Young company, global ambitions Archroma

YOUNG COMPANY, GLOBAL AMBITIONS

Archroma is a Basel-based global colour, dyes and speciality chemicals company that emerged in October 2013 when New York based, private investment firm SK Capital Partners acquired Basel-based Clariant’s textile, paper and emulsions businesses.

Despite its 120 years of heritage in the local economic and social tissue of the Basel region, Archroma nonetheless is a new name for its inhabitants. “Most do not realise that they are surrounded with our products,” says Archroma’s CEO Alexander Wessels.

Indeed, Archroma supplies industries that manufacture a large number of everyday products. The company provides the textile supply chain with chemicals for pre-treatment, dyeing, printing and finishing of textiles. Similarly, it serves the paper market with its expertise in the management of whiteness, colouration, special coatings and strength for all kind of papers. Archroma also supplies emulsions products used in paints, adhesives, construction, as well as in the textile, leather and paper industries.

“This means,” Wessels points out, “that your T-shirt stays fresh thanks to anti-UV agents from Archroma, your swimming suit’s bright colours could be made with our high-performance dyes, your raincoat may be treated with our water repellent agents, your curtains with our flame retardants, and your sofa with our anti-stain finishes. You may even find Archroma’s emulsions in the paint you use to refresh your living room.”

When Archroma launched just under three years ago, its declared ambition was to become a leading global speciality chemicals player. The company is founded on operations that two significant chemical companies divested in a drive to improve their bottom lines and strategic focus. Following the launch, it immediately went on the growth path, through a strategy of operational improvements that takes in organic expansion and acquisitions.

Conquering the world

Just consider: in 2012, the businesses as divested from Clariant generated an estimated CHF 1.2 billion in sales – and Archroma says it is on a strong growth curve three years later. “We have also strongly improved profitability,” adds Wessels, “and this year we see our

The sustainable effluent treatment (SET) facility of Archroma in Jamshoro, Pakistan Earthcolors Earthcolors

Before and after - The sustainable effluent treatment (SET) facility of Archroma in Jamshoro, Pakistan Cutting the ribbon SET facility. Right to left Mr. Alexander Wessels, Klaus Huemke, Mujtaba Rahim, Ali Gul, Thomas Winkler, His Excellency Marc George (Deputy head of mission – Switzerland

EBITDA reaching much healthier mid-teen double-digit levels, while we are rapidly expanding innovation expenditure.”

Such performance has allowed Archroma to make two significant strategic moves: it has acquired 49 per cent of M. Dohmen, an international group specialising in the production of textile dyes and chemicals for the automotive, carpet and apparel sectors; and in July 2015 it added the global textile chemicals business of BASF.

The BASF acquisition has provided an ideal complement to Archroma’s original textile dyes and chemicals portfolio and geographical presence, allowing the company to reinforce its Textile Specialties team with a global specialist team that has an especially strong presence in Asia and other high growth markets.

Archroma claims to be favourably positioned in multi-billion-dollar end markets, from fibres and fabrics to paper, packaging, coatings, adhesives and construction. The company has three business units, covering textile specialties, paper solutions, and emulsion products, and is a recognised market leader in developing colour and performance materials that aim to serve its customers’ needs.

Saving precious resources

The textile industry may have moved to Asia for cost reasons, but that hasn’t stopped Archroma’s determination to lead the way towards more sustainability in the markets in which it operates. In late 2013, Archroma opened its first sustainable effluent treatment (SET) facility for a textile operational site in Jamshoro, Pakistan. The Jamshoro site is one of the biggest textile chemical sites within Archroma. It produces dyes, chemicals, emulsions and pigment dispersions for the textile, leather, paper and coatings industries. With an investment of 371 million PKR (around $35 million), the facility not only supports the substantial recovery, purification and re-use of all water but also allows effluent treatment based on zero liquid discharge – the first operation of this kind that re-uses its water and has zero liquid emissions.

