evonik folio, issue 02/2009corporate.evonik.com/misc/epaper/folio/2009/folio-2009-02-en.pdf · 2...

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T H E E M P L O Y E E M A G A Z I N E O F E V O N I K I N D U S T R I E S A G 2 / 2 0 0 9

Chicken feed!

Evonik employees in Germany, Belgium, and the USA produce amino acids that make animal feed more nutritiousand thereby serve a growing global market

ComplianceThe significance of the Integrity Code

North AmericaLockland plant paints a

picture of innovation

1_Folio_02-09_NA_K0 11_Folio_02-09_NA_K0 1 29.01.2009 18:52:00 Uhr29.01.2009 18:52:00 Uhr

2 C O N T E N T S

3 Editorial Weathering the storm

4 Magazine Evonik in the Chinese aviation industry, new facilities in China, awards for Evonik

6 Cover story The amino acid DL-methionine makes animal feed economical and environmentally friendly. Business is thriving as a result

12 Perspectives At a New Year’s reception in Brussels, Dr. Klaus Engel took advantage of the European stage to present the Group and his ideas about energy efficiency

14 Compliance/IT Security A new series in Folio makes it clear why compliance is becoming increas-ingly important for every employee

16 Employee portrait The day shift manager Stefan Drees strikes the right note at work and at play

18 Reactions Lithium-ion technology is a focus of media interest

23 Rally puzzle Win one of four iPod nanos

24 Evonik people Hans-Jürgen Zeimet from Worms

On the cover: Karsten Bootmann photographed Plant Director Tom De Bruycker on the “roof” of the methionine plant in Antwerp.

Readers with questions and suggestions can contact the editorial offi ce at: [email protected]

Folio 2 | 2009

MASTHEADPublisher: Evonik Industries Aktien gesellschaft, Dr. Klaus Engel; Office Manager/Head of Internal Communication: Stefan Haver; Editor in Chief: Sven Scharnhorst (responsible according to press law); Editorial Consultant: Christoph Peck; Art Direction: Wolf Dammann; Managing Editors: Stefan Glowa, Ulrich Raschke; Head of Group Editorial Office: Steffen Henke; Senior Editor: Christof Endruweit; Authors in this issue: Dr. Karin Assmann (ASS), Horst-Oliver Buchholz (HOB), Christine Drath (CD), Oliver Driesen (OD), Christof Endruweit (CHE), Volker Hilbt (VH), Ursula Jäger (UJ), Nina Labitzke (NL), Thomas Lange (TL), Anna Mondry (AM), Sven Scharnhorst (SVS), Anna Sieradzki (AS); Address: Rellinghauser Straße 1, 45128 Essen, Postfach 10 32 62, 45117 Essen, Tel. +49/(0)201/177-33 40, internal 992-33 40, Fax +49/(0)201/177-31 81, e-mail: [email protected]; Picture Editor: Karsten Bootmann; Design: Martin Bartel, Arnim Knorst (head), Silke Möller, Susana Oliveira/Redaktion 4, Hamburg; Copy Desk: Wilm Steinhäuser; Translation: TransForm, Cologne; Publishing house: HOFFMANN UND CAMPE VERLAG GmbH, a company of the GANSKE VERLAGSGRUPPE, Harvestehuder Weg 42, 20149 Hamburg, Tel. +49/(0)40/441 88-457, Fax +49/(0)40/441 88-236; Management: Manfred Bissinger, Dr. Kai Laakmann, Dr. Andreas Siefke; Publication Manager: Eva Maria Böbel; Production: Claude Hellweg (head), Oliver Lupp; Marketing: Kirsten Beenck, Tel. +49/(0)40/688 79-139, Fax +49/(0)40/688 79-199, e-mail: [email protected]; Reproduction: PX2, Hamburg; Copyright: ©2009 by Evonik Industries Aktiengesellschaft, Essen. Reprinting only with source credit and voucher copy. The content does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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“Energy, Efficiency, Evonik”At the reception in Brussels, Executive Board Chairman Dr. Klaus Engel explained what Evonik is doing to safeguard the energy supply and protect the climatePAGE 12

Not just chicken feedService and know-how make Evonik one of the leading suppliers of DL-methionine, an essential amino acid in animal feed PAGE 6

LOCAL NEWS 19 North America Procter & Gamble honors Evonik with

award; Lockland plant paints a picture of innovation; Sales and Marketing training now available on Plateau; Active Oxy-gens donates to Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization


Weathering the stormGiven the current economic climate, it is difficult for many of us to think beyond the doom and gloom dominating the daily headlines. The economic crisis we face today has created great uncertainty for companies and individuals alike.

But if we look back at past economic recessions, some firms have emerged from economic downturn stronger than ever. A downturn can present opportunities for companies to reposition themselves, establish new relationships, identify new opportunites and, ultimately, equip themselves for sustainable long term success. We will be one of these companies.

To successfully navigate through these turbulent times we must take a number of actions including:

• Conserving cash and reducing costs.

• Increasing our competitiveness.

• Recognizing growth opportunities during these times and have the courage to seize them.

I know the road ahead will be challenging, but at Evonik we have always risen above these challenges. This time will be no different. We will emerge a stronger, healthier and more innovative company.

3 E D I T O R I A L

Folio 2 | 2009

Tom Bates,President Evonik Degussa Corporation

The Evonik agenda for FebruaryVancouver, February 11–12: Evonik’s Acrylic Polymers Business Line will be repre-sented at Buildex Vancou-ver in Canada, a trade fair focusing on architecture, construction, and interior decorating.

Kiev, February 4–6: The Health & Nutrition Business Unit will be one of the exhibitors at InterAGRO in Ukraine, which will be held this year for the fifth time. At this international trade fair for modern agri-culture, farming, and animal husbandry, trade visitors will be making their purchasing decisions before the start of the growing season.

New Delhi, February 4–9: The Plastindia trade fair, which takes place every three years, is a well-known meeting point for leading representatives of the international plastics and rubber industry. The Perfor-mance Polymers and Inorganic Materials Business Units, as well as Evonik Goldschmidt GmbH, will be represented at the fair.

Canton, February 24–26: The latest trends in body care and cosmetics will be presented at the PCHi (Personal Care and Homecare Ingredients) trade fair in China. Evonik’s Care Specialties and Advanced Silanes Business Lines will be represented at the fair.

San Francisco, February 1–4: At the biggest global trade fair for biodiesel, National Bio-diesel Conference & Expo in California (USA), Evonik’s In-dustrial Chemicals Business Unit will demonstrate its ex -pertise in the manufacture of catalysts for biodiesel produc-tion at its locations in Lülsdorf (Germany) and Mobile (Ala-bama, USA). Evonik is also one of the trade fair’s sponsors.


Evonik named top employerIt’s official: Evonik Industries AG is one of China’s best employers. Evonik Degussa (China) Co., Ltd. received three awards for outstanding human resources management in 2008. The most recent award saw Evonik being included with 23 other companies in the CRF international pub-lishing company’s list of “China’s Top Employers 2009.” The award ceremony in Shanghai on December 15, 2008, was attended by Evonik’s Regional President Greater China Region, Dr. Dahai Yu, and employee representatives. A total of 386 companies competed for the award. The award jury praised Evonik Degussa (China) Co., Ltd.’s outstanding internal training program, transparent communication structure, and flat hierarchies. “This award honors the positive working environment we’ve created, which is an indispensable element in our ability to recruit and retain talented young people,” said Yu.

