Clariant Compact Clariant Management Newsletter | November 2010

CLNX: Positive CPS ResultsClariant Production System (CPS) is the main component of Operational Excellence with a focus on optimizing and standardizing operations processes across sites.

Product StewardshipClariant has announced that a new Corporate Function called “Product Stewardship” will replace Product Safety and will be allocated to the Corporate ESHA function. The head of the new Product Stewardship Function will be Dr. Ulrich Kussmaul ad interim.

New Medical MasterbatchesBU Masterbatches has recently launched MEVOPUR®, a new brand for its masterbatches range dedicated to medical and pharmaceutical packaging and devices.

North America➔

STRATEGY

3 Editorial

4 Clariant Excellence First Year of CPS Measures Yields Positive Results

7 Project Clariant Update GANO: Analysis Phase Completed

7 Short Cut Textile Chemicals BU Headquarters to move to Singapore

8 Corporate New Greater China HQ Opens in Shanghai

9 Organization New Corporate Function ‘Product Stewardship’ to Replace Product Safety

10 Organization BU Masterbatches: Gearing Up for the Future

14 Clariant Excellence CLNX Team of the Month

14 Your Feedback on Clariant Compact

14 Imprint

12 Short Cut Power Your Performance – Clariant at K 2010

12 Short Cut New Brand and Website for Medical and Pharmaceutical Masterbatches from Clariant

13 Clariant’s SAP Landscape Gets Ready for the Future

15 This link will lead you directly to the regional pages

2 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

Content

MARKETS & OPERATIONS

North America

Editorial

Dear Colleagues,

In this issue of Clariant Compact we highlight the truly global nature of our business. Last month we marked the official opening of the new Clariant Greater China Headquarters in Shanghai and new production facilities at Hangzhou. Last year our sales in China grew by 30 percent. We have in-vested CHF 150 million over the past two years to ensure that we can continue to grow our busi-ness there.

Our Textile Chemicals Global BU Management announced its move to Singapore, placing it at the heart of high-growth textile markets. The new BU headquarters will be close to our customers lo-cated in such countries as India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and, of course, China. How-ever, we will continue to have a strong presence in Europe to serve the European markets, too.

Meanwhile in the plastics sector, the “K Show”in Germany welcomed around 250,000 visitors. Our presence at the show this year reflects our con-

tinuing position as a global leader in plastics and gave us the opportunity to present one Clariant face to the customer, with BUs Pigments, Addi-tives and Masterbatches offering their products and services together under a single Clariant um-brella.

Other topics covered in Clariant Compact this month are:

• CLNXCPSUpdate• NewCorporateFunction,Product

Stewardship• NeworganizationofBUMasterbatches• ProjectClariantUpdate

Best regards,

Mathias Lütgendorf

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 3

CPS roll-out status – 8 site diagnostics completed

n Site diagnostic n Area optimization with CPS support

2009 2010

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Site

Lomagna (MB)

Mt. Holly (ICS)

Gendorf (ICS)

Lahnstein (MB)

Holden (MB)

Cota (MB)

Gersthofen (Additves)

Jurong (MB)

Hoechst (Pigments)

Pogliano (MB)

CPS approach & blueprint Design & CPS Roadmap Build and improve the CPS blueprint

4 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

progressed as planned, both in terms of financial and other improvements.”

With CPS implemented, a site is set up with capa-bilities and management tools to continue along the path of continuous improvement and is expect-ed to do so. Chris Hansen, CPS Leader for Mas-terbatches says: “With the Clariant Production System there is a much higher emphasis on leader-ship, active management, accountability and indi-vidual responsibility than we have traditionally had in most of our sites. The pure fact that we ask people to change and do things differently than before causes a natural and healthy skepticism. It requires openness, involvement and plain time to bring people on-board and ensure local ownership for the new way-to-work in their site.”

EC Member Mathias Lütgendorf: “There is still significant work ahead for the CPS team and even moreso for the line management in the BUs in implementing and sustaining CPS. The results of the first 12 months clearly confirm the added val-ue of CPS, though, and leaves no doubt for me that CPS will be a core pillar of Clariant Excellence.”

CPS was kicked off a year ago, and by the end of 2010 the first 10 site diagnostics will have been completed. The diagnostics identified improve-ment potential of CHF 16-23 million which will be implemented step-by-step during the optimiza-tion phases. In 2010, realization benefits in the range of CHF 2.5 million are already targeted.

The optimization phases have been formally com-pleted in Masterbatches Lomagna (Italy) and ICS Mount Holly (US). Sites at Lahnstein (Germany), Holden (US) and Cota (Colombia) will be com-pleted by January 2011. The larger sites Gendorf (Germany) and Gersthofen (Germany) will go through a longer optimization period.

Head of Clariant Excellence Michael Riedel is satisfied with the progress: “We are on-track with regard to the roll-out plan and, more importantly, the implementation of identified potential has also

Clariant Excellence

First Year of CPS Measures Yield Positive ResultsClariant Production System (CPS) is the main component of Operational Excellence with a focus on optimizing and standardizing operations processes across sites.

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 5

The Lomagna Masterbatches site started their Area Optimization in Quality Control by critically reviewing the QC process step-by-step. The cross-departmen-tal work between quality control and production led by QC manager Ezio Siliprandi and production manager Renato Mandelli, allowed a reduction in the number of process steps in the sampling process from previously up to 10, to a maximum of five.

The first task was to understand the current process. This was done by building a cross functional diagram showing all the process steps and identifying value-adding and non-value adding activities. Production operators and QC technicians were then involved in discussing possible improvements to eliminate non-value adding tasks. Finally, all ideas were reviewed and combined in a future state sampling process, and a list of actions was defined to get there from the current state.