“At Archroma, we take water scarcity very seriously and therefore are constantly exploring new and environmentally compatible solutions,” Wessels insists. “We put a lot of time and engagement into developing chemical solutions that help our customers use less water, energy and raw materials. Archroma is widely recognised as a leader in this field, as it is not a marketing story but its true purpose.”

Wessels explains that working with customers plays a major role: “We work in close collaboration to continually improve products, reduce impact and develop more sustainable processes all the way through their own products’ life-cycles.

“We have products that improve protection in leisure clothing against the elements,” says Wessels, “and we have all sorts of products for workwear that range from fire retardants for firefighters’ clothing, through oil repellents for operatives in vehicle repair shops, to blood repellents for doctors’ apparel. The dyes and chemicals we produce for clothing obviously need to be reliable, fast, durable, safe and sustainable.”

Smartrepel Hydro by Archroma, a new generation of non-fluorine chemistry that meets criteria for PFC-free finishes and clothing

Earthcolors

Another sign of the company’s commitment to sustainability was the announcement last October that it was supporting, among other leaders, Switzerland’s bluesign technologies – a new so-called blueXpert resource tool that launched this year to enable manufacturers to save water, energy and chemicals during the production process.

This tool followed the launch in 2012 of Archroma’s predecessor sustainability service, ONE WAY, introduced to demonstrate it is possible to bring together the dual objectives of ecology and economy. The tool has been a sustainability powerhouse for fashion brands and textile manufacturers, providing a fast, measurable and reliable approach to selecting chemical product and resource-saving process solutions.

Denim: A case study in sustainability

A typical example of the company’s efforts to improve sustainability in the textiles industry is its work in dyeing systems for denim – one of the world’s most popular textiles with a global market of well over $60 billion, but with a poor history in terms of the environmental friendliness of the total production process.

Patagonia, one of the most forward thinking of the major clothes brands, was the first last year to announce a new dyeing and manufacturing process, developed by Archroma under the brand ‘Advanced Denim’, which uses dyestuffs that bond more easily to cotton, minimising the resource usage of traditional dying of denim. Greatly reducing the environmental impact of the denim supply chain, Patagonia is using 84 per cent less water, 30 per cent less energy and emitting 25 per cent less CO2 than conventional synthetic indigo denim dyeing processes.

“According to most sources, it is estimated to take about 4000–10,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans,” says Wessels, “and there are two billion pairs produced every year! That would imply that, if 100 per cent of jeans were made using our Advanced Denim dyeing technology, we would save the water usage equivalent of a number of large European cities.”

Innovation driving future growth

Archroma says innovation is the driver behind its strategy towards fostering the sustainability agenda in its markets. In 2014, it launched a new range of ‘biosynthetic’ dyes for cotton and cellulose-based fabrics named ‘EarthColors’, designed to provide rich red, brown and green colours to denim and casualwear. In this patent-pending process, Archroma makes use of almond shells, saw palmetto, rosemary leaves and other natural non-edible waste products that would otherwise be sent to landfill.

“The new dyes were four years in the making,” comments Wessels. “This new development is a step-change in dyes manufacturing and colouration technology using agricultural waste to make natural dyestuff.”

In March 2015, Archroma introduced a new water repellency agent for outdoor clothing: its ‘Smartrepel® Hydro’ range. This new technology, used to help keep clothes dry under the rain or difficult weather, is not based on Fluor, supporting the increasing adoption of eco-advanced materials and production processes by textile producers and brand owners adhering to industry initiatives such as the Joint Roadmap towards Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), and eco-label standards such as bluesign® and Oeko-Tex.

“It is a misconception that innovation and sustainability need to come at a premium,” concludes Wessels. “Eventually for any solution or product to find acceptance in the mainstream of business it cannot command a high premium. There is value to be absorbed and derived in every part of the supply chain. Technologies and innovation eventually need to be created in a manner that it is made affordable to everyone.” n

Earthcolors