Targeted sales activities becoming more importantThis year’s International Sales (IS) winter colloquium focused on concepts and instruments for supporting sales at the Business Units. Patrik Wohlhauser, Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Degussa GmbH, with responsibility for Marketing, Sales, and Innovation, emphasized the importance of IS in a speech he gave at the colloquium: “Especially in uncertain times like these, International Sales has to take on the difficult task of supporting the Business Units and the Business

Lines as they seek to continue managing their businesses at a profit.” Volker Grunwald, President Inter-national Sales, was also on hand at the event, where he underscored the importance of high-end selling in the form of key account and strategic account management: “We need highly qualified people in this area if we want to achieve top performance and top business results.” Grunwald also pointed out that low-cost selling will also become much more relevant because smaller customers around the world can be better served by retailers. “Channel management is already moving in a very promising direction here,” he said.

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The names PLEXIGLAS SOUNDSTOP®, ccflex®, ROHACELL®, and SOLIMIDE® are protected brands of Evonik Industries AG or its subsidiaries, and are written in capitals in the text.

Volker Grunwald (right) and Patrik Wohl-hauser agree on the great importance of Inter-national Sales

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Evonik is constructing two new facilities in the Shanghai region. The photo shows the Oriental Pearl Tower

Evonik building three new facilities in ChinaCatalyst plant in ShanghaiEvonik Industries has begun constructing a new cata-lyst manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China. The plant, which is scheduled to begin operating in the fourth quarter of 2009, will produce precious metal powder catalysts for use in synthetic substances in the pharma-ceutical, fine, and industrial chemicals sector. Among other things, such catalysts enable pharmaceutical agents to be produced selectively and cost-effectively.

Polymerization plant Expansion of Evonik Industries’ global production capacity for thermoplastic methacrylate resins is pro-ceeding on schedule, as the company is now con-structing a new production plant for such resins at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in China. The new factory will become part of one of the largest inte-grated methacrylate production facilities in the world. The products to be manufactured there will be used primarily as industrial coatings in items such as paints for ships and plastics. The new plant is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of this year.

Cornerstone laid in NanningEvonik Rexim Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Nanning, China has begun constructing a new plant for produc-ing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Patrik Wohlhauser, Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Degussa GmbH, says construction of the new factory represents a milestone in the company’s development that “will bring new technology, addi-tional business opportunities, and new jobs to the Wuming district.”

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at the award ceremony

4 M A G A Z I N E

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Transparent noise insulationA new highway sound barrier in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the USA is providing drivers with a clear view, while at the same time ensuring that residents are not disturbed by highway noise. The Marquette Interchange, one of the most important highway junctions in Wisconsin, was recently equipped with a sound barrier that has a remarkable feature: the structure built using Evonik’s CRYO LLC is transparent, which means that drivers continue to have a clear view of the skyline of Wis-consin’s largest city. The transparent wall, which was made possible by the innovative material PLEXIGLAS SOUNDSTOP, demonstrates that practical utility and aesthetic aspects need not be mutually exclusive.

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A clear view in Wisconsin, thanks to PLEXIGLAS

Thanks!The 2008 Global Employee Survey was a huge success, recording a response rate of 76 percent, two percentage points higher than the figure for the 2006 survey. The great commitment displayed by the Evonik Industries workforce thus made possible a donation of €76,000 to the Peace Village Inter-national initiative, which helps children in areas ravaged by war and crises.

Innovation wins awardCCFLEX, a flexible mineral-based wall covering developed by Creavis, has won the iF product design award 2009 in one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious design competitions. Creavis created the unique ceramic wall covering, which is as flexible as wallpaper and is used for demanding applications such as those in bathrooms and showers. The material’s textile-like appearance also makes for a very cozy atmosphere.

The CCFLEX wall covering was selected for the iF product design award 2009 in the category of Furniture/Home Textiles by an international panel consisting of 28 designers. This year’s award competi-tion was held under the motto “Innovations Exist and Take Shape.”

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Phoenix flies with foams from EvonikWhen China developed the first regional airplane for use in the country, it turned to high-performance foams from Evonik Industries. The new Xiang Feng (Chinese for “phoenix”) ARJ21-700 aircraft built by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China contains ROHACELL polymethacryl imide rigid foam as the foam core in structural components such as the slotted flap and the winglet. In general, ROHACELL serves as a core material in composite components made of highly rigid plastics that are re-inforced by carbon or glass fibers. The use of ROHACELL results in extremely rigid yet light moldings that can withstand very high stress loads. Evonik’s soft polyimide foam SOLIMIDE is used for insulation in the ARJ21-700. SOLIMIDE is con-sidered to be the best insulating material for air-planes because of its flame-retardant properties and the fact that it can be utilized across a broad range of temperatures. The phoenix embarked on its maiden flight at the end of November. The plane is scheduled to be launched on the market in around 18 months, and plans also call for it to be sold in Europe and the USA. A total of 208 orders for the aircraft have been placed to date.


DL-methionine, which Evonik produces in Antwerp(Belgium, pictured left), Wesseling (Germany), and Mobile (Ala bama, USA) makes chickens grow strong and healthy

6 C O V E R S T O R Y

Folio 2 | 2009


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DL-methionine: More than just chicken feed With a portfolio of just one single product packaged for three different applications, the Methionine Business Area is currently generating impressive sales and earnings. Its major success with this essential amino acid for the animal feed industry is the result of not only a healthy market climate but also a professional sales and marketing operation, excellent service, and techno-logical leadership. In response to rising demand, this Business Area has now also reactivated the temporarily decommissioned plant in AntwerpFolio 2 | 2009


Do chickens like DL-methionine?” It’s a legitimate question. After all, this amino acid—here in the form of a

white powder—is a constituent of animal feed, especially chicken feed, and gives off a charac-teristic odor that humans find unpleasant. For-tunately, the chickens think otherwise and ob-viously enjoy eating it.

That said, taste is not the reason the rea-son why poultry are fed with DL-methionine. “For chickens, there are nutritional tables to ensure that they get an optimal diet,” explains Dr. Michael Pack, Head of the Methionine Business Area. “When given a balanced diet, they need less feed, since they make better use of what they get, which means they grow just as quickly but produce less excrement.” That eases the burden on the environment. In Western Europe and North America in partic-ular, there have been concerted efforts to re-duce the use of liquid manure as a fertilizer, because it pollutes the groundwater with ni-trates and the air with ammonia.

Essential amino acidsAmino acids are part of a healthy diet for both humans and livestock. They are the building blocks of proteins, which play a crucial role in a whole variety of bodily functions. There are proteins in hair, skin, muscles, connective tis-sue, and nails as well as hooves, beaks, scales, and feathers. As a constituent of hormones, they control vital physiological processes; as antibodies, they fight off infections; and as transport proteins like hemoglobin, which transports oxygen in the blood, they move important substances around the body.

In all organisms, proteins are formed from 21 different amino acids. Depending on the type of organism, between eight and ten of them—the so-called essential amino acids—have to be ingested as part of the diet. More-over, all the amino acids must be present in the right ratio, or the synthesis of proteins will come to a halt. Unlike other amino acids, me-thionine is often lacking in chicken feed. And once it has been used up, the chickens can-not process the other constituents in the feed, which means they simply get excreted. This deficiency can be corrected by the addition of industrially produced DL-methionine. This

benefits not only the chickens, which thrive on a healthy diet, but also the environment, because less dung is produced, and the poul-try farmers as well, since they save substan-tially on the cost of feed. Yet this alone does not fully explain the success of the Methio-nine Business Area as an important member of the chemicals portfolio at Evonik Industries AG and an indispensable partner of the feed industry. The past five years have seen sales more than double, and last year, in response to increased demand, the Business Area recom-missioned its former plant in Antwerp (Bel-gium), following substantial modernization. “In terms of service, technology, credibility, and delivery reliability—based on the perfor-mance of all our locations—we’re very proba-bly the leading supplier,” says Pack.