Improvements include an optimized flow of samples from production to QC through clear guidelines and a standardized “sample collector”, a combination of paper work to avoid unnecessary searching, as well as new software to improve the communication between QC technicians and the gravimetric extrusion area.

QC Manager Ezio Siliprandi comments on his CPS experience: “Thanks to the cross functional analysis we simplified the sampling process avoiding many non-value adding activities in our day-to-day work. And there is still room for improvement, so the continuous improvement process is running”.

In sum, the improvements have supported the overall productivity in the Lomagna production and QC departments, and reduced unnecessary waiting time for QC. Another CPS success case!

Maintenance was one of two first Area Optimizations in the ICS owned site Gendorf in Germany. Within maintenance, the focus has been on optimizing the planning and scheduling process of routine maintenance activities and a corresponding daily follow-up.

The key pillars to the new way of working are the standardized prioritization of work orders across the six plants, the deploy-ment of an SAP planning board, and a daily performance dialogue follow-up between group leaders and technicians.

Daily performance dialogues in particular are a critical means for involving techni-cians, identifying and addressing prob-lems occurred during the day and ensur-ing a focused and dedicated follow-up and continuous improvement.

The Head of Technical Department, Tim Plitt, who leads the maintenance Area Optimization, highlights: “The new way-to-work in Gendorf maintenance and its individual elements is contributing towards the overall goal to continuously improve ourselves and our processes as a flexible and efficient service provider for the plants”. Another CPS success case!

CPS success story: New maintenance process in Gendorf, Germany

CPS success story: Simplified QC process in Lomagna, Italy

From left, front row: Gerard Puig, Oscar Martini, Sergej Nadal. From left, back row: Walter Riva, Enrico Preego, Angelo Cogliati, Vatsa, Kalyanasundaram

Ralf Schmid, Group leader FT plant and AO team member at the daily team meeting which was established as part of the diagnostics

»

»

6 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

Clariant Excellence

➔

CPS success story: Just-in-time logistics flow in Lahnstein, Germany

The Lahnstein Masterbatches site is faced with a challenging logistics situation due to being squeezed in between the idyllic Lahn river and high mountains, and also having slowly grown over time. As a result the production is spread across numerous buildings and levels with the sequential production steps mixing and extrusion placed far apart from each other and distant from the ware-house.

The diagnostic revealed that the lack of a frozen zone, aligned cross-department processes and detailed scheduling caused frequent “missing material” situations and also the cluttering up of production areas with materials required for future.

With a 24h frozen zone and corresponding produc-tion schedule in place, the warehouse is now able to prepare the necessary materials order by order in advance. The coordinated preparation is combined with a rigorous “milk run” every half hour by a logistics operator to bring and collect materi-als and containers from the mixing area. The procedure is supported by the simple lean concept of kanban cards that simply and visually communi-cate when another empty container is needed in the mixing area.

The impact of the rigorous scheduling and milk-run has been a 15-25 percent productivity improvement in the mixing area alone. Positive effects continue in the area of extrusion. Another CPS success case!

The new maintenance work order system is one of many small success stories at the Masterbatches site in Cota, a suburb of Bogota, Colombia.

Learning about the tools and proven successes of a structured maintenance work order system, maintenance engineer Ivan Pardo and technician and maintenance work-stream leader Fernando Lopez were not going to wait for fancy solutions or outside help.

They decided to reap the benefits from a structured prioritization and scheduling of maintenance tickets right away by building a visual board for the ticket prioritization and scheduling. They also used corresponding follow-up KPIs from materials available, which in this case meant cardboard boxes, glue and lots of creativity!

Service levels to production and productivity of technicians are now tracked and discussed and improved on a daily basis, with the performance dialogues as the backbone of communication, follow-up, ideas, problem solving and resulting action.

Fernando Lopez comments: “It is amazing what change we achieved in so little time. From having no plan for daily maintenance tasks and no work-load balance (constant fire fighting) to having a daily plan based on priorities; and from no data on targets to doing service level analysis and perfor-mance tracking, the maintenance department is really contributing to overall plant efficiency!” Another CPS success case!

CPS success story: Simple maintenance work order system in Cota, Colombia

The Lahnstein site in Germany Maintenance Supervisor Ivan Pardo using the new visual board

An extended version of this article and further examples of CPS success stories: InSite | CPS

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 7

An important milestone has been reached in the global restructuring of Clariant sites: the analysis phase of GANO, the groupwide project to optimize the company’s site network, has been completed. The final conclusions were made in October and a list of all further restructuring activities has been compiled, says project leader Dr. Gerhard Obernosterer. All GANO mea-sures are to be concluded by 2013.

The recently announced measures affect eight sites and around 100 jobs worldwide. The sites are Reinach (Switzerland), Nanterre (France), Sefaköy (Turkey), McHenry (USA), Delta (Can-ada), Guatemala City (Guatemala), Roha (India) and Shizuoka (Japan).

“With the implementation of GANO, the com-pany can save up to 150 million Swiss francs,” asserts Obernosterer.

Now the GANO project team is concentrating on the execution of the project. Following the site analysis, this is the second big coordination task, says Obernosterer: “There are around 30 sites worldwide that are giving up or receiving produc-tion.”

Where does GANO stand now? “We’ve gone about a third of the way,” says the project leader. “The project has gone extremely well so far.” The colleagues at the sites in question are working in a very dedicated and professional way,” he adds. “With some projects, we’re even ahead of sched-ule. As a result, we need less stocks to bridge over transition phases, which will help us to achieve our cash goals.”

