02.13.08
On the heels of last November’s announcement that it will transfer pigment and additive manufacturing from Coventry, RI, to facilities in Germany, China and Mexico by the end of this year, Clariant is re-emphasizing its commitment to North America.
The phaseout decision fit logically with the company’s long-term strategy to maximize its global site network and manufacturing capacity, since the Coventry plant produced only 15 percent of Clariant products supplied to the domestic North American market; the remaining 85 percent was already being imported from other Clariant facilities elsewhere in the world or through third parties. The production phaseout at Coventry is designed to enhance the division’s global capacity utilization while still allowing it to leverage the strength of its robust service, distribution and logistical networks, which all will remain intact.
“This logistical decision actually does not represent a change for our customers. To the contrary, we fully intend to build our business here and grow our market share significantly. We will continue to serve our customers – and serve them well – in North America, which after all is the world’s largest pigment market,” says Bernhard Ehrenreich, Clariant’s Pigments & Additives division head in North America. “We will concentrate our existing resources on our key customers and key projects and appoint highly professional distribution partners in order to achieve a better market coverage and to provide a better service to all our customers in North America. This will help us to improve our time to market as well as to act on the market demands much faster.”
The phaseout decision fit logically with the company’s long-term strategy to maximize its global site network and manufacturing capacity, since the Coventry plant produced only 15 percent of Clariant products supplied to the domestic North American market; the remaining 85 percent was already being imported from other Clariant facilities elsewhere in the world or through third parties. The production phaseout at Coventry is designed to enhance the division’s global capacity utilization while still allowing it to leverage the strength of its robust service, distribution and logistical networks, which all will remain intact.
“This logistical decision actually does not represent a change for our customers. To the contrary, we fully intend to build our business here and grow our market share significantly. We will continue to serve our customers – and serve them well – in North America, which after all is the world’s largest pigment market,” says Bernhard Ehrenreich, Clariant’s Pigments & Additives division head in North America. “We will concentrate our existing resources on our key customers and key projects and appoint highly professional distribution partners in order to achieve a better market coverage and to provide a better service to all our customers in North America. This will help us to improve our time to market as well as to act on the market demands much faster.”