This confidence is also supported by the hard facts. A key element in the service pack-age is an extensive database compiled by the in-house applications lab. This provides in-formation on how many amino acids are to be found in which feed crops, while also tak-ing account of regional differences such as climate and soil composition. It covers more than 100 raw materials and is expanding at the rate of 15,000 new analyses a year. No matter whether a poultry farmer wants to use wheat from France, corn from North America, or the more exotic sesame meal that is common in parts of India—the database will reveal any de-ficiencies in the feed. Thanks to expert con-sultation provided by Evonik, poultry pro-ducers worldwide can then put together an optimal feed mix—using, if required, a dosing system that automatically weighs and mixes all the feed components—and can even check the quality of the feed mix.

Competitive advantageThis service is unique. “Analyzing for amino acids and proteins in feed crops is a very com-plicated process. Nobody else in the business can match our experience and know-how,” says Dr. Thomas Kaufmann, who is respon-sible for marketing the four amino acids sup-plied by Evonik, which include, alongside DL-methionine, L-lysine, L-tryptophane, and L-threonine, all from the Biotechnology Business Area. This Business Area has prac-

ticed this type of analysis for almost 50 years and has been highly instrumental in develop-ing this market. “We use a variety of innova-tive methods to rapidly and reliably find out whether any amino acids are missing, and we know just how to make up for such de-ficiencies,” Kaufmann adds. “As the special-ist for amino acids, we generate an enormous competitive advantage for our customers, and that’s what clearly sets us apart from our rivals.”

Better than soybean mealIn cooperation with various universities, the specialists from Evonik are also examining how chickens react to different feed formu-lations. On this basis, they can then give valu-able advice to customers. “If chickens don’t get enough DL-methionine, they grow poorly and require more feed,” Kaufmann explains. “And if they have too much, they simply ex-crete it unused, which is just as inefficient, and also crazy from an ecological point of view.”

This service is very popular with custom-ers. “Our specialized sales team markets all four amino acids from both Business Areas directly to feed manufacturers and livestock breeders worldwide,” says Eric Jegers from Sales and Marketing. “That gives us first-hand knowledge of our customers’ needs and the latest market trends, so that we can tailor our service accordingly and generate added value for the customer. Being so close to our cus-tomers, we know that they value our service highly and that we offer them more than the competition does.”

There’s also other good news on the eco-logical front, where an environmental per-formance assessment conducted by the Insti-tute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg (ifeu)—commissioned several years ago by Evonik—compared two ways of compensating for a lack of methionine in chicken feed: with the addition of either syn-thetic DL-methionine or of soybean meal, which is especially rich in protein. Accord-ing to the study, the use of DL-methionine not only prevents overfertilization of the soil but also reduces energy consumption to one-sixth compared to the use of soybean meal. This is because synthetic DL-methionine can >

“The use of amino acids is a sustainability factor in the animal feed industry” Dr. Michael Pack (left), in conversation with Eric Jegers (center) and Dr. Thomas Kaufmann


Folio 2 | 2009


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At the amino acid laboratory in Hanau, Silvia Schubert in-vestigates how many amino acids are to be found in which feed crops

Thanks not least to its excellent service, Evonik has

been able to more than double its sales of DL-methio-

nine over the past five years

Ulrike Zimmer and her colleagues

produce more than 15,000 analyses

a year at the amino acids lab in Hanau

Folio 2 | 2009


be combined with homegrown wheat, thus eliminating the need to import soybean meal from the world’s main growers in the USA, Brazil, or Argentina. This not only reduces the consumption of energy but also curbs the in-creasing use of arable land to grow such crops. By the same token, it also cuts CO2 emissions. Through the substitution effect, when all of Evonik’s DL-methionine plants operate at full capacity, this results in savings of 14 million tons of CO2 a year. “The use of amino acids is a sustainability factor in the animal feed indus-try,” Pack underlines.

That’s good news, considering that the world’s population is growing continuously and today already more than 6.7 billion mouths have to be fed. According to estimates made by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the annual consumption of poultry is set to rise from currently 88 mil-lion tons to over 140 million tons by the year 2030. Whereas consumption in Europe and the USA is increasing by about one percent a year, growth in Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America is between five and ten per-cent. Poultry is not only highly nutritional and low in cholesterol but also free of any religious taboos. Similarly, economic growth in heavily populated countries such as China has led to an increased demand for meat. This fact along with the use of new types of animal feed with higher added DL-methionine content have led to a market shortage of the amino acid.

In other words, market prospects are good. As Pack explains, apart from ChemChina, which has acquired its French rival Adisseo and is now building a new production plant in China, there is little likelihood of another se-rious competitor emerging: “The barriers to market entry are very high, because the pro-duction technology is so complex.” He is also relatively relaxed about the risks of avian flu, which led to the emergency slaughter of mil-lions of infected chickens four years ago. “If there’s of another outbreak, we know that producers will react much faster and prevent it from spreading as much as it did last time.”

Technological leadershipIn addition to providing high-quality ser-vice, the business line boasts two other ma-

jor strengths: “We have full backward inte-gration and we’re the technological leader,” Pack explains. Backward integration means that the production plants in Wesseling and Antwerp produce not only DL-methionine but also the requisite raw materials—hydro-cyanic acid, methyl mercaptan, and acro-lein—and are therefore independent from suppliers.

For Pack, however, that’s no reason to take things easy. In order to guard this technologi-cal leadership and to boost output even fur-ther, a team of over 30 researchers in Hanau is focusing exclusively on the synthesis of DL-methionine, acrolein, and methyl mercaptan. Their close proximity to production, sales, and marketing ensures that they don’t re-main in an ivory tower. As soon as a new idea

proves practicable at the pilot plant in Hanau, it gets transferred to the production plants. In such cases, each location takes its turn to be the first to test out a process modification be-fore it is adopted by the others. This ensures that the plants and their workforce stay at the cutting edge.

The newest integrated DL-methionine network has been in operation in Antwerp since the end of 2005. It includes the fourth of Evonik’s DL-methionine plants, which is the world’ largest, with an annual capac-ity of 120,000 tons. The plant is also highly economical, thanks to the recovery of waste heat, which significantly reduces the use of energy. “This plant has benefited from the experience acquired at all three locations,” says Plant Director Tom De Bruycker. He and his production engineers meet four times a

year to compare notes with their colleagues from the plants in Wesseling (Germany) and Mobile (Alabama, USA). “We’re optimizing our plants all the time, so it’s important to remain in close consultation,” De Bruycker explains.

As in all chemical plants, everything runs fully automatically at the new DL-methio-nine facility—the whole process is operated and monitored around the clock, seven days a week from the control room. Almost 50 anal-yses of the reactor contents conducted every hour help to ensure optimal process control. As a rule, the finished product is transported all over the world by sea—the container ter-minal right on the doorstep is one of the ma-jor advantages of Antwerp.

With the recommissioning of the old pro-duction plant in November, Antwerp will now be shipping even more DL-methionine. Before the plant went back into operation, the workforce underwent retraining for a whole year. “DL-methionine plants are highly com-plex,” explains De Bruycker.