The project will last about two more years. Obernosterer believes that one or the other critical phases are still to come, which, however, due to the professional work of those responsible at the sites and in the business units, can be mastered successfully.

Project Clariant Update

GANO: Analysis Phase Completed

The Global Asset Network Optimization project, the aim of which is to improve Clariant’s worldwide site network, is well on track.

Short Cut

Textile Chemicals BU Headquarters to move to Singapore

Clariant announced last month that the Textile Chemi-cals BU headquarters will relocate from Reinach, Switzerland, to Singapore by mid-2011. The move will place the BU management at the heart of the world’s textile markets and also closer to its global customers in this market.

The new Singapore headquarters will accommodate the senior Textile Chemicals BU management team together with associated support functions and the global textile application technology team. The application develop-ment laboratory for technical textiles and finishing will

relocate from Reinach to Muttenz. Muttenz will also remain the location for the BU’s dedicated European sales and marketing operation, reinforcing the continu-ing importance of the European region for textiles. In total approximately 60 people will move to Muttenz.

“Singapore is the optimum location from which to serve the key global textile markets across India, China and South East Asia. Positioning our management team close at hand will further strengthen our customer relationships and enhance our ability to respond quickly to the trends of this dynamic sector,” said Thomas Winkler, Head of Clariant’s Textile Chemicals BU. “At the same time, Europe remains an important market for Clariant and our European textile customers will continue to be served by our dedicated, well-estab-lished infrastructure located in the region.”

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More Information on the GANO project on InSite | Organizational Change | GANO

8 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

Elsewhere in China, a new pigment plant in Hangzhou, by the Joint Venture company Hang-zhou Baihe Clariant Pigments Co., Ltd, formed between the Lily group and Clariant, started op-erations on October 22. With excellent infrastruc-ture and a convenient logistics setup in the Hang-zhou region, products manufactured out of this new site can be easily shipped to other local cities in China and overseas via the two nearby ports of Ningbo and Shanghai.

Clariant's new China headquarters opened on October 20 in a ceremony led by Clariant’s CEO and Executive Committee. The new China head-quarters shows Clariant is committed to this growing market, having invested CHF 150 mil-lion in China over the past two years. Other guests attending included officials from Changning Dis-trict and Linkong Economic Zone, representa-tives from the Swiss General Consulate Shanghai and the Swiss chamber of commerce.

“We are convinced that this city (Shanghai) will continue to develop at the high speed of the previ-ous decades and will in only a few years from now rank among the most important metropolitan areas such as London, New York and Paris,” said CEO Hariolf Kottmann during the new head-quarters building’s opening ceremony.

Built under a one-roof concept with six floors over an area of 10,000m², the new building will be the regional business and service hub of Great-er China, embracing all related offices and labo-ratories. Located in the business park within the Hongqiao Linkong Economic Zone, the new headquarters will provide working space for 400 employees.

New Greater China HQ Opens in ShanghaiNew Headquarters for Clariant Greater China have been opened in Shanghai by CEO Hariolf Kottmann and accompanying members of the Executive Committee. The new office demonstrates Clariant’s growing commitment to the region and reinforces its position as one of the world’s leading providers of specialty chemicals.

Corporate

From left: Werner Schumann (Clariant Project Manager of the New Clariant Greater China Project), Patrick Jany (CFO), Stephan Titze (Vice Presi-dent SwissCham Shanghai), Li Yaoxin (Governor of Changning Government), Heinrich Schellenberg (Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai), Hariolf Kottmann (CEO), Per Sjoeberg (Head of Clariant Region Greater China), Wendy Cai (Administration Manager of Clariant China)

Quick Facts about the New Headquarters Building

• Location: Hongqiao Linkong Economic Zone, Hongqiao, Shanghai

• Total area: 10,000 square meters with 6 floors, including office area and laboratories

• Number of Employees: 400

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 9

The existing Product Safety organization has been analyzed and consequently reorganized ac-cording to the current needs of the function and the businesses. The new set-up will be effective from January 1, 2011. It will ensure the Product Stewardship (PS) function is both more efficient, freeing up vital resources for REACH registra-tion process, and more responsive to the needs of our customers. Reorganization includes a new structure, new systems and new tools.

Increased process efficiencies will also enable Clariant to reduce the time needed for REACH registrations, and the BUs and PS team will work together to reduce the overall number of sub-stances to be registered. This will lead to a more efficient and responsive PS Group and meet our

REACH Phase II/III requirements using existing resources.

BackgroundThe PS group exists to ensure that Clariant meets all mandatory regulatory requirements, e.g. REACH and globally increasing regulatory needs. It provides added value to its customers through service, reliability and risk-avoidance. It helps Clariant to build and protect its reputation and to manag risk by ensuring that the company adheres to industry requirements. It also demon-strates our commitment to Responsible Care and Sustainable Chemistry.

The PS group needed restructuring to improve efficiency and bring together a highly fragmented set-up which lacked clear roles and responsibili-ties. There was also a need to match the global trend for greater regulatory control requiring har-monized global safety procedures.

The new set-up, which was approved by the EC on October 8, will strive to ensure that compli-ance remains the number one priority. Proximity to regulatory bodies is of prime importance, both in the countries and the regions, and also proxim-ity to customers and manufacturing sites for fast response times. Clariant will also remain wholly committed to Responsible Care and ensure a high concentration on increasing efficiency in areas such as REACH management and toxicology.

