ELASTOGRAN
New corporate structure / Metering technology to Krauss-Maffei / Schwarzheide site to close
Elastogran (HQ: D-49448 Lemförde; www.elastogran.com), the polyurethanes subsidiary of BASF (HQ: D-67056 Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com), will give itself a new corporate structure on 1 July, and as part of a plan to concentrate on core PU businesses will sell its EUR 1.4 bn metering technology activities to German machinery group Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik (KM, D-80997 Munich; www.krauss-maffei.de).
Under the new structure, Elastogran´s sales divisions for PU systems and PU basic products will be restructured regionally. European Business Managements (EBMs) in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain will take over Europe-wide management functions. According to Elastogran, the new set-up will reduce the number of interfaces in sales, processes and functions and take account of the “growing European orientation” of PU customers.
Subject to approval by regulatory authorities, Krauss-Maffei will merge the Elastogran metering technology activities into its own operations and will take over all 50 employees at the business´s Olching and Schwarzheide sites in Germany. The machinery group will continue Elastogran´s technology cooperation with mould-maker Heidel (D-41751 Viersen; www.heidel.de) and automation supplier Siempelkamp Handling Systeme (D-82503 Wolfratshausen; www.shs.siempelkamp.de) as well as taking over Elastogran´s contracts, service agreements and spare parts activities.
The restructuring of PU activities and divestment of the metering businesses, along with the concentration of group activities at Lemförde and Olching, will lead to closure of Elastogran´s Schwarzheide site “in the medium term.” Some 28 of the 55 employed there will be offered jobs at other company sites, and a severance package, including early retirement schemes, will be drawn up for the remainder. With Elastogran´s help, the East German combine Synthesewerk Schwarzheide was turned into a modern PU site in the 1970s. BASF acquired the company and the site from the privatisation agency for eastern Germany in the early 1990s.
Under the new structure, Elastogran´s sales divisions for PU systems and PU basic products will be restructured regionally. European Business Managements (EBMs) in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain will take over Europe-wide management functions. According to Elastogran, the new set-up will reduce the number of interfaces in sales, processes and functions and take account of the “growing European orientation” of PU customers.
Subject to approval by regulatory authorities, Krauss-Maffei will merge the Elastogran metering technology activities into its own operations and will take over all 50 employees at the business´s Olching and Schwarzheide sites in Germany. The machinery group will continue Elastogran´s technology cooperation with mould-maker Heidel (D-41751 Viersen; www.heidel.de) and automation supplier Siempelkamp Handling Systeme (D-82503 Wolfratshausen; www.shs.siempelkamp.de) as well as taking over Elastogran´s contracts, service agreements and spare parts activities.
The restructuring of PU activities and divestment of the metering businesses, along with the concentration of group activities at Lemförde and Olching, will lead to closure of Elastogran´s Schwarzheide site “in the medium term.” Some 28 of the 55 employed there will be offered jobs at other company sites, and a severance package, including early retirement schemes, will be drawn up for the remainder. With Elastogran´s help, the East German combine Synthesewerk Schwarzheide was turned into a modern PU site in the 1970s. BASF acquired the company and the site from the privatisation agency for eastern Germany in the early 1990s.
27.06.2002 Plasteurope.com [15938]
Published on 27.06.2002