This article has been taken from The Gen Newsletter - Autumn 2007. Click here to download the PDF.
The German chemicals and materials industry is facing growing competition and ever tighter margins, whilst demands for production quality are increasing. In Germany, our clients continuously need to identify new products to secure their future, products which use existing capital equipment for manufacturing. In the last decade, however, the major chemical and materials conglomerates, with their massive R&D capabilities, have been split into smaller companies, with limited R&D resources. Businesses are focused on short term results, but also require medium and long term product development, and to bring new products to market in three to five years time – the equivalent of tomorrow in this industry. To meet this growing demand, companies are looking for creative and analytical solutions ‘beyond the brief’, and ask Sagentia to help identify opportunities available to them. For example, a German company active in the building industry approached us with their product – a polymeric foam able to manage the content of moisture. By pulling together a bespoke cross-functional, sector and discipline team, we discovered new applications in different industry sectors based on the unique functionalities of the material. For example, we identified a medical application, demonstrating to the client that this foam addresses unmet needs in wound care – thereby opening up a new market sector and business opportunity for them. We used our established contacts in the medical industry to trial the product almost immediately, enabling a fast track market entry for the company. With no medical sector knowledge, this company would have found a similar process high-risk and time consuming, thereby missing a major opportunity. Sagentia’s breadth of expertise is proving invaluable to German companies facing these new competitive challenges. These ‘new’ challenges require both technical knowledge, but also strategic awareness and understanding, to enable companies to fully understand each stage of the value chain. The results can be huge, with companies in the chemicals and materials industry finding new ways to operate and to generate value in a highly challenging sector.