“The new organization will ensure that we can use our resources more effectively and help us to work smarter. This will ensure we meet the chal-lenge of the ongoing REACH registration pro-cess and provide added value to our customers,” said Ulrich Kussmaul, the current Head of Prod-uct Safety. “I want to express my gratitude to all

Organization

The New Corporate Function Product Stewardship Organization

New Corporate Function ‘Product Stewardship’ to Replace Product Safety

Clariant has announced that a new Corporate Function called ‘Product Stewardship’ will replace Product Safety and will be allocated to the Corporate ESHA function. The head of the new Product Stewardship Function will be Dr. Ulrich Kussmaul ad interim.

LocalProduct

StewardshipOrganizations

Registration of Chemicals

Strategic Issues PS-Data Systems

Corporate Function Product Stewardship

RegulatoryBU Key Contact –Customer Support

»

REACH Process Team

REACH Registration Team

Tox-Ecotox Experts Team

Global New Substance Registrations

Data Maintenance WINS/EH&S

Transport Safety

Product Approval

Legal Requirements

Textile

Paper

Leather

Emulsions

Pigments

Additives

ICS

OMS

MB

DI

10 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

project team members for their professional and hard work during a challenging period of REACH and Globally Harmonized System (GHS)/Classification, Labeling & Packaging Regulation (CLP).”

Product Stewardship OrganizationThe new organizational structure will ensure clear roles and responsibilities. PS will be or-ganized into the Local PS Organization, with teams working in-country, and the Corporate PS Group.

The Local Organizations will have responsi-bility for working with national authorities and regulatory bodies on local chemical reg-istrations and product-related stewardship is-sues. Local teams will also provide customer/BU support.

The Corporate Group will take responsibility for four main areas:

Chemical Registration – responsible for • global registration compliance/management alignment, all REACH registrations, toxi-cology activities and new global substance registrations. Regulatory – responsible for maintaining • global data for Clariant products, advising on legislation impacts and ensuring Clariant meets global legal compliance. BU Support – single point of contact be-• tween PS and BUs and their customers, re-sponsible for ensuring all PS activities are managed as part of the BU strategy. PS Data Systems – responsible for all PS • data systems to meet global needs and sup-port greater management efficiency.

New systems and processes The reorganization also looked at how sys-tems and processes could be adapted to in-crease efficiency. As a result, a range of new or upgraded IT tools and other systems will be introduced over the next four years, repre-senting an investment of EUR 3 million. In addition, major processes will be upgraded.

Organization

The Masterbatches business has been a success story for Clariant. As the largest masterbatches player globally, the BU has established a strong presence in all major regions.

However, to meet the future demands of the glob-al plastics market and to ensure the long-term success and profitable growth of the BU, Master-batches has decided to adopt an innovative new business strategy. With this strategy, Master-batches aims to extend its strong market position and develop into the leading and industry-defin-ing global provider of masterbatches by 2015.

To implement this new strategy and achieve its objectives, Masterbatches will adopt a new, for-ward-looking organizational structure designed to enable the BU to meet the changing industry requirements.

Effective January 1, 2011, BU Masterbatches, Clariant’s second largest BU, will adopt a new organizational setup that will enable the business unit to meet the demands of the future global plastics market. The new organization will have the responsibility for executing an ambitious new strategy that aims to position Masterbatches as the undis-puted leader in its field.

Gearing Up For the Future

New Corporate Function ‘Product Stewardship’ to Replace Product Safety

»

“The new MB strategy, which was recently ap-proved by the Executive Committee (EC) and Board of Directors, requires significant changes to the organization of Masterbatches. We need to put an organization in place that will deliver the results outlined in the new MB strategy. Organi-zation needs to follow strategy,” said Christian Kohlpaintner, EC Member responsible for BU Masterbatches.

This new structure will be effective as of January 1, 2011, and will create a single European orga-nization with harmonized processes and an inde-pendent RBL IMEA driven by strong functional capabilities. This differentiated organizational setup will align the business unit with the spe-cific market dynamics of the industry in mature and emerging markets.

In Europe, the new organizational setup will re-flect the needs of Europe as a mature plastics market where customers increasingly ask for high-performing formulations for technologi-cally and environmentally demanding applica-tions. The changes will standardize best prac-tices and simplify processes while at the same time modernizing Masterbatches' services to its customers, thereby reducing complexity and driv-ing down costs.

In IMEA, the new organizational setup will en-able Masterbatches to respond to the specific re-gional needs of the plastics market where greater

speed and flexibility are required to maximize growth and gain market share. It will help Mas-terbatches improve our customer services and offer flexible and reliable supply solutions com-bined with regional presence.

In addition, Masterbatches will establish two new global functions: a Global Key Account Manager and Strategic Marketing function and a Global Operations function. These functional positions will have business impact and accountability and will deliver alignment and best practice sharing across the business unit.

The new setup will gear up Masterbatches for the future by creating an organization that is able to share and adopt best practices globally, simplify and standardize processes, while also delivering higher service levels and cost reduction.

“If we want to continue with the Masterbatches success story, we must reposition our BU as a true specialty business that is capable of creating in-dustry-leading profitability. For that to happen, we must improve our channel to market, our pro-ductivity and the performance of our supply chain and sites. The new organizational setup will fa-cilitate this change,” said Hans Bohnen, Business Unit Head.

Masterbatches is making the first steps toward achieving its goal of becoming the leading mas-terbatches player globally. However, Bohnen made it clear at the Global MB Meeting on Octo-ber 24-26 in Cologne, Germany, that the sustained success of the BU must build on the first-class support and dedication of its employees.

