Facades that protect buildings like a raincoat and fuel-efficient, low-maintenance cars that look good, too are illustrative of the kinds of solutions that Evonik Industries AG, Essen, plans to invest in more heavily and systematically over the next few years. The Group's strategic realignment will sharpen this focus solely on specialty chemicals. This realignment was decisively intensified over the last year. "A sought-after partner in the coatings, paints, and adhesives market, Evonik ranks with those companies that are setting the tone. This is attributable to the fact that we foster reliable and intensive relationships with our customers," said Dr. Thomas Haeberle, who is the managing director of Evonik Degussa GmbH and will be responsible in the Executive Board for the area Resource Efficiency effective from April 1. "Only by working with our customers closely and intensively can we completely understand their specific problems. This is essential to solving their problems quickly and effectively." Over the next few years the specialty chemicals company would like to grow along with its global customers in the paints, coatings, and adhesives market as well as in plastics and pharma products. Evonik is accordingly launching an international Market Initiative at ECS 2011.
A high-quality coating requires a large number of starting materials such as monomers, polymers, resins, crosslinkers, colorants, additives, binders, and matting agents. Evonik covers the full range and has therefore been represented over the entire value chain for many years. The global paints and coatings market is moving away from the use of solvents toward waterborne, powder-form, and UV-curing coatings. In production, the focus is now on the use of renewable raw materials and more energy-efficient workflows, processes, and procedures. In close collaboration with customers, Evonik supplies remarkable solutions in this area: long-term corrosion control for containers and ships, and eco-friendly matting agents that repel dirt and are also abrasion resistant and skidproof, to mention only a couple of examples.
The year 2010 has been a highly successful one for Evonik. Because of the favorable economic conditions, the company generated high profits with sales revenues of €12.9 billion in the Chemicals Business Area (total sales of €13.3 billion). Moreover, for our chemicals portfolio, our new strategic focus means systematic development of our strengths, growth opportunities and profitability.
In 2010, the coatings, paints, and adhesives market worldwide had a sales volume of some €80 billion. This is a key market for Evonik: The Group earns €1.8 billion annually in this area, which amounts to about 14 percent of its entire Chemicals sales. To expand this position further, Evonik is investing a total of €338 million in R&D, 59 percent of which is earmarked for new products and technologies. The company also collaborates with a number of international research institutes. And Evonik pools expertise internally, in its science-to-business centers and project houses and cross-BU teams. The added value arising from these collaborations benefits both customers and end users.
To meet increasing demand from a large number of user industries, Evonik is investing heavily in expansion of existing capacities as well as new plants and technologies. The Group thus plans to commission new isophorone and isophorone diamine plants in China in 2013, and July 2011 will see the groundbreaking ceremony for a new laboratory building at the Essen Goldschmidt site.