[ schedules and in-house ] | INPLASTICS
As an economic area, Europe benefits from the single market. The Economic and Monetary Union set the stage for longterm planning and economic procedures. Today, the 680 million people that live in the 27 member states of the European Union form the strongest economic power worldwide. At LUCOBIT AG, the European idea is deeply rooted in the company’s entrepreneurship. For LUCOBIT, collaborating to create an open and economically successful Europe is both a responsibility and a challenge. And the foundation for this is a widespread European distribution network with qualified employees and partners.
LUCOBIT’s aim has always been to intensify the regular exchange of experiences between the European distribution partners and colleagues and establish it as a permanent institution. They succeeded: With its second big European Conference the tradition might still be young but yet crucial as a cooperative meeting. The conference of June 17 took place at the conference facilities of the “Phantasialand Brühl” near Cologne. The presentations and discussions focused on European distribution strategies, changes in personnel as well as the systematic expansion of local consulting services. Distribution partners from the Benelux Countries, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Spain, France as well as East- and Southeast Europe and Turkey had accepted the invitation. “Europe remains our core market. Even though we see many interesting possibilities in Asia and the Middle East, our main focus remains on the European domestic market”, says Dick Wynia, new Sales Director of LUCOBIT. “The prerequisite for a success in Europe is our network of employees, agents and free sales representatives with whom we form a close partnership”, quotes the Sales Director. Wynia stated that despite the common European legislation and harmonization of norms and guidelines, the economical and cultural distinctions throughout Europe were yet to be considered after all. And this was only possible using experienced local industry experts. Everyone was affected by REACH.
Implementing the REACH-System posed a challenge within the European Union that called for a joint effort. However, in the medium- and longterm perspective one may expect the strengthening of the industry’s compatibility in international comparison. Wynia further: ”In this area, there is a great demand for information.” In addition, the conference set the course for further
market cultivation in Eastern Europe. Domestic companies alone can no longer handle the economy in Eastern Europe and the challenges of the plastics processing and building industry. In the next few years a growing number of projects will be contracted to European companies. A reason for this boom within the building industry is the high demand for restorations just as well as major projects for the next European Football Championship, which is to be held in Poland and the Ukraine in 2012. “The markets experience a boom, the Central and Eastern European markets are definitely of great interest.
Here, we find the potential to win new customers and secure new deals”, commented Dick Wynia. In general, the approach all over Europe follows the company’s greater distribution strategy: The focus lies mainly on systematic market cultivation by way of specifically approaching plastics processing companies at home and abroad and introducing a range of products and their possibilities. A quality- and customer-oriented approach is essential in order to guarantee the highest degree of customer satisfaction. During the course of the conference LUCOBIT CEO Robert Riegler announced an increase as well as changes in personnel.
For the newly created post of “Sales Director” the company hired Dick Wynia, who formerly held important positions at BASF, Hoechst and Clariant. As part of Wynia’s restructuring of the European Sales Department, Axel Rödlich will take over the national distribution for the field of plastics. Dr. Sandro Kohn will lead the Department of Research and Product- Development. Sezgin Köse as the new Asphalt Additiv Manager is now in charge of the material´s portfolio for the field of road construction.
Positive conclusion
The closing roundtable discussion provided valuable stimulation for practical applications. The goal of this intensive dialogue between management, employees and distribution partners is to exchange common skills as well as to learn and benefit from one another. “The participants agreed that in all projects the presence at the customer’s site was crucial. This is how the Distribution Department shows that it will actively attend, accelerate and support each process from product research to product application”, quotes Wynia and draws a positive conclusion from the conference: “The talks showed us the emerging changes of each respective market or industry, the trends on the horizon and the resulting perspectives. Each participant will benefit in many ways from these insights”.
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