“We want to create a culture of high-performance and continuous improvement throughout the BU that will involve a long-term change in the way of thinking and behaving of all employees. We do not believe in change for change’s sake. But we do believe in continuous evaluation, development and improvement as the cornerstones of our fu-ture success,” said Bohnen.

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 11

New stategy of BU Masterbaches

Masterbatches’ new strategy will refocus the organization on four key initiatives:

• Growth through regional initiatives to leverage attractive opportunities in mature and emerging markets

• Focus on the most attractive market segments and custom-ers by delivering distinctive and tailored value propositions

• Implementation of an industry-leading operating model covering Commercial and Operational Excellence (CCE and CPS)

• Development of the next level of innovation aligned with strategic mega-trends and future-oriented topics

12 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

New Brand and Website for Medical and Pharmaceutical Masterbatches from Clariant

BU Masterbatches has recently launched MEVOPUR®, a new brand for its masterbatches range dedicated to medical and pharmaceutical packaging and devices. The brand’s introduction reinforces Clariant’s commit-ment to supporting brand owners and manufacturers, helping them to minimize risk potential in an applica-tion’s development and life cycle, particularly in light of regulatory controls, packaging regulations and safety issues.

The BU also launched a new dedicated website to introduce Clariant Masterbatches’ new approach to the medical and pharmaceutical sectors: www.medical.clariant.com

The MEVOPUR® production facilities are located in the United States, Asia and Europe, with segregated manufacturing lines to reduce the risk of cross-

contamination between products, and have all received ISO13485 certification.

Steve Duckworth, Head of Global Market Segment Medical and Pharmaceutical: “Our new MEVOPUR® brand reflects all that Clariant has done and is doing to help our customers minimize change and the impact of change, recognizing that this sector requires something different to our customers in lower risk segments. MEVOPUR® is not just about clearly identifying the products that meet the latest trends for functionality and aesthetics but it encapsulates the whole package of dedicated service and expertise, reliability and innovative material performance that gives the industry the confidence it needs to address risk potential.”

Power Your Performance – Clariant at K 2010 The “K 2010” Plastics Show in Dusseldorf in late October saw three of Clariant’s Business Units (BU) – Masterbatches, Pigments and Additives – all come together to present one Clariant face to the customer by all exhibiting at the same booth. Under the motto, “Power Your Performance,” the three BUs highlighted the added value they offer customers through their products and services with regard to “Safety,” “Efficiency” and “Ecology.”

The K show is the biggest of its kind and welcomed around 3,000 exhibitors and more than 250,000 visitors this year. The show was marked as a strategic point from which to begin showing Clariant’s value offering under one umbrella rather than through three separate BUs. The Clariant stand itself was modern and eye-catching and saw a seemingly endless illuminated ribbon made out of plastic rippling throughout the architecture of the booth.

During the event, CEO Hariolf Kottmann and the three BU Heads – Hans Bohnen, Marco Cenisio and

Michael Grosskopf – attended a customer event with selected customers. This provided the opportunity to speak with the customers first-hand, to discuss the company’s strategy in the three business areas and to present the Clariant booth.

In addition, a dedicated “K 2010” intranet site has been created with videos and images from the show. This effective marketing tool enables those who were unable to visit the K to see what the booth looked like and also to read about the themes associated with Clariant’s offering at the show through a single point of entry.

Short Cut

Short Cut

➔ Visit the K 2010 site here

Corporate Clariant Compact | November 2010 13

“The impact on SAP users is minimal. The up-grade mainly focuses on technical enhancements with nominal changes in the look and feel of the system. Users need not fear loss of data or being unable to log into the upgraded system,” states Paul Mauer, Global Head CCC Business Ap-plications.

Hildegard Rothenberger, testing lead and part of project management, highlights: “Businesses and functions from all sites, with support from several country coordinators, have clearly helped us in testing activities. We are confident that we will go live successfully with minimal business impact.”

This was proved with the first go-live on Novem-ber 1 as the SAP Environmental, Health and Safety system was successfully upgraded. After-ward, business users were able to access the up-graded SAP system without any disturbance.

Now the team will focus on the regional approach of the SAP upgrade with the first go-live in Latin America on November 15, and the second go-live in Asia Pacific on November 29. The regional coordinator for Latin America, Ronaldo Vianna, is confident that “our users are well-prepared with eLearning and instructions.”

In parallel, regional coordinators, businesses and functions are jointly preparing the final go-live on December 27. Europe, North America SAP WINS systems and the APO system for supply chain planning will be upgraded during the Christmas weekend to minimize business impact.

At the end of 2010 Clariant’s SAP Release Upgrade project will raise our systems company-wide to the newest SAP release standard. Overall, the project will increase process efficiency and offer a basis for further business enhancements.

MARKETS & OPERATiONS

Clariant’s SAP Landscape Gets Ready for the Future

➔ More information on inSite | SAP WiNS Training: eLearning portal

➔ More information on inSite | Services | iT | SAP Release Upgrade

SAP Release Upgrade Project 2010

WiNS NAWiNS EMEA

WiNS ASiA

WiNS LA

APO EH&S

A team from Clariant Gendorf in Germany is our CLNX Team of the Month for their achievement in reducing energy costs at the site. Using internal excess steam of ethylene oxide production in the Glycolreactor Preheating Process, the team was able to lower the costs for importing steam. The calculated benefit for the year to date is CHF 630,000.

