What is Akzo Nobel?

by admin on January 28, 2013

Akzo_Nobel_Logo

The Netherlands has continued to remain as the frontrunner in the paint industry for over 200 years worldwide. Although its no bigger than the sate of Rhode Island, it has more than 120 paint manufacturers, including the globe’s biggest paint company, Akzo Nobel.

One of the most interesting things about the Netherlands’ impact on the global paint economy is that this is not a region where natural resources are plentiful. However, the Dutch have mastered making the most of their available resources by indirectly or directly producing more than 20 percent of paint coatings on an international scale.

Founded in 1994, the key to Akzo Nobel’s success is in its commitment to always ensure the durability and color retention of their paints and coatings, by never adding cheap fillers in their formulations. With the help of advanced technology, decorative paints and coatings from Azko Nobel use a combination of finely ground, highly concentrated pigments and superior quality resins.

In addition to marketing paints and coatings, Akzo Nobel also offers a wide range of finishing products, basic and specialty chemicals as well as a pharmaceutical division that has grossed over €14.64 billion, with assets totaling €20.09 billion at the close of 2010. Akzo Nobel is based in the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands as of 2007 and has a work staff of 60,000 people based in over 80 countries.

Since January 1, 2011, Akzo Nobel is comprised of a solid Executive Committee(ExCo)of nine members. Four of the members are functional expert leaders while the other five make up the Board of Management(BOM). This allows both the business side and the operations in this company to be effectively represented at the highest levels.

Akzo Nobel’s Line of Decorative Paints

This market of the company is mostly organized into regions; the United States, Canada and Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, China and North Asia, and finally India and South Asia. Their products are under various brandnames including:

•Bruguer
•Casc,
•Coral
•Cuprinol
•Dulux
•Flood
•Flora
•Glidden
•Hammerite
•Herbol
•International
•Interpon
•Lesonal
•Levis
•Marshall
•Nordsjö
•Pinotech
•Sadolin
•Sico
•Sikkens
•Taubmans
•Tintas
•Vivexrom

These products were used on the Öresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the La Scala Opera House in Milan, London’s Millennium Wheel, the Stadium Australia in Sydney and the Beijing National Stadium.

Akzo Nobel’s Performance Coatings

As a leading coating company, Akzo Nobel’s key products include specialized equipment for marine and automotive coatings, as well as the transportation and car repair market. The coatings groups consist of the following business units:

•Wood Finishes and Wood Adhesives
•Automotive & Aerospace Coatings (A&AC)
•Industrial Coatings
•Marine and protective coatings (MPC)
•Powder coatings (POW)
•Packaging coatings

Akzo Nobel’s Production of Chemicals

As a world leading salt specialist and chemicals producer, Akzo Nobel produces various industrial chemicals including chloralkali products. The chemicals group now consists of five business units.

•Chemicals Pakistan
•Surface Chemistry (SC)
•Functional Chemicals (FC)
•Industrial Chemicals (IC)
•Eka Chemicals-the brandname over Pulp and Performance Chemicals(PPC)

Akzo Nobel produces quality ingredients for a diverse array of essentials for modern life. Their products can be found for virtually everything the average consumer purchases and uses, such as glass, plastics, paper, cosmetics, bakery goods and ice cream, for example.

A Brief History of Akzo Nobel

The present company Akzo Nobel, has evolved from several past mergers and divestments since 1969, such as its merger with Nobel Industries in 1994, and the merger with ICI between 2007 and 2008. Benefiting from a lower tax rate, AkzoNobel also became the most profitable company in 2008 worldwide due to high revenue sales from its pharmaceutical division.

Recent Updates Concerning Akzo Nobel’s Executive Committee

Recently, Akzo Nobel announced adjustments in its executive committee to handle its business responsibility.

– After Bob Margevich made the decision to go into retirement, Graeme Armstrong will become Managing Director Surface Chemistry and Country Director for North America on April 1, and will work alongside him during the first two months to ensure a smooth transition. Mr. Armstrong is currently Executive Committee member responsible for Research, Development, and Innovation (RD&I).

– As a result of this change, a successor will need to be found to fill Mr. Armstrong’s old position. Until a replacement is found, he will continue his current responsibilities.

Following the merger of ICI, Graeme Armstrong became apart of Akzo Nobel in 2008. Prior to joining ICI, he was in the detergents industry for Unilever and JohnsonDiversey for 19 years.

Akzo Nobel is comprised of 19 business units, that are divided into three cooperating groups for managerial purposes supported by one managerial board. Akzo Nobel’s ExCo includes Ton Büchner, CEO and Chairman; Keith Nichols, CFO; in charge of Performance Coatings is Leif Darner and Tex Gunning is in charge of Decorative Paints; the head of Research, Development & Innovation is Graeme Armstrong, Marjan Oudeman is responsible for HR and Organizational Development, Werner Fuhrmann (head of Specialty Chemicals and Supply Chain/Sourcing) and Sven Dumoulin (General Counsel). The annual turnover for each business unit is estimated at EUR 600–1000 million.

New Trends Launched by Akzo Nobel

Powder coatings launched by Akzo Nobel have introduced the new Interpon F trend range featuring colors selected specifically for outdoor and indoor furniture. According to marketing experts, there are five current trends that they believe are molding the international economy today. The new Interpon F line offers colors that will be predominantly seen according to these trends in the furniture industry in 2013.

Akzo Nobel’s Role in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Akzo Nobel’s pharmaceuticals group actively produces birth control pills (Mercilon and Desogen), and psychiatric drugs (Risperdal and Remeron) as well as non-prescription products including vitamins, pregnancy tests, hayfever preparations and analgesic creams, muscle relaxants (Esmeron and Norcuron), as well as veterinary vaccine products.

Akzo Nobel’s Distribution of Medical Supplies

Akzo Nobel also manufactures and sells a wide range of hospital supplies, including those for blood culture diagnostics, dialysis, hemostasis and cancer detection and treatment systems.

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