Employees from the other plant helped substantially with the recommissioning—a service that will stand them in good stead, since employees are regularly transferred between the plants, despite the different op-erating methods. “Ideally, we have as many people as possible who are able to work at dif-ferent plants, because that gives us greater flexibility,” says De Bruycker, who explains that one of the chief reasons why they will be able to master this challenge as well is be-cause “the motivation of our employees is ex-tremely high.”

With satisfied customers, a sustainable product in a growing market, a competitive edge in terms of capacity, service, and tech-nology, and a highly motivated workforce, DL-methionine from Evonik is in great shape for the future. And as a result of the recom-missioning of the old production facility in Antwerp, it will now be possible to meet the increasing demand worldwide for this vital amino acid.

In other words, unless the global eco-nomic crisis has some more shocks in store, the DL-methionine business should remain a source of good news in the Group. ASS

>

“The motivation of our employees is extremely high” Tom De Bruycker

POULTRY CONSUMPTION

2008

The FAO estimates that the consump-tion of poul-try will rise continu-ously in the coming years

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Boasting an annual capacity of 120,000 tons, the new DL

methionine plant in Antwerp (Belgium) is the largest

in the world

Stefaan Duellaert monitors and controls the process in the control room of the DL-methionine plant in Antwerp

Folio 2 | 2009


Folio 2 | 2009

“The problems are too complex for isolated

national solutions” “Energy, Efficiency, Evonik” was the theme of Executive Board chairman Dr. Klaus Engel’s

speech at the New Year’s reception held at Evonik’s Representative Office in Brussels


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“Energy efficiency is a top priority at Evonik”: Executive Board Chairman Dr. Klaus Engel

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P E R S P E C T I V E S

This year marked the second time that Evonik Industries’ Representative Of-fice in Brussels has held a New Year’s re-

ception. The event offered a good opportunity for an exchange of opinions among the 160 or so guests, who included members of the Coun-cil of the European Union, the European Com-mission, the European Parliament, the repre-sentative offices of the German federal states and the German Parliament, as well as repre-sentatives of industry, business associations, and Evonik Industries itself. The reception also featured speeches by Dr. Klaus Engel and the state secretary in Germany’s Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nu-clear Safety, Matthias Machnig.

SustainabilityEvonik’s Brussels Representative Office held the reception in the Bibliothèque Solvay in Parc Léopold, which is located near the Eu-ropean Parliament and the Council of the Eu-ropean Union Building. The library is named after Ernest Solvay, a famous Belgian chem-ist who founded the Solvay Group together with his brother and invented the process for producing soda. Solvay is known for his com-bination of a passion for research with an en-trepreneurial spirit and a sense of social re-sponsibility. That’s why the library that bears his name was the perfect setting for a discus-sion of the issues addressed at the reception.

“Energy, Efficiency, Evonik” was the theme of Klaus Engel’s speech at the event, in which the Evonik chairman talked about the ideas, initiatives, and projects with which Evonik is responding to the sharply increasing demand for sustainable and energy-efficient products and processes. “Efficiency is a top priority at Evonik,” said Engel, pointing out the compa-ny’s activities with regard to white biotech-nology, high-performance plastics, and low rolling-resistance tires. He also talked about Evonik’s Eco2 Science-to-Business Center (S2B) and its cooperation with Daimler on the further development of lithium-ion bat-teries for electric vehicles. “We focus on sus-tainability and acknowledge our responsibility to society,” said Engel, adding that this corpo-rate policy is due not only to ethical consider-ations but also the fact that violating the sus-tainability principle is “bad for business. It’s clear that there are very convincing econom-ic and financial reasons why companies should

act in accordance with generally accepted eco-logical and social principles.”

However, Engel also said that the problems associated with climate change “are too com-plex and global to be addressed through iso-lated national policies—or even through larg-er European solutions.” While Europe should “set an example, especially for countries on the verge of major industrialization, by dem-onstrating that it’s possible—and practical—to combine effective climate protection with continual industrial development and social prosperity,” it’s also true that this exemplary role for Europe can lead to an economic disad-vantage for European companies that compete outside the continent. That’s because indus-tries outside of Europe are not subject to the burden of the European emission trading sys-tem and thus have a “systematic competitive advantage.” According to Engel, one should not be silent about this economic downside of Europe’s exemplary role.

Energy efficiency leaderEngel also called for safeguarding energy sup-plies by increasing the proportion of renew-able sources in the energy mix, while simulta-neously investing in state-of-the-art coal-fired power plants that conserve resources as much as possible and boast higher efficiency ratings. “I’d like to see more support for the type of re-search that will enable us to achieve efficien-cy ratings of 50 percent or even more in coal-fired power plants,” he said.

State secretary Machnig appeared on short notice to stand in for Germany’s Environmen-tal Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, who had to re-main in Berlin for negotiations concerning the German government’s €50 billion econom-ic stimulus program. In his speech, Machnig stated that ecological issues would shape the economic system of the 21st century, point-ing out that the population explosion from six billion today to an estimated nine billion in 2050 will result in a huge demand for ener-gy and resources, leading to a tremendous in-crease in CO2 emissions. “We need to change the way we implement environmental policy,” said Machnig, adding that dire warnings of ca-tastrophes and an opposition to technological development are not proper responses to to-day’s pressing issues: “We need sustainable growth—but we also have to create the con-ditions necessary to achieve it. I’m convinced

that the world’s most competitive countries and companies in the future will be those that lead the way in energy efficiency.” Whereas economy and ecology were almost diamet-rically opposed in the past, the situation has changed over the last 30 years. “We’re open to debates and arguments, so we’re also very interested in establishing close contacts with both industry and non-governmental organi-zations,” said Machnig in response to an offer made by Engel in his speech to engage in dis-cussions with the ministry. CHE


14 C O M P L I A N C E / I T S E C U R I T Y

“Without parallel”Compliance and IT security—a new series in Folio. What is proper conduct at the company and how can I most effectively represent Evonik to the outside world? And how should I treat sensitive data? In a loose series of articles, Folio will cover these and other issues concerning compliance and IT security. The first installment will focus on how trainees learn about the code of conduct. The next installment will be devoted to Web-based training

What exactly is a code of conduct? And what do I have to do in or-der to comply with it? These

were some of the issues addressed by nearly 200 trainees at the Evonik location in Marl. In a total of 12 three-hour sessions, em-ployees from the corporate division Com-pliance & Corporate Governance (C-CG) introduced these topics to the first-year trainees from the areas of natural sciences/technology and business. Most of these trainees are between 16 and 20 years old. “Our aim is to make even our youngest employees understand the importance of Evonik’s code of conduct. This code plays a particularly crucial role in our day-to-day business and in our interactions with one another,” explains Ulrich Ebmeier, who heads the division. The project was devel-oped in cooperation with the training man-agers at the Marl Chemistry Park and will later be rolled out to further Evonik loca-tions in Germany and the rest of the world. “To my knowledge, this kind of compliance training is unique,” says Silja Bornschlegl, who works at C-CG. And Ebmeier adds: “Teaching even trainees about the compa-ny’s rules of conduct is certainly a policy that is without parallel.” CHE

Spam (also called junk mail) refers to undesired mail that is generally disseminated by electronic means. Spam is unsolicited, transmitted en masse, and generally contains advertising.

GlossaryIn the field of business, the term compliance refers to a company’s adherence to laws, regulations, and ethical standards.