The LeanSigma team: (from left to right) Dr. Michael Mayer (GB), Alfons Stadler, Michael Wieland, Dr. Andrè Lassahn

We aim to meet your information needs. Clariant Compact summarizes important topics published on our intranet to keep you up-to-date and save you time. As we would like to improve the newsletter continuously, please provide your feedback to Group.Communications@clariant.com

14 Clariant Compact | November 2010 Corporate

Clariant Excellence

PublisherClariant International LtdGroup Communications ServicesHardstrasse 61CH-4133 PrattelnSwitzerlandwww.clariant.com

Project managementEmily McFarlandEmily.McFarland@clariant.com

Language versionsChinese: Coco Yang, Faye Leng, Lavender Zhou English: Connie Knight, Emily McFarland German: Ulrich Nies, Friederike Dinse Portuguese/Spanish: Luciana Mandrote, MariaIsolina Noguerol, Jazmin Rodriguez

Editorial consultancy, Artwork, SupportSyntax Publishing Team GmbHStefanie HeissAnja Hass www.syntax-ffm.com

Picture creditsAll photos by Clariant except title: (above) JUPITERIMAGES, (below) GettyImages;

For internal use only.Not for distribution beyond the company.

© Clariant 2010

Clariant CompactNovember 2010

ImprintCLNX Team of the Month

Your Feedback on Clariant Compact

➔More information on the current Team of the Month and its project on InSite | Clariant Excellence

Clariant Compact

NORTH AMERICA

continued on page 16

NORAM Clariant Compact | November 2010 15

The last thing you want in your sheets, towels, tablecloths and napkins are of-fensive odors caused by bacteria.

That’s why Venus Group, a Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based manufacturer of high-quality textile products is applying Sanitized® T99-19 and T27-22 to its bath and bedding products. The effect is man-ufactured by Clariant partner Sanitized AG, a Swiss company specializing in anti-bacterial and anti-fungal chemicals. For years, Clariant has enjoyed exclusive sales and distribution rights to products made by Sanitized AG.

In addition to bath and bedding prod-ucts, Venus Group also makes such ev-eryday items as table linens, aprons, uniforms and linens used in the health-care industry. One of the company’s key markets is the hospitality industry with a focus on hotels and restaurants.

Global CollaborationVenus Group was founded in 1972 by

two men from India, where the company maintains its manufacturing.

“Mr. Niklaus Luthi of Sanitized asked me to meet with Venus Group to intro-duce Clariant and Sanitized products,” says Global Apparel & Interior Market-ing Executive Julie Crowder. “But I couldn’t have gotten this off the ground without Gunendr Sangaj, Apparel and Interior Marketing Manager of Clariant in India. Gunendr is the one who sup-ported the relationships at the mills in India and who also keeps constant tech-nical support.”

17 The Finer Points of Color

18 More OBA for the Buck

19 Optimizing Production

20 Color and Finishing

ContentCrowder saysVenus liked the odor-free and wrinkle-free aspects that Clariant and Sanitized deliv-ered and was inter-ested in applying these to their prod-

ucts. “As most people understand well, when it comes to towels and sheets in the hospitality business, hygiene is very important.”

Crowder explains that Venus is now applying Sanitized T99-19 for its towels and the T27-22 formulation for its sheet-ing. The T27-22 is one of Sanitized’s newer products and is applied to textiles

Better LinensVenus Sheets and Towels Feature Antimicrobial from Clariant Partner Sanitized AG

Crowder

16 Clariant Compact | November 2010 NORAM

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that are either synthetic or have cellu-losic constructions. The T99-19, a slight-ly older antimicrobial, is used on materi-als that are 100 percent cotton.

Both formulations meet the require-ments of the Bluesign® standards – inter-nationally-recognized ecological criteria applied to textiles and apparel. Textiles and apparel that are certified with Blue-sign standards are guaranteed to pose no harmful effects to humans, and have been made using a process that con-serves natural resources to the greatest extent possible.

“Venus Group’s new Sanitized-brand-ed collection will be tailored to the mid-tier price category,” says Crowder. “In its initial product offerings, Venus will feature both quick-dry and anti- microbial finishes for their solid, colored-towel ensembles, and wrinkle-free and antimicrobial effects for their sheets. Both classic and contemporary styles and colors will be available.”

Active retail promotionVenus Group products that feature the

Sanitized finishes are currently available in Bon-Ton stores, “which are retailers found mainly around the Northeast and the Midwest,” says Crowder. “Bon-Ton offers product and price range that’s a cross between, say, Target and Kohl’s. Bon-Ton was especially interested in Sanitized antimicrobial effects and we’re hoping for more of the same from additional retailers. Bon-Ton will recog-nize the Sanitized logo and they’re pro-moting it actively which means great exposure.”

Crowder notes that more business could be on the way thanks to the New York Home Fashions Market Week Con-vention that took place in September in New York City. “This was another op-portunity for terrific exposure. There were many customers, that is, buyers from retail stores who descended on New

York for an entire week which gave us a marketing boost.”

Name recognitionCrowder says, after a number of years

of work between Clariant and Sanitized, customers are learning the Sanitized name and like what they see. “We don’t seem to have to explain what Sanitized is anymore. More and more customers know about Sanitized and our U.S. mar-ket share is growing. There also seems to be a surge in the popularity of antimicro-bials. This is definitely something people

continued from page 15

want, especially in home products.”So, what does this mean for Clariant?

“A lot,” says Crowder. “It indicates that there’s both a trust and satisfaction be-tween us and our customers when a big producer like Venus Group feels good about Clariant and our partners. There’s a lot of competition out there with sheets and towels and now is the time to influ-ence the customer. Customers want something – anything – to increase their sales right now in this economy and we’re serving as a guide for this. We’re definitely rolling in the right direction.”

