CONNECTING CHEMISTRY From food to rubber, from detergent to lubricants: thousands of industries around the world every day rely on products and mixes produced by Brenntag, the largest logistics distribution platform for chemicals, operating in 74 countries. Daniele Garavaglia reports.
“W
e understand that ‘connecting chemistry’ is more than a slogan: with our activities, we are the link between the basic chemical industry and market users, defining an incredible number of industrial processes and products,” says Ignazio Vullo, chairman of Brenntag Italy. The parent company, the German group Brenntag, is a world leader in chemical distribution with a global network of over 530 offices in 74 countries. With a workforce of over 14,000 employees, in 2015 the group achieved a turnover of €10.3 billion, providing 180,000 customers with over 10,000 standard products and special mixtures. The Italian headquarters, which employs over 500 workers and has a turnover of €500 million – with an annual growth trend 70 Industry Europe
of 15–20 per cent in recent years – is one of the most important international centres, as Vullo explains: “Brenntag operates as a logistics platform to support the needs of a large variety of clients. We connect producers and users of chemicals to create a value-added partnership with distribution solutions, storage and packaging tailored for industrial and special chemicals.” Chemistry is a pervasive discipline: “Everything we use at home – from food products to hand cream, toilet paper and dishwasher detergent – contains substances or chemical mixtures on an ad hoc basis. In various industrial sectors, chemistry has a key role: just think about rubber or cleansing products, pharmaceuticals or cosmetics. We are the specialist hub that, in a focused and
