Borouge is going to experience a growth of 700%, in terms of output, between 2010 and 2014 and the company is transforming itself from a mid-size one to a global player, says Wim Roels, CEO Borouge Marketing and Sales company, speaking exclusively to Refining and Petrochemicals Middle East.
“We are growing Borouge by building Borouge 3 and growing our customer base. Our production capacity is growing from 2 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes by 2014,” he says.
With this kind of growth, everything in the company is changing. We will literally have four new people joining the organisation every week until 2015, he adds.
“In terms of logistics, 1100 empty containers will enter Ruwais to get filled with products and then loaded onto vessels which will be taken then to the new Khalifa Port.
“Last week, we took our first vessel into the port, this is a major milestone for us. With the capacity ear-marked, we will be taking orders every six minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months in a year,” Roels adds.
The people in the organisation are seeing the change. Growing always comes with growth pains, said Roels.
But at Borouge, we have very effective leadership who understand that change needs continuity. At the organisation, we need stability and continuity to support the rapid change, he said talking of the Borouge 2015 -transformation programme.
Borouge aims to be a world-class producer by 2015 and is streamlining all of its processes and people to achieve that mission.
The company is also spreading its wings in terms of geographic locations. The company plans to open a logistics hub in Turkey. The company has already started importing products into Europe through the logistics hub in Spain.
The polymer producer is keen to increase its geographic footprint further, so that it does not put all the eggs in one basket – in terms of customer base.
“We will soon have offices in New Delhi, Japan, Bangkok and Jakarta,” said Roels.
The changes that are being undertaken in Borouge at the minute are akin to a country rewriting the constitution, he says.
There is a lot of excitement amongst people, as it is only once in their career that people see a relatively small family-owned kind of a company grow into a multinational player, that too in such a short span of time. The people in the company also want to be part of this journey.
The company is also expanding the product range from about 50 products currently, to 80 products by 2014/15. Our customer base will also increase from 1000 today to about 3000 by 2015. We are not just growing volume, but also growing in complexity.
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Borouge is not a company which launches ‘me-too’ products, says Roels. The choice that Borouge has made, from day one is ‘value creation through innovation’. The company is also working on a new innovations centre in Abu Dhabi. It is investing $70 million in the centre.
The centre is set to host more than 50 international researchers and engineers. Borouge also has an application centre in China.
“The centres will focus on innovations for compounding as well as innovative plastics solutions for the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging industries in close co-operation and partnership with Borouge’s customers throughout the value chain, ensuring that specific customer requirements are met,” Roels said.
Borouge also launched the Borlink technology recently in Asia. Borlink technology includes a tailor-made and unique pressure process for the production of high purity and super clean low density polyethylene base polymers with superior electrical properties.
The whole process from the base polymer production via the cross-linking technology takes place in either a closed and/or controlled production loop (from monomer to final packaging). This will avoid any contaminations and help deliver world class clean and homogenous and high quality compounds.
Roels said Abu Dhabi will soon be producing these technological advanced grades, which have so far been imported from parent company, Borealis, and marketed in Asia and the Middle East.
This production unit will be part of the Borouge 3 expansion.
Borouge’s new 350,000 t/y low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant, which is an important part of the under construction and part of Borouge 3 expansion project, will be dedicated to the production of highly specialised and super clean products for the wire and cable industry.
Borouge’s investment in the LDPE production plant is the base to enter the manufacturing of unique crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) solutions for the global wire and cable market, applying the same technology and quality standards as its partner Borealis, he says.
This kind of constant product introduction into the market is what strengthens Borouge’s position, Roels adds.
Similar to this, are the innovations we have introduced in the pipes industry, he said. “Currently, we are developing high quality differentiated products to help our customers, including our innovative solutions for pipe systems which are very significant here in the Middle East,” Roels says.
“When we supply pipe solutions to our clients we guarantee that this product will last for 50 years and more,” he added.
With all the innovation, what you can see is that we make a difference to our customers. They become more efficient and hence more profitable. We believe if we help them make more money, we will get a share of that, Roels concludes.
Borealis 2012 Q2 Earnings highlight
– Borealis recorded a net profit of $146 million in the second quarter of 2012 compared to $219 million during the same period in the record year 2011.
– The Base Chemicals business and joint venture Borouge contributed significantly to the result while the Polyolefins business continues to be challenging.
– Key investments Borouge 3 and the semi-commercial catalyst plant are progressing well.