NORAM Clariant Compact | November 2010 17

The Finer Points of Color

Masterbatches Presents its capabilities to ExxonMobil Marketing

cussed liquid and pellet masterbatches. I also talked about how light influences color, for example how the same shade of a color can look different under fluo-rescent and incandescent light. I even got into sustainability and chemical foaming agents.”

Color: design essentialKulka’s segment of the presentation

focused on color from the standpoint of the designer’s eye. “I ex-plained how color is the interpretation of all designs. I present-ed the development of color from a market-ing perspective, that

is, color communication ‘from concept to reality.’ I also presented our ColorFor-ward® material. We told the attendees that Clariant is a resource for good data on color, especially if you’re thinking of changing or improving you branding.”

“Another reason we were there,” says Prusak, “is that they were looking to enhance their brand any way they could. Even though Mobil 1 is the world’s leading brand, there’s a lot of competition in the marketplace.”

Prusak noted there were many good questions. “One of the best was whether we believed that color truly affects con-sumer buying. We gave an example of the ‘orange’ in Tide detergent and how this color hasn’t changed in 20 years – and that this works to keep sales strong. On the flip side, we mentioned Salon Selec-tives shampoo, the flagship product for Helene Curtis. The shampoo was its dom-inant brand, but one day they changed the packaging color and consumers couldn’t

find it in the store anymore. It was stocked; they just couldn’t see it.”

Continuing on the importance of col-or, Kulka mentioned Mobil 1’s “silver” in its 1-quart bottle. “We explained that there are certain colors customers know and that help identify a brand, even with-out seeing the label – and the silver in the Mobil 1 bottle is one of those colors.”

Expertise gets callbacksOverall, Kulka and Prusak felt they

received positive feedback from the audi-ence. Kulka noted that when he and Pru-sak returned to their offices the following Monday, Oct. 18, there was a call from ExxonMobil’s marketing brand manager asking to schedule two days with them at the McHenry ColorWorks facility to de-velop four new colors for oil bottles, all with the aim of increasing shelf presence at retailers. “That’s usually a good sign that your customer is interested in how you can help,” says Kulka.

Prusak says: “What we heard was that ExxonMobil wanted reinforcement that their marketing was going down the cor-rect path. We showed them some of the latest bottles made with our products, and after doing this I think we gave the marketing department some new ideas for what they could do to enhance their containers.”

Last month, North American Master-batches business head Steve Snow, Mar-ket Development Director Peter Prusak and ColorWorks® Creative Development & Packaging Director Len Kulka traveled to Fairfax, Va., to present to ExxonMobil marketing personnel the aspects of color. Account Executive Jim Almond initiated the meeting at the request of ExxonMobil.

At “Color School 101,” a half-day pre-sentation, Snow, Prusak and Kulka dis-cussed color, primarily from the view-point of package designers and brand managers. They talked about pigments, dispersions, how light influences color, how color affects buying decisions, Clar-iant ColorWorksTM capabilities and more.

The audience of about 20 comprised ExxonMobil brand, marketing and graphic-design personnel. ExxonMobil’s Mobil 1® is the world’s top-selling syn-thetic motor oil and Clariant supplies the masterbatch colorants that go into all Mobil 1 containers sold around the world: 1-quart and 1-liter bottles, 5-gal-lon pails as well as large drums.

Color: a differentiatorSnow gave an

overview on Clariant and Clariant Master-batches, discussing how we supply prod-uct and how color helps in the market-ing process. “Color and appearance of a

product are key factors in the consumer’s purchasing decision,” he says. “Our goal was to demonstrate the differentiating power of color and how ExxonMobil can incorporate color as a key lever to suc-cessfully market their products.”

Prusak delivered the “Color 101” seg-ment, addressing such topics as what pigments and dispersions are and how these relate to manufacturing. “I dis-

Kulka

Snow

Prusak

Market Development Director Peter Prusak focused on pigments, dispersions as well as different kinds of masterbatches.

18 Clariant Compact | November 2010 NORAM

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More OBA for the Buck

Holcombe Leads Project to Increase Leucophor FTS Throughput

The SolutionHolcombe’s team – comprising Process Specialist Steve Kerr; Operators Mike Bridgmon and Doug Hiers; Process Spe-cialist Russ Gibson; Technical Specialist Ralph Strickler; and Operations Manager Brian Owens (Project champion) – found four ways to optimize the manufacturing process and increase Leucophor FTS yield.

First, the team increased the tempera-ture for the Sorbital Melt process (the Sorbital needs to be in liquid form for the EPN reaction to take place) from 90 to 100 degrees C. “This reduced melt time by five hours,” Holcombe says.

Second, the team increased the Leu-cophor batch size. “We were making a batch size that really wasn’t optimum; in other words we were under-utilizing the tank. We ended up increasing batch size

by 17 percent.”Third, the team added an additional

“cross link” procedure. “This is when we mix an intermediate Leucophor (one we don’t sell) with water to get the proper balance in our mixture. Doing this helped increase our final yield.”

Finally, the team trained several “in-process-check” (IPC) technicians to per-form a certain in-process test known as a Type Test. “This test tells us how much time cross-linking will take. Before, we had only one specialist trained to do this which was a bottleneck by itself. With more people trained, we cut this step from seven hours to just three.”

