Excellence in manufacturing

"Building a global business means Songwon has to launch global product strategies with regional implementation structures."

– Mr. Philippe Schlaepfer, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development

Songwon is the second  largest manufacturer of polymer stabilisers in the world. It has always placed strong emphasis on technology and innovation, and as a result one of the key factors in its success is the ability to manufacture market-leading products that meet the stringent needs of customers.Songwon has a proud record of internal development and constant improvement of its process technologies. International Plastics News for Asia (IRNA) interviews Mr. Philippe Schlaepfer, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, on its assessment of additives market and how it plans to meet rising global demand.

IRNA:  Please  provide  a  general outlook of the additives industry. What are the key areas of potential growth in Asia?

Mr. Schlaepfer: Songwon estimates the worldwide antioxidants market to grow in line with the growth for polymers at about 5 percent annually. Asia, especially China and the Middle East, will grow above average, whereas Europe is expected to stay at 2012 levels. Demand and supply for key antioxidants are right now pretty balanced; but additional capacity will be required over the next two to three years. Songwon is looking at the right timing for its next investment in increasing capacity as we are committed to serving the polymer market for the long term with our core additives. In Asia specifically, Songwon is focusing on China and South East Asia, which still provide significant potential for growth in line with general economical growth.

IRNA: What are some of the materials and processing technology developments that you are looking to build on?

Mr. Schlaepfer: Songwon is investing heavily in its Songnox? OPS (One Pack Systems) business to spearhead expansion and internationalisation. Songnox? OPS is the unique fusion of world-class antioxidants and UV stabilisers from Songwon with state-of-the-art OPS technology stemming from ATG. This unique combination offers unlimited flexibility and versatility to provide tailor-made blend compositions. OPS products combine several additives into an integrated dust-free, pellet form. They are used mainly in polyolefins, particularly polypropylene (PP).

Songwon recently (end of 2011) acquired Additives Technology Greiz (Germany), one of Europe’s biggest producers of OPS. Then in October of 2012, Songwon formed a joint venture with Pan Gulf Holdings of Saudi Arabia and Polysys Industries of Abu Dhabi for the global manufacturing and sale of OPS.  The company is called Songwon Additive Technologies AG and as a first step expanded its capacity in the newly acquired plant in Greiz to 14,000 MT/year of OPS.

In the Middle East, we plan to build a first OPS plant in Abu Dhabi to be operational by end of 2013, and in the United States we will have a plant operational in second quarter of 2013. This will allow us to have a global network of OPS plants using the same technologies and being able to serve our global customers in all major regions.

IRNA: What are the key trends you have observed in the industries you serve? 

Mr.  Schlaepfer: Market demands for improved  performance  and  durability in end-use applicationsNike