Archroma draws up blueprint for consolidation

Archromas textile specialties business plays a key role throughout the entire textile supply chain, with special chemicals for pretreatment, dyeing, printing and finishing of textiles.

Archroma-which took over the three divisions of Clariant five months back-has already made its blueprint to emerge as No. 1 in this segment. The newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Wessels, makes no secret of his companys vaulting ambition. "With Clariants business with us, we have to focus on 10,000 suppliers and 50,000 customers. This is a tremendous transformation, which we are managing with the help of our partners. Archroma is today a $1.3 billion company."

Of the three major verticals in Archroma, textile specialities has a share of 56 per cent, followed by paper solutions at 28 per cent and emulsion products at 15 per cent. "Undoubtedly, India is one of the major markets, close in importance to China, for Archromas products. Archroma, the colour and speciality chemical company, is headquartered in Reinach near Basel, Switzerland, and has 3,000 employees, spread over 25 production sites in 35 countries and has three businesses to meet customer needs in their local and global markets," said Wessels, who addressed a select group of media personnel in Mumbais Taj Hotel. He was accompanied by Thomas Winkler, President, Textile Specialities; Stephan Sielaff, Chief Operating Officer; and P Rajasekaran, Director, Archroma India Pvt Ltd.

"The Roha Plant is a strategic site for India, helping us accelerate our business and support R&D to cater to customers demands locally", said Rajasekaran. The plant has all the necessary support to double its capacity and also strengthen its position to support Archromas global ambitions.

From fibre to finish, Archromas textile specialties business plays a key role throughout the entire textile supply chain, with special chemicals for pretreatment, dyeing, printing and finishing of textiles. Its product packages enhance the properties of apparel and other textiles in applications as diverse as high fashion, home textiles and special technical textiles.

Archromas textile specialties business has been recognised for the second time by ICIS. In 2012, Archromas textile specialties business was honoured with two ICIS Innovation Awards for its Advanced Denim breakthrough eco-advanced dyeing technology. It received the ICIS Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit Award and the overall ICIS Innovation Award.

The companys ONE WAY sustainability service is being recognised for its game-changing approach to textile manufacturing based on the strong conviction that both ecological and economic benefits are reachable. Archromas ONE WAY was launched in October 2012 to help customers meet their sustainability targets in a fast and reliable manner. It is a three-step systematic approach to the selection of chemicals and production processes that once completed, gives customers calculation results that assess the cost, performance and environmental profile of the evaluated products and processes.

The key textile markets for Archroma products includes clothing of all types and fashions; home textiles such as towels, drapes, linens, and furniture fabrics; technical textiles for applications including medical, construction, sports, and industrial; carpet including indoor and outdoor floor coverings and transportation fabrics in hard-wearing transport applications.

Archroma has certain unique products and processes. Archromas ONE WAY Calculator provides instant information for customers to make informed decision based on measureable benefits. Example of Archromas ONE WAY Score Card is in assessing Archromas