The BenefitAfter making these changes, the Leuco-phor batches are delivering hourly throughput increases of 47 percent. “We reduced vessel occupancy of the H1 re-actor from 72 hours to 58 hours, allow-ing other products to be manufactured which generated additional revenues,” says Holcombe. “We also saw a reduced cost of manufacturing – from $1.83 per kg to $1.69 per kg. With our current forecast, these improvements are pro-jected to generate savings of about $40,000 a year.”

Holcombe gives all the credit for this project’s success to his team: “We had top-notch people. We had an idea of where we wanted to go and there was a lot of expertise around that table.”

Says Project Champion Owens: “We now have improved our visibility for the H1 reactor for both Textile and Paper Demand Inventory Planners. We are able to produce this product consistently and much more competitively, enabling greater margins for the Paper business. It’s definitely a win-win situation for everybody.”

The ChallengeSince 2009, Paper Specialties’ optical brightening agent Leucophor® FTS has been manufactured at the Martin, S.C., plant. Recently, however, it was taking a long time to manufacture a batch – 72 hours on average.

Process Specialist Curt Holcombe led a Clariant Excellence project to both re-duce Leucophor FTS cycle time and in-crease the yield, resulting in a substan-tial throughput increase.

“We produce Leucophor FTS using our H1 reactor that’s also used to produce many other products that also require Epichlorohydrin (EPN) chemistries,” says Holcombe. “Cycle time for Leuco-phor was too long and this was creating bottlenecks in the manufacture of all these products. Back orders were increas-ing.”

The team included (from left): Mike Bridgmon, Steve Kerr, Curt Holcombe, Russ Gibson, Brian Owens as well as (not pictured): Doug Hiers and Ralph Strickler.

NORAM Clariant Compact | November 2010 19

Optimizing Production

Clariant to consolidate and expand Masterbatches locations in Chicago area,close plant in Delta, British Columbia

As part of its global production network optimization program, Clariant will consolidate its McHenry, Ill., master-batches site into its West Chicago location by mid-2011 and upgrade the facility and equipment at West Chicago, including a state-of-the-art Color- WorksTM design studio focused on the packaging and consumer goods indus-tries.

Concurrently, re-sponding to a deep downturn in con-struction-related in-dustries in the Pacific Northwest, Clariant will close its master-batches facility at Delta, B.C., by year-

end, transferring production to other masterbatches sites at Phoenix, Ariz., and Chino, Calif.

The decisions – one for growth and expansion, one for closure – are fully in

line with Clariant’s stated intention to optimize its global production network, a program which began in 2009. About 30 positions in North America will be affected, approximately half from the shutdown of the Delta facility.

“Optimizing and right-sizing our manufacturing capacity in North Amer-ica is essential,” says Clariant’s North American Masterbatches business head Steve Snow. “The lingering effects of the economic downturn have certainly af-fected the construction-related market in the Pacific Northwest.”

Snow said his business has seen cus-tomers shift production to low-labor-cost countries, and competitors have also closed sites in the Pacific Northwest. “By reallocating our assets in this way, we

can still provide this area the service and products our customers there value,” Snow adds.

“On the flip side,” he notes, “our deci-sion to consolidate McHenry into West Chicago is a great opportunity for growth and revitalization. By consoli-dating two very successful operations about 30 miles apart, we have the opportunity to greatly expand West Chicago and to install a state-of-the-art ColorWorks design studio as a center of inspiration for plastics designers, mar-keters and brand managers in the pack-aging and consumer goods industries.”

Snow

The West Chicago, Ill., Masterbatches facility.

NORAM Clariant Compact | November 2010 20

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Clariant CompactNovember 2010

Imprint

PublisherClariant Corporation4000 Monroe RoadCharlotte, NC 28205USA

Project ManagementConstance C. Knight, APRconnie.knight@clariant.com

ContributorLarry Dagenhartlarrydagenhart@bellsouth.net

Artwork, SupportSiemens DesignJane Siemensjane@siemensdesign.com

Picture creditsAll photos by Clariant except page 15: Shutterstock.

For internal use only.Not for distribution beyond the company.

© Clariant 2010

NORAMEDITORIAL

Color and Finishing

Ryan Stanley spoke to students at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology on the topic: “What is color, really...?”

Stanley and Fortin Speak at Professional Conferences

The week of October 25 in New York City, Textile Chemicals Marketing Sup-port Manager Ryan Stanley and Textile Chemicals Global Marketing Executive Carl Fortin spoke, respectively, at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Conference and Global Organic Ex-change Conference.

Stanley addressed, “What is Color...really, and how can I Manage it Global-ly?”

“I spoke to groups of students at the FIT and about 40 people representing such companies as American Eagle Out-fitters, Coach, Macy’s and Walmart,” says Stanley. “I told them that by itself, color actually doesn’t exist. But, it re-quires three things: a light source, an object to reflect the light and an observer. I discussed Archoma’s Color Communi-cator® and how this software helps retail-ers, vendors and mills manage color in industry throughout the world.”

Fortin talked about “The Basics of Finishing” and discussed Clariant’s

products and process innovations with respect to sustainability.

“I spoke about Sanitized® antimicro-bials, our Nuva® N-series C6-based fluoro chemistry, ETSI (Enhanced Tex-tile Strength Improvement) wrinkle-free/non-iron effect and Advanced Den-im® including our new Pad/Sizing-Ox denim process.

“My audience comprised such brands/retailers as Walmart, Patagonia, REI, Nike and Under Armour. And within these groups, there’s definitely heightened awareness of sustainable practices and they see Clariant as a part-ner that can provide environmentally-friendly solutions. Companies reached out to follow up with us on how we could help.”

Carl Fortin spoke at the Global Organic Exchange Conference Oct. 28.