"Now WACKER has more than 13,000 employees worldwide, with sales of more than 4.9 billion euros in 2017, an increase of 6% over 2016." On April 24th, Lin Bo, President of WACKER Greater China at WACKER Chemical University in 2018 At the China Media Day event, Greater China accounted for nearly a quarter of WACKER's total sales, surpassing Germany and becoming WACKER's largest and most important single market.
Lin Bo, President of WACKER Greater China
As a technology leader in the global chemical industry. WACKER CHEMICAL produces a wide range of advanced specialty products, with more than 3,200 products offering world-leading positions in many fields.
Since its founding in 1914, innovation has been the key to the successful development of WACKER chemistry over the past century.
"WACKER invests more than 3% of its annual sales revenue and is one of the most R & D-focused companies in the chemical industry." Lin Bo said that in the past five years, the WACKER Group has applied for more than 100 invention patents each year. The Waco Group currently holds more than 3,800 active patents worldwide.
Balanced growth of four major businesses
At present, WACKER CHEMICALS has established four business units, achieving balanced growth of its business portfolio. In the field of silicones, WACKER SILICONES is the second largest silicone manufacturer in the world and the largest business unit of WACKER. In 2017, 45% of WACKER Group sales came from the silicone business unit.
Especially as the global automotive industry enters the era of high-speed electrics, organic silicon materials are a key part of electrification in various new energy vehicle concepts such as plug-in hybrids, fuel cells, and pure electric vehicles due to their excellent long-term reliability. .
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According to Limbo, WACKER's silicone business unit has achieved outstanding sales in specialty products, especially in consumer goods, automotive and construction applications. "In 2018, WACKER plans to continue to increase the proportion of sales of specialty products, such as high growth in the field of electric vehicles. At the same time, WACKER expects the shortage of upstream products to continue."
WACKER POLYMERS business unit is the market leader in the dispersible polymer powder and VAE emulsions business, which accounts for 25% of total sales. In 2017, sales of VAE emulsions and redispersible powders from WACKER POLYMERS increased significantly. Lin Bo believes that this is mainly due to the growing demand for environmentally-friendly materials such as low-odor / low-VOC indoor coatings, as well as market changes in the pursuit of high-quality and efficient products. In the new year, WACKER expects to achieve solid growth in construction and industrial applications.
In addition, 23% of sales come from the polysilicon business unit. WACKER is the world's second largest polysilicon manufacturer and the world's largest supplier of commercial polysilicon.
"In 2017, China added 53GW of photovoltaic installed capacity, and China is the world's largest and most important photovoltaic market. Globally, the growth trend of monocrystalline silicon solar cell modules is ahead of polycrystalline silicon solar cell modules, and monocrystalline technology needs to be similar The higher quality polysilicon provided by WACKER. "Linbo told New Materials Online®, with the rapid development of single crystal technology, WACKER polysilicon sales are expected to continue to grow in 2018.
The Biotech business, which provides products such as food and cosmetic ingredients and medicinal proteins produced using biotechnology, accounts for 4% of WACKER Group sales. WACKER stated that in 2018, innovative products such as CANDY2GUM® new cooking process and CAVACURMIN® high bioavailability curcumin, as well as sustainable cyclodextrin-based solutions for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and coatings industries, will help The biotechnology business unit achieved further growth.
High bioavailability curcumin complex
WACKER accelerates investment in China, strengthens local R & D
In the 25 years since entering the Chinese market, WACKER Chemical has established a foothold in China's major economic centers, and now has seven sales representative offices (also has sales staff in Xi'an and Shenzhen), and established two in Shanghai and Shunde. Technology Center, with three production bases in Zhangjiagang, Nanjing and Shunde.
"China is an important cornerstone for WACKER to implement its expansion strategy and achieve future regional growth. In 2017, Greater China achieved sales of 1.2 billion euros, an increase of about 10% compared with the previous year. Among them, the performance of special products is particularly strong, and sales The growth rate is as high as 20%. "Lin Bo said that in the past few years, WACKER has developed very rapidly in China. By the end of last year, WACKER had invested about 600 million euros in China.
WACKER's investment in China continues to grow rapidly.
To support these megatrends of environmental protection, greenness and sustainable development in China, WACKER Chemical will further enhance its local R & D capabilities. In May 2017, WACKER opened a new laboratory in Shanghai, doubling the research and development capabilities of VAE emulsions. The recently expanding silicone research and development laboratory and the new food application technology laboratory will also be completed by the end of 2018. At the same time, in order to better support customers in China and the global electric vehicle industry, WACKER is investing in the construction of a new electric vehicle competency center in Shanghai, including a dedicated R & D laboratory and R & D team.
"We are also actively expanding the production capacity of silicone and polymer downstream products. In the second half of 2018, the production capacity of VAE emulsion in Nanjing production base is expected to increase by another 30,000 tons. At the same time, Zhangjiagang production base is also expected to increase thousands of tons of organic Silicone elastomer production capacity. "Lin Bo said that today China is already the world's second largest economy, and new measures to expand opening up will further drive China into a new era of high-quality development. China's strong support for global trade and our continued investment in local R & D and production capacity give WACKER the confidence to achieve continuous growth in the new era with China.