The Technical Rubber Products business unit (BU TRP) was split into two separate business units. Since January 1, 2013, Keltan Elastomers (core product ethylene-propylene-diene monomer – EPDM) started trading as an independent business unit under the same name of Keltan Elastomers (KEL). The rest of the TRP product portfolio (NBR, HNBR, EVM and CR) fell under the High Performance Elastomers (HPE) business unit.

By acquiring DSM's Keltan business in May 2011, TRP had significantly expanded its EPDM business line to create by far the largest of all the business lines. LANXESS has also strengthened its position as a leading supplier of special-purpose rubbers. 'The successful strategic development of EPDM to make us a global market leader and the specific features of all TRP business necessitate this split into two business units,' says the former BU TRP head Guenther Weymans.

Specific business requirements

Weymans took charge of BU KEL, which is headquartered in Geleen in the Netherlands. Some 600 staff based here and also in Marl (Germany), Orange (United States), Triunfo (Brazil) and Changzhou (China) will work for the BU with its elastomer products (EPDM). The main applications of EPDM are hoses, seals, belts and polymer additives.

Jan Paul de Vries, who was in charge of the Advanced Materials business line EMEA of the High Performance Materials business unit (BU HPM), now heads up the new BU HPE, which will be headquartered in Cologne*. Some 900 staff based in Dormagen (Germany), Leverkusen (Germany), La Wantzenau (France), Orange (United States) and Nantong (China) will focus on rubber specialties and high-performance rubber.

Unlike BU KEL, whose business focuses exclusively on a single product, EPDM, BU HPE's remit covers four different rubber grades and a far more diversified product portfolio. 'The reorganization will enable us to meet the very specific demands this places on both business units far more effectively,' explains Weymans.

To make even better use of synergies in the future, around 100 existing TRP staff from the Technical Service Center in Dormagen and the Polymer Testing Center in Leverkusen – with its subunits in Qingdao (China) and Geleen (Netherlands) – switched to the Innovation & Technology group function (GF INN), also on January 1, 2013.