Questions on this topic:[email protected]

CONTACT

Are kickbacks good busi-ness? According to the

code of conduct for the employees of the Evonik

Group, the answer to that question is an unequivo-

cal “no”: “At Evonik, any form of active or passive

bribery or attempted bribery is forbidden.”


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Team member…...Dr. Svenja Deich (34) specializes in labor law. Every day she answers questions posed to her via e-mail or phone—for example, whether employees may accept a supplier’s dinner invitation or a bottle of wine as a gift. Since the beginning of 2009 she has served as le-gal counsel in the corporate division Compliance & Corporate Governance. Together with four collea gues, she ensures that the Evonik Industries code of con -duct is correctly implemented, for example to prevent corruption. Her tasks include providing training for employees and advising compliance officers and em-ployees abroad. Before taking on this position Deich worked in the Labor and Social Law department, where she negotiated corporate agreements, social programs, and collective bargaining agreements. She now benefits from the experience she gained at Human Resources: “Since we mainly serve employees, it’s useful to know the responsible people at HR,” she says. Before joining Evonik she worked at the tax consulting department of PricewaterhouseCoopers and at the Association of Salaried Academics and Managers in the Chemicals Industry (VAA). UJ

_ Mr. Ebmeier, why did you begin your training program for the code of conduct at Evonik Industries with trainees?In talks with the managers in charge of training at the Marl Chemistry Park, we came up with the idea of linking people’s aware-ness of how we interact with one another on a daily basis with instruction about the code of conduct. In their fi rst months of training, young people take part in many training courses that teach them about the company. By practicing binding rules and values, the trainees learn how to fi nd their

way within the Group and their respective work environments._ Do these courses address different topics than do the courses for managers?Yes. After all, trainees certainly won’t have to deal with issues relating to anti-trust law or attempts to bribe them. But we want to tell trainees how they should deal with mistakes, give them the courage to frankly address issues, and teach them about cooperation, honesty, bullying, and sexual harassment. We want to let them know what we want and don’t want, and what principles they should adhere to

so that they can fi nd their way within the company._ What techniques do you use to teach this conduct?We rely less on presentations and more on interactive techniques. For example, we use the Metaplan technique to discuss questions like “Where could damage ensue?” and “What can I do?” For some topics the trainees play a business strategy game in small groups._ What feedback have you received from the participants?It’s been very good. We’ve had lively discussions and received in-teresting suggestions. CHE

Ulrich EbmeierThe head of the corporate division Compliance & Corporate Governance talks about the courses for trainees

INTERVIEW WITH…

Say “no” to briberyRobert is a trainee who can hardly believe his eyes when he sees all his coworkers accept Christmas cards containing €100 each from an external company. “As an encouragement and a thank you for the good cooperation,” say the cards. The gifts make Robert feel uneasy, since he fears that the others are taking bribes. In a heated debate between him and his coworkers, neither side is willing to make any concessions. In the end, the situation becomes very intense indeed.

Fortunately, however, it’s not real, as Robert is only taking part in a role play along with other trainees in their first year of training to become plant mechanics. In the “Compliance for Trainees” seminar in Marl, Robert and his coworkers learn in a play-ful way what it means to follow rules and regulations and generally do the right thing. In small groups, the 14 young men discuss what to do when faced with bribery, bullying or theft. “Why shouldn’t I be allowed to take the money?” asks one parti ci-pant. Another one reasons: “I’m just a trainee. My coworkers surely know what’s right or not.” And that’s exactly where the “Compliance for Trainees” seminar comes in, because the young men aren’t “just” trainees—they’re also company employees.

Ulrich Ebmeier, who heads the corporate division Compliance & Corporate Governance, and his colleague Silja Bornschlegl make it clear to the participants that any form of bribery is forbidden, which is why the money enclosed with the Christmas cards may not be accepted. However, the trainees have already realized this on their own. In their working groups, they’ve also developed new solutions to this dilemma, such as letting their training director know what’s happening. All of them agree that they’ll say no to bribery. TL

Folio 2 | 2009


The master singer: The bass from Dülmen is increasingly in demand as a soloist specializing in arias from operas and operettas. This year he will also perform in chamber music concerts

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Folio 2 | 2009

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Stefan Drees, who works at the Marl Chemistry Park, always likes to strike the right note—be it at work or at play.

Drees, a day shift manager in the Industrial Chemicals Business Unit at Evonik Industries, has devoted his free time to classical music and choral singing for more than a decade. His daily work requires constant alertness, but music and singing enable him to switch off at the end of a long hard day. “Singing is a wonderful way to relieve stress and recharge your batteries,” says the 44-year-old.

Ever since he completed his training in 1981, Drees has been working at the Evonik location in Marl—and for almost 25 years of that time, he’s been at the oxo alcohols unit, initially as a chemical technician working al-ternate shifts, then as a shift foreman, and since 1997 as a day shift manager. During his work-ing day he focuses on the alcohol isononanol, which is used as a softener in numerous plastic applications in the automotive and construc-tion industries, but in his free time he works hard on his vocal training. Day after day, he practices in his living room (“when my fam-ily’s not at home”) or in the basement, at re-hearsals with the mixed choir at St. Joseph’s in Dülmen, and, since 2005, at least once a week with his voice coach, the operatic and concert singer Ludger Breimann in Münster. “In addi-tion, before major performances I also do spe-cial rehearsals with the pianist Thomas Modos, a conductor and instructor at the Music Con-servatory of Münster,” he adds.

A lifelong passionDrees’ passion for music began at the tender age of six, when he attended the music school in Dülmen and was electrified by the sound of the organ. He eventually moved on from the or-gan to the keyboard, and in 1982 he joined to-gether with his two brothers and other musi-cians to enter the professional world of dance and entertainment music. At parties and cele-brations of all kinds, Drees played the keyboard and sang, acting as the band’s direct link with the audience. But in 1998 it was time to call it a day. “The performers who were becoming

popular were no longer singing my kind of mu-sic,” explains Drees, who was now singing hits like Anton aus Tirol. In 2000, he found a new channel for his lifelong passion and switched to classical music.

That summer he joined the choir at St. Jo-seph’s, where the choirmaster Thomas Drees (no relation) immediately recognized the po-tential of his namesake’s melodious bass voice. However, it took a good five more years be-fore this potential could be realized. “Because of my family, I kept postponing the step to-ward performing as a soloist,” reports Drees, who has two children. “Not until my sons were 11 and 13 years old did I take the time to work on my solo career.” But the pleasure that music gives him has made it all worthwhile. Accom-panied almost always by his wife Gerlinde (as a listener), he has been performing for years now with the voice class from the Gesangstu-dio Münster and at many other events. “Most of these are benefit concerts,” says the bass, who has nothing but praise for his voice coach: “Ludger Breimann has a real sense of social responsibility. And of course he’s right when

he says that we can show what we’ve learned only by performing.”

