The Sika spirit Sika

THE SIKA SPIRIT

Globally acting speciality chemical company Sika Group’s dedicated support division, Sika Services AG, underpins the Group’s on-going expansion. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the vice president of appliances & components – business unit industry, Dr Claire Thorey, to find out more.

Speciality chemical company Sika Group was founded in 1910 by Kaspar Winkler. Winkler developed a quick-setting waterproofing admixture for mortar called Sika-1 whose descendants are still sold today, and his innovative, pioneering spirit is also still very much in evidence. The Group’s global expansion started in earnest in early 1935 and Sika today has subsidiaries in 76 countries worldwide, more than 15,000 employees and an annual turnover of around CHF 4.8bn.

Head quartered in Baar, Switzerland, Sika Group offers over 600 brands including such recognised names as Sikaflex®, Sikasil®, Sikabond®, Sikadur® and SikaPower®. All of the Group’s products fall into one of its core business areas of waterproofing, concrete, roofing, sealing and bonding, industrial manufacturing and reinforcing. Its core competencies lie in concrete admixtures, speciality mortars, sealants and adhesives and steel corrosion protection systems. Totally supportive

Industry Europe spoke to Dr Claire Thorey, vicepresident appliances & components of Sika Services AG, the company which delivers support functions to all of the Sika Group subsidiaries worldwide. She explained how Sika Services provides support on a day-to-day basis and how this benefits the Group. She said, “Sika has many people close to its customers in the countries in which it is present. I believe it makes a real difference across all aspects of the business. We always have experts on hand to discuss whatever issues are happening and we have the knowledge, the know-how and the experience to solve them.”

Another key differentiator between Sika and its competitors is its consistently good product and service quality, according to Dr Thorey. She is clear that the Group’s ability to deliver reliable performance at every level is an important commercial advantage. “What we call the ‘Sika Spirit’, which highlights our passion for having the courage to innovate, enjoying strong partnerships and being persistent, is integral to the company’s achievements. It is these three core qualities that really define who we are and how we work; it also defines our success for more than a century.”

Investing in excellence

Some major investments undertaken by Sika BU Industry recently are centred on delivering further cost savings to customers. With huge financial outlay to boost the Group’s research and development capabilities and engineering support, Sika is staying dedicated to its long-standing promise to offer high-quality, consistently reliable speciality chemicals. Dr Thorey said, “Sika is all about helping our customers to reduce their costs and increasing the performance of their products in the most efficient, responsible manner possible. For instance, one such new development is a Sikadur® structural epoxy adhesive that

is so much tougher compared to existing materials that it allows an unmatched crack propagation resistance, while keeping consumption low. Another example would be a Sikasil® structural silicone adhesive that offers a unique combination of immediate fixing power with long working time.

“This is the kind of innovation that lets our customers have a shorter cycle time on their assembly line while keeping great flexibility and this saves considerable time and money. Sika is always working on products that offer commercial advantages to our customers and that combine ease of use with quantifiable benefits.”

Dr Thorey explained that the Group is always sure to be faster, fresher and better while delivering real advantages over and above cost savings. She added, “We make sure that our customers can use our products to their best advantage, and we don’t leave them alone in doing so. We will help them select the best solution, we will test it according to their specifications if they wish, and we are also capable of advising them on how best to integrate the new step(s) in their processes.

“We continuously invest in application equipment material and know-how to make this happen and naturally also regularly patent new application methods. We just launched

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Dachser

Dachser fulfills 151,000 shipping orders every year for markets in Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland via its European network for groupage and full-load shipments. The company combines various models of transport logistics in order to optimize flows of goods for Sika, with a focus on short transit times and absolute reliability, which is particularly important when delivering goods to construction sites. Dachser’s standardized network ensures that dangerous goods are handled correctly, and also complies with Sika’s company policy. Transparency throughout the supply chain through tracking and tracing as well as the proactive IT system Active Report support the long-term partnership between the companies.

In 2012, the global logistics provider Dachser generated €4.41 billion in revenues at 347 locations around the world and transported 49.8 million shipments weighing a total of 37.5 million tons.

for instance a unique method to fill automatically in a one-step process, L-shaped profiles to bond glass plates. This is the kind of thing that shows our real value to our customers, we are interested in building long-term partnerships, based on mutual trust and benefits.”

While around 80 per cent of the Sika Group’s turnover comes from constructionrelated industries, the Group is not reliant on any one region, so it is well positioned to maintain its market-leading position and expand in markets where construction is booming. Dr Thorey concluded, “We are almost everywhere in the world. We have extensive investment ongoing in every key target area and market and we are excited about the positive future of Sika.” n