Customers should begin to benefit from the improved workflows in supply chain management during the second half of the year.
‘As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of leather chemicals, it is our aim to offer our customers both premium products and first-class service. In order to do this, we observe and evaluate the workflows along the entire value added chain to identify potential for improvement. By pooling our sales and logistics activities for the Asian market at our Singapore site, we can optimize processes and transport’, stresses Frank Paus, head of global marketing in the Leather business unit. ‘Singapore is already the largest and most efficient distribution hub for leather chemicals in Asia and, in future, it will be our most important sales location worldwide.’
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is of pivotal importance to LANXESS. After adjusting for currency effects and the sales of business sectors which were divested during the previous year, the company recorded a sales increase of around 10% there in 2007 compared with 2006. LANXESS have had a sales company in Singapore for some time which is responsible for the marketing and sales activities of most of the business units in the whole of southeast Asia. The location is of major strategic importance to LANXESS as a hub for sales and marketing in the entire region and is crucial to profitable growth in Asia.
‘The ready availability of information technology ensures that we can conduct our business in Singapore efficiently. Other deciding factors are Singapore’s stability and its excellent geographical situation’, says Jürgen Hackenbroich, head of marketing Asia-Pacific in the Leather business unit who, like Paus, is also transferring from Hong Kong to Singapore.
A further advantage is Singapore’s port, which has the shortest turnaround times worldwide for loading and unloading ships. It also has a huge capacity: it is used each year by a total of 140,000 ships belonging to 200 shipping lines with connections to 600 ports in 123 countries. Around one fifth of the world’s container traffic is handled via Singapore. ‘These excellent logistical conditions are crucial to ensuring that LANXESS can supply its customers quickly and reliably’, adds Hackenbroich.
