest in other markets.
In addition, there has been a shift between China’s domestic consumption and export markets. Due to the slowdown of global economic development, China’s export is affected, and most people turn their attention to the domestic market, so in order to win in the industry competition, we must be very professional. Some investors began to enter the segmented market. They are all leaders in market and technology development, and can promote continuous improvement of products and services, business economics and earnings. This group is one of our target customer groups. All in all, China’s urbanization, the rise of the middle class, and the transition of polyurethane applications to market segments will promote the continuous development of China’s polyurethane industry.
3. Can you briefly introduce Momentive’s global development strategy?
Momentive will continue to invest in growth businesses, especially in areas where we are ahead and have room to grow. example�, Polyurethane additives are identified as one of the company’s growth businesses. We are increasing investment, enhancing production capacity, expanding sales, marketing, research and development, etc., purchasing new product research and development equipment, expanding the scale of the global technical service center and quantity.
4. Can you introduce Momentive’s innovation and investment strategy?
Momentive has developed more and more new products in the China Technology Center in Shanghai. The company has polyurethane additive application research and development laboratories in the United States, Germany, India, Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, and Shanghai, China. As mentioned before, we have both global and regional advantages, targeting customers in different regions The local R&D team is responsible for developing corresponding new products. Moreover, if necessary, we can use the different advantages of various R&D centers around the world to research and develop global high-tech products. For example, the Chinese R&D center has a polyurethane flame composite foam technology research and development platform, and the American R&D center has a high-efficiency open-cell silicone oil technology research and development Platform, the European R&D Center has a rigid foam continuous board technology research and development platform. We focus on the combination of regional development and global advantages to promote the development of new products with high added value.
China has a vast territory and is developing rapidly but full of challenges. In China, we develop new products faster than anywhere else in the world. The new product vitality of the company’s polyurethane additives department in the Asia-Pacific region in the past five years is very strong, and it is the strongest in China. Some new products focus on high performance and high quality, while others may pay more attention to cost performance, which requires understanding customer needs and being able to produce products that meet customer needs. Momentive not only adheres to the strategy of investing in advance, our R&D and marketing teams will also discover market demand in advance and conduct research and development in advance, so that we are always “one step ahead”. In the past few years, the largest investment of our polyurethane additives department has been in China, and we have a strategy of globalization and localization, and we are very strong in both. We continue to expand the production capacity of our Nantong factory, not only producing finished products and intermediates, but also locally producing and purchasing raw materials. In this way, Chinese customers can not only enjoy Momentive’s global advantages, but also enjoy the convenience of our local production. These advantages are also what we can An important reason to stay ahead in chemistry and technology.
5. In October 2015, Momentive reached an out-of-court agreement with Qingdao Xinlike Company. As an innovative company, what measures will your company take to better protect global intellectual property rights? ?
Of course we want to protect the company’s intellectual property and protect our investment projects, such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, etc. The company will start from both internal and external aspects to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. Internally, the company strives to recruit good employees, provide challenging work, and give employees a sense of belonging. Externally, we will take appropriate measures if infringements are discovered. The Chinese government pays more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property rights of enterprises and encourages enterprises to actively deal with infringements. Although it is still difficult to handle such cases in China, the government is playing an increasingly active role in protecting the intellectual property rights of enterprises so as to facilitate the introduction of more high-tech.
6. Evonik and Air Chemical reached a merger agreement, planning to acquire the latter’s specialty chemicals and coating additives business; Dow Chemical also successfully completed the ownership structure of Dow Corning on June 1 Strategic restructuring, what do these mergers and acquisitions mean for the polyurethane additives industry, and what impact will they have? What steps will Momentive take to address these challenges?
To be honest, I don’t know how these two acquisitions will affect the industry as a whole, affect Momentive, it’s too early to know all the effects. Our countermeasure is to continue to maintain a leading position in our existing business, and continue to invest in sales, marketing, research and development, etc., to be stronger. After similar mergers and acquisitions, Momentive may no longer be the largest company in the relevant market, but we are still the strongest market competitor. In the next two years, we will increase the introduction of talents, strengthen investment in production capacity, and ensure the provision of high-quality new products and services for all customers. We plan to expand our talent pool and expand our existing sales, marketing and R&D teams in 2016-2017. We hope to bring new development to the company through this talent expansion, maintain competitive advantages through investment and innovation, and achieve sustainable development of the company.
7. What new products and services did Momentive launch at UTECH Asia?
At the PU China exhibition held in Shanghai in August, Momentive launched Niax* polyurethane additives for soft foams in the furniture, mattress and automotive industries, which can effectively improve foam Excellent elasticity, durability and support, such as Niax* Silicone L-645FL, Niax* Silicone L-594 Plus, etc.
In addition, we have launched a line of Niax* polyurethane additives for rigid foams in the appliance and construction industries, which provide excellent thermal conductivity, reduce skin and sub-skin voids, improve flame retardancy and maintain foam structural strength , and can optimize the bonding performance, including Niax* silicone Y-16300 and Niax* silicone L-6866, etc. In addition, the company has developed new silicone surfactants and catalysts for high resilience molded foams in the automotive industry and specialty foams for carpets, shoes and electronics. For more information on new products, please visit: www.momentive.com/urethaneadditives.
PUdailyExclusive interview, English link: http://www.pudaily.com/News/NewsView.aspx?nid=58992
Tiantian Chemical Network special article, if you need to reprint, please indicate the source
PUdailyExclusive interview, English link: http://www.pudaily.com/News/NewsView.aspx?nid=58992
Tiantian Chemical Network special article, if you need to reprint, please indicate the source
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