Drees’ repertoire includes not only clas-sics of church music such as Handel’s Te Deum or Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Orato-rio, but also secular music from operas and op-erettas, which he often sings in costume, in-cluding a white wig for Mozart arias. Inspired by the Lübeck-based theater director Torsten Marfordt’s acting classes for singers, Drees has performed arias from works such as The Czar and the Carpenter, The Student Prince, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Drees can look back on a dozen concerts as a soloist in 2008, and last September he re-ceived his first major paid role. The number of his performances will increase this year, because he also plans to do some chamber concerts. “I’m going to sing some ballads and art songs, which often evolved into popular folk songs,” he says. But for this master of the bottom C, the greatest musical ambitions still lie ahead: “I’d love to sing The Messiah and The Creation,” he says. VH

A Master of the Bottom CStefan Drees, a day shift manager at the Industrial Chemicals Business Unit, is also a bass singer specializing in classical music

Day shift manager Stefan Drees has been working for over 25 years at the oxo alcohols plant at the Marl Chemistry Park, which is now part of Evonik’s Industrial Chemicals Business Unit

Folio 2 | 2009


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RBadische Zeitung—January 7, 2009The automakers are forming global alliances for the production of lithium-ion batteries/Daimler teams up with Evonik.

The most spectacular piece of news about the development of lithium-ion batteries for ve-hicles came from Stuttgart a few days ago, when Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced his company would be cooperating with Evonik…

Mitteldeutsche Zeitung—January 3, 2009 At first glance, this smart looks like any other. Only if the “fuel-filler door” at the back right is open does it become apparent that there is more to this car than meets the eye, as the flap hides an electric socket. Up front, the dash-board sports a round dial showing the charge level of the battery, attesting to the two-seater’s electric heart.… The new lithium-ion batteries that Daimler is now developing and building in cooperation with Evonik (MZ reported), will ensure that the electric cars won’t run out of steam too soon.

Euro am Sonntag—January 10, 2009 Automakers and suppliers are looking for the hybrid drive system of the future. The company that makes it to the market first can expect to make big profits.

…In fact, car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer predicts that by 2025 no new vehicle will be sold in the EU without a hybrid system or an

exclusively electric drive. Dudenhöffer, who is head of the Center Automotive Research (CAR) at the University of Duisburg-Essen expects the technology to achieve a break-through as early as 2015, when inexpensive lithium-ion batteries—the core element of all hybrid cars—will become available. “The electrification of the automobile would then commence,” says Dudenhöffer. As a result, the market for lithium batteries would be headed for a boom…

…In cooperation with Evonik, Daimler plans to develop its own lithium-ion batteries, which it will sell to third parties. The Stuttgart-based automaker aims to “get its hands on the most decisive groundbreaking technologies.”

Sächsische Zeitung—January 2, 2009 …Klaus Engel will become CEO of the chemi-cals company Evonik, which conducts research into the car batteries of the future in Saxony. A former minister will be followed by a chemist. At the beginning of the year, Klaus Engel will take over at the helm of Evonik, a huge, Essen-based corporation with 43,000 employees…

…Under Engel’s management, Evonik will again focus more strongly on Saxony: In the town of Kamenz, the Essen-based Group is in-volved in the company Li-Tec Vermögens-verwaltungs-GmbH. However, the company’s name does not reveal what it actually does or what it eventually could become: Li-Tec works

on lithium-ion batteries. The plant currently has 100 employees, but Evonik and co-owner Daimler recently promised that the figure would climb to “over 1,000 in the long term.”

Handelsblatt—January 5, 2009 The automaker Daimler is attempting to directly compete with large supplier companies such as Bosch on the promising battery technology market. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer is considering the possibility of selling the lith-ium-ion batteries that will be produced as a result of the battery alliance with the industrial company Evonik that was announced in De-cember. “Sales to third parties are quite possi-ble over the medium term,” the responsible Daimler board member Thomas Weber told the Handelsblatt. “We particularly think that the upstream business has great potential.” By expanding into the important future market for electric cars, the automaker is entering the territory of the automotive suppliers.

Berliner Zeitung—January 14, 2009 …Lithium-ion batteries are still barely afford-able for automakers, costing €15,000 or more. In mid-December, Daimler and Evonik an-nounced that they would quickly bring a large battery to market that would be based on lithium-ion technology. In these systems, con-ductive nanomaterials such as titanate and lithium-iron phosphate are applied to the elec-trodes with the aim of increasing the reaction surface and thus boost storage capacity.

Dramatic price cuts are not to be expected until demand increases. The Institute for Auto-motive Management (IFA) in Geislingen estimates that there could be around 30,000 electric cars on Germany’s roads in 2015. The German government even expects the see one million electric cars in the country by 2020.

Financial Times Deutschland—January 12, 2009Daimler and BMW, which are striving for global market leadership in the development of new electric cars, will first take to the road with electric-drive versions of their subcompact models smart and Mini—as ambassadors… In Detroit, Daimler recently presented a con-cept vehicle of the successor, which will be built on the platform of the B-Class. The bat-tery, which will be located in the vehicle’s floor, is expected to have a range of 200 kilo-meters. …However, the biggest problem is still not solved: the power supply. The batteries are too large and heavy, while the range is comparatively low. The cooling system is not yet perfected either. Together with the Essen-based industrial group Evonik, Daimler is now develop-ing its own battery system, which is scheduled to be ready for mass production by 2012.

“Headed for a boom”

Automotive electric drives—such as the one powering the smart shown here in a Daimler fleet test—have been attracting extensive media coverage. Electric drive solutions were also center stage at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit

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Folio 2 | 2009

R E A C T I O N S


Left: The Janes-ville, Wis. site suffered damages from the 2008 flood in the Midwest.Right: David DelGuercio and Dr. Claus Rettig receive Procter & Gamble‘s 2008 Excellence Award from Stefan Van Straelen.

Left to right: Jack Ryan of P&G;

Dr. Claus Rettig, Evonik; Jackie

Wang, and Ludwig Busam of P&G;

Dr. Stefan Nowicki, and Dr. Johannes

Ohmer of Evonik, and Ana Elena

Marziano of P&G.

E vonik has been named one of the best suppliers worldwide and honored with the “2008 Excellence Award” by the

Procter & Gamble Company. In October, the US-based company invited its 350 top sup-pliers to a summit held at its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some 1600 participants from all over the world attended the meeting, along with P&G employees representing a wide variety of business divisions.

The Superabsorber and Household Care Business Lines of Evonik’s Consumer Special-ties Business Unit were honored with the Ex-cellence Award. “We have been working with P&G for many years,” said Dr. Claus Rettig, president of the Consumer Specialties Busi-ness Unit. “Our successful cooperation enab-les us to bring innovative products to market quickly the world over,“ he added.

“We not only supply P&G with our high-quality FAVOR brand absorbent polymers, but also provide comprehensive services and work with the company to develop new pro-ducts,” said Dr. Johannes Ohmer, head of the

P&G honors Evonik with the “2008 Excellence Award”

Folio 2 | 2009 – NORTH AMERICA

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Superabsorber Business Line. “Our superab-sorbents are used in a number of P&G pro-ducts, including Pampers and Always,” he continued. The Household Care Business Line was also honored for its excellent inno-vation, and outstanding service. “We are thril-led to have received the award. It is a confir-mation of our excellent working relationship

with P&G,” said David DelGuercio, head of the Household Care Business Line, which manuf-actures ingredients that are used in Tide with a Touch of Downy laundry detergent, Downy and Lenor fabric softener, among other P&G brands. DDGFAVOR® is a registered trademark of Evonik Stockhausen GmbH.Always®, Downy®, Lenor®, Pampers®, and Tide® are registered trademarks of The Procter & Gamble Company.

