Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany) has established its former Baby Care Business Line as an independent company. Evonik Superabsorber GmbH in Germany, and Evonik Superabsorber LLC in the USA, took over the business on July 1, 2021. The new companies bring together around 950 employees working at the production sites in Krefeld, Rheinfelden and Marl in Germany; and Greensboro and Garyville in the USA.
In addition to Frank Lelek, who as Spokesman of the Executive Board is responsible for Strategy, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources and Finance, Peter Dettelmann will join the new Executive Board of Evonik Superabsorber GmbH from September 1, 2021. Dettelmann’s responsibilities will include Production, Innovation, Procurement and Supply Chain.
“We are both highly motivated and want to get straight to work on reshaping the future of the Superabsorber unit”, explains Frank Lelek. “As part of an internal survey and at the virtual events on the new set-up on July 1, 2021, the employees confirmed to us that they, too, are confident of working together to ensure an even brighter future for the business. We have already been able to gather many solution-oriented initiatives and tackle initial concepts using concrete steps.”
In addition to strategic measures such as improved supply security or innovations – for example in the area of odor control – the issue of sustainability is a priority. Evonik Superabsorber will initially be guided by the mass balance approach. In essence, the aim is to gradually incorporate intermediate products based on renewable raw materials into production. This will ensure our transition into a more sustainably economical and ecological business.
“My ambition is to achieve the ‘ISCC Plus’ certification early next year”, says Peter Dettelmann. “For us, certification is a step towards a more sustainable product portfolio. By increasing the blending rates of biodegradable raw materials every year, our aim is to help our customers and also end customers to behave in a more environmentally conscious way in the coming years. In our industry, sustainability begins with the procurement of raw materials. We want to involve our customers in this process in order to cooperatively find sustainable solutions.”
By Mary Page Bailey
Source: chemengonline.com
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