NORTH AMERICA Information for the employeesin North America 2 | 2009

19_Folio_02-09_NA_K0 Abs1:1919_Folio_02-09_NA_K0 Abs1:19 30.01.2009 15:20:59 Uhr30.01.2009 15:20:59 Uhr

The Color of SuccessEvonik’s Lockland, Ohio plant paints a picture of innovation

W hen Joe Won, plant manager at Evonik’s Lockland, Ohio, colo-rants facility, began receiving

complaints that some cases of product shipped were short a can, plant employees brainstor-med and came up with a plan to install a came-ra above the production area to stop the line whenever a problem occur. “Now, if there is a problem with the packaging, the camera spots it instantly and stops the line so we can resolve the situation,” says Joe. “We rarely have com-plaints about a missing can now.”

Such innovation has become the watch-word at Evonik’s colorants operation in Lock-land, located about 15 minutes north of Cin-cinnati, Ohio’s third largest city. The seven acre site is one of the oldest yet most modern and largest volume facilities in Evonik’s co-lorants manufacturing network. A variety of proprietary and private brands are produ-ced in Lockland, one of the Colorants Product Line’s high volume, facilities.

For instance, when Blake Kirby, the plant’s material handling supervisor, noticed that wor-kers were sometimes handling the same cases of colorants two and three times in a month, he undertook a time management study that found it was 58% quicker to transport direct-ly from the packaging lines to the ultimate des-tination. “Determining where the cases would go over the course of a month rather than put

them in a warehouse and ship them later en-ables us to save money and manpower,” says Blake. “That’s what I like about working here. Evonik gives you numerous opportunities, but also the freedom to innovate. Lockland, with 68 employees, is small enough that you see the results of your efforts. At a bigger loca-tion, you become a number. Here, we all know each other and we all work together.”

Staying competitiveWorking harder, smarter, and more closely to-gether is enabling the Lockland plant to meet the demands of customers in a changing eco-nomic world. “As a workforce, we’re trying harder in a tough economy to stay competi-tive and ahead of our competition,” says Tony Trotter, a packaging line operator who was born in the area and has been with Evonik for 24 years. “We’re all prepared to do our part – even working 12 hour shifts on a rotating ba-sis every other weekend. We’re doing all we can to stay competitive. We strive to remain No. 1 in the colorants industry.”

Lockland makes colorants – liquid disper-sions that give paint its color, enabling custo-mers to find that exact shade of a color they desire. “We’re a manufacturing process,” says Joe. “We pre-mix the colorants from a batch of pigments, grind them to the exact specifi-cations, standardize them to make sure they

are exactly what our customer wants and then pack and distribute them.”

At Lockland, employees help create hund-reds of colorants, says chemical operator Ron Martin, who has worked at Evonik for eight years. “It’s just like baking a cake. You take a recipe from a customer and you make the co-lorant,” he explains. “For every customer, you stick to the formula: you add ingredients and follow the steps. Different batches will have different ingredients, some four or five ele-ments some 10 or 15. You weigh and measu-re each ingredient and then you mix it for 30 minutes or whatever is called for.”

Either Ron or his fellow chemical opera-tors then take a sample of that batch to the lab to ensure quality. “The lab might tell you if it’s perfect or that you have to break the pigment down more or disperse it or change it with dif-ferent shades of toner,” says Ron. “When the lab says the batch is OK, then it is packaged.”

The products are then warehoused in Ohio, shipped to other warehouse facilities in California or Atlanta or are transported to Evonik’s major customers such as Ace Hard-ware. Most homeowners painting a room, home or office benefit from Evonik’s exper-tise. “Evonik’s colorants are usually found at stores like Ace Hardware,” says Blake. “An Ace technician creates different color combina-tions. Say a customer wants a shade that might



Left: Ron Martin samples a batch of yellow colorant.Middle: Tom Allen rearranges containers along the production line while Tony Trotter operates the control panel.Right: Jerry Lowery uses a radio frequency scanner to update the plant’s inventory.

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be combination of phthalo blue and titanium white with maybe a little yellow oxide thrown in. At some stores, computers determine ex-actly how many ounces of which ingredient to add, spin the paint around and shoot it into a container, resulting in the exact shade of paint the customer wants.”

Providing what customers want has been the plant’s goal for more than half a century. For more than five decades, Evonik’s Lock-land operation has been successful for a num-ber of reasons including keeping employees motivated to produce quality products, adap-ting to constant changes, continual improve-ments in safety and productivity, as well as in-novations and willingness to try new things, says Joe. “We are adapting to constant chan-ge,” he continues. “We watch our costs cons-tantly and listen to everyone’s suggestions on how to improve operations. We’re always loo-king at possibly changing raw materials, for example, to save money without compromi-sing quality.”

A culture of safetyThe company continually relies on its educa-ted, motivated and experienced workforce, says Thomas L. “Fuzzy” Allen, who helps pro-tect the environment as a utility operator at the plant. “I’ve been here in good times and in bad,” says Fuzzy, who was the chief ste-ward of the Teamsters Local 661 Warehouse-men for 25 years and who still sits on the uni-on board. “In this economic environment, we are all trying to pull together. The atmosphere here is pretty good. The company and the uni-on have a mutual understanding about what we’re supposed to do and what they’re sup-posed to supply us with. We have a good re-

lationship. It’s a give and take.”In addition to quality, safety is the watch-

word at Lockland. The plant has gone near-ly four years without a lost time accident and is a strong supporter of the Ohio BWC Safety Congress. “Employees constantly remind each other about safety and keep motivated by set-ting and achieving goals,” says Joe. “We recog-nize and reward safety. For instance when we achieve a major milestone, we observe it at the plant. We constantly stress safety.”

The Lockland facility continues to draw top talent in a town that also includes a large GE plant as well as Procter & Gamble manuf-acturing operations several miles away. One of the ways it achieves this is through its repu-tation as a company that attracts – and retains – employees. Mary Hertel, the office super-

visor who joined the company 31 years ago, says the Lockland plant “is like a family.” “We work together. We know each other’s names and families,” Mary continues. “We don’t have a lot of turnover here because it’s a good place to work. People retire after 35 or 40 years. I just talked to one of the first people who was hired here. He retired a few years ago. Once you work here, you don’t want to leave.”

Evonik also emphasizes giving back to the community. The company is well known throughout the Lockland area for donating time and money to worthy causes. “We wish we had more corporations like Evonik Degus-sa, who help the schools and other charitable causes,” says Donna Hubbard, Lockland su-perintendent of schools. “We don’t know what we’d do without Evonik.”

Thanks to Joe Won and Evonik’s Lockland plant, high school senior Sierra Schotton knows about free enterprise. Sierra, who is Lockland High School Student Council presi-dent, was one of four students Evonik sponsored to attend the local Rotary Club’s Camp Enterprise, a three-day event devoted to business and eco-nomics. “We learned about the stock market and how busi-nesses work,” says Sierra. “We also met people from different schools and backgrounds and learned how to get a long with each other. It was fantastic.”

Sponsoring students for Camp Enterprise is but one of the numerous activities Evonik is involved in at Lockland schools, says Donna Hubbard, superintendent of schools. “Evonik and Joe are absolutely the best neighbors we could have, and in this part of the country, that says it all,” adds Donna. ”Joe and the others at the plant take an interest in the school and our students. They provide scholarships and show genuine concern for the stu-dents‘ well being.” Not only that, adds High School Princi-pal Ben Hubbard, but Evonik

also invites classes to the plant for tours to see how colorants are made. “A lot of our stu-dents don’t know what manu-facturing is, and Joe lets them see it first hand,” says Ben. “You can talk about careers in science and chemistry, but Evonik actually takes the time to show our students what a career in chemistry is actually like.” Brenda Barrett, an Eng-lish teacher at Lockland, puts it another way: “Evonik is always there when we need them. The students hear very much appreciate what they do for them. And so do we.”

STRONG EDUCATIONAL TIES



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Active Oxygens donates $1,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure organizationWhen Patricia Barraza retired at the end of last year after 15 years of service as a customer service representative with Evonik Degussa’s Active Oxy-gens Business group, her colleagues offered to take her out for a farewell dinner. Patricia politely declined and asked that instead of a group dinner the money be donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure orga-nization. Patricia was overwhelmed by the generosity of Evonik when she was presented with a congratula-tory card signed by her colleagues and note indicating that a $1,000 donation had been made in her name.

“This was the perfect opportunity to give to such a worthy organization,” said Carlos Gil Mast, Active Oxygens vice president and general manager – Americas. “I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to not only show Patricia our appreciation for her years of dedicated service, but a chance to help women all over the world batt-ling this horrible disease” he added.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. It is also the world’s largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer. CGM

Top: John Freiss, left, and Joe Bulger, right, presenting at the 2008 American Sales Conference.

Left: Mary French and Mack Lipscomb of the Learning and Performance Support Department in Mobile, Ala.

Sales and Marketing professionals sign on to Plateau for training and developmentEvonik’s sales and marketing teams now have a new tool – Plateau. An online educational program designed to enhance core competencies in critical business areas for Evonik’s sales and marketing teams.

The development of this learning tool was a direct result from the first American Sales Conference held in 2006. International Sales, Marketing & Sales Excellence (MSE), facilitated a team of 50 marketing and sales professionals representing each of Evonik’s business lines to determine the priority core compe-tencies needed for the key roles in the Evonik sales force – Customer Service/Inside Sales, Sales professionals, Sales Manager and Marketing Manager. A curriculum matrix was developed from the best development courses available. “The resulting program was designed with input from all of Evonik’s businesses” said John Freiss, the MSE business coach responsible for this project. “The business input was critical in making this program relevant to everyone in Evonik’s sales force” he added.

The next step in this process was to find the most efficient way to deliver this tool to the marketing and sales community. John worked with Joe Bulger from Human Resources along with Mary French and Mack Lipscomb from the Learning and Performance Support Department. Together they identified Plateau, a leading global provider of talent management software as the perfect solution. With this system, business managers can now define competen-cies required for individual career development.

By identifying developmental opportunities, an employee’s training path is determined during annual performance review discussions and the curriculum matrix is used to select appropriate programs launched through Plateau’s tracking system. Another benefit of this system is that training results are auto-matically recorded and updated as programs are completed.

“This is a dynamic tool for our marketing and sale professionals”, said Mitch Bowyer, MSE, Americas Platform head, “Keeping our work force educated with the current best business practices is vital if we are to be successful in today’s competitive business environment” he added.

For more information about the Plateau Learning System for your businesses learning needs, please contact John Friess at [email protected], phone +1 973 541-8184 or Joe Bulger at [email protected] , phone +1 251 443-4332. JF

22 N O R T H A M E R I C A

CREDITS NORTH AMERICAN SECTION

Publisher: Evonik Degussa Corporation Communications Department North AmericaEditor: Jonathan EvansLayout: Stefanie Pospischil

Contributors to this issue:David DelGuerico (DDG)John Freiss (JF)Carlos Gil Mast (CGM)

Address: 379 Interpace ParkwayParsippany, NJ 07054+1 973 541 8000+1 973 541 8106 (J. Evans)

Photos: Photography is either owned by Evonik or used with permission from non-Evonik sources available through the Internet.

Printed by: Bradley Marketing Group

Disclaimer: Evonik makes rea-sonable efforts to ensure the accura-cy of content. Any mention of com-mercial products does not imply recommendation or endorsement by Evonik. We welcome sugges-tions on how to improve the publica-tion to better serve our readers.



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The solution is a highly rigid hard foam that is also used in aerospace engineering:

The letters of the correct answers make up the solution. There are two ways to enter the competition: either by sending a postcard to Evonik Industries AG, Folio-Quiz, Postfach 10 32 62, 45117 Essen, Germany, or by e-mail (don’t for-get your postal address!) to [email protected]. The deadline is March 12, 2009. Participation is limited to employees of Evonik Group companies.

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Rally puzzle Check out the following statements: true or false? The right answers will lead you from start to finish by way of eight letters. Read in order, they spell out the answer

Foam produced by Evonik is also used in the wings of planes.

CCFLEX, a flexible mineral-based wall covering developed by Creavis, has received one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious design prizes.

The first com-puter game was invented in 1922.

A jellyfish is 98 percent water.

The Dead Sea has the highest salt content worldwide.

Gibraltar belongs to Spain.

Nowadays, silica and silane are used to pro-duce almost all snow tires in Europe.

DL-methionine from Evonik makes chickens strong and healthy.

Evonik Industries has begun construction in Shanghai, China of a new catalyst manufac-turing facility.

Tamarind is a virtual-reality pet that lets you know when it’s hungry.

An infusion is an economic separation of businesses.

Chinese (Mandarin) is the most widely spo-ken language.

The transparent highway sound barrier built by Evonik CRYO LLC enables drivers to have a clear view of the sky-line of Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA).

Now all you have to do is enter the letters of the answer into the boxes in order.

The term “compliance” refers to a company’s adherence to laws, regulations, and ethical standards

The “Mona Lisa” is Michelangelo’s most famous painting.

Max Planck formulated the general theory of relativity.

Hummingbirds can even fly backwards.

The Louvre is the biggest opera house in the world.

You could win: In every issue of Folio we will be drawing the winners of four Apple iPod nanos with 8 GB of storage capacity from the employees worldwide who send in the correct solution.

Congratulations! The solution to the quiz in Folio 12/2008 was VESTINOL. The winners will be published in “Evonik today.”

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Four entrants with the right answers will receive iPods

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23

Folio 2 | 2009

Q U I Z


How would you describe your home city of Worms in a single sentence to a colleague from a foreign location?Worms is one of the oldest cities in Germany. It’s got a big heart and a long history.

What will you always remember about your first day on the job?I was impressed by the production machinery, which struck me as being absolutely massive, and by the central control station with its countless operating devices.

What advice would you give to a trainee on his or her first day at the company?Don’t be intimidated by the many things you don’t know yet.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in life?To find out information directly from the source rather than through intermediaries.

Which lesson would you rather not have had to learn?You can learn something positive from every experience, actually.

As a kid, who did you want to be like?… my grandfather, who was extremely talented artistically.

If you had €500 to spend as you like, what would you buy?At the moment my TV’s picture quality is no longer very good, so I’d probably invest the money in a new TV.

You never leave for work without...?… listening to the latest news on the radio.

Whenever you come home really tense, what’s the fastest way for you to relax?By listening to music—either ballads or heavy metal, depending on my mood.

What is the last experience that left you speechless?The financial crisis at the end of 2008, which is affecting us along with everyone else.

We all have our little self-indulgences. What’s yours?I’m a club fanatic, and according to my friends I’m never at a loss for words. That quality comes in very handy when I preside over the meetings of the Worms Carnival society, the Prinzengarde Gloria.

MY NAME IS

Hans-Jürgen ZeimetBUSINESS UNIT Performance PolymersPOSITION Master technicianNATIONALITY GermanAGE 53PLACE OF RESIDENCE WormsMARITAL STATUS Married, three sons

… I’m the president of a Carnival society

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“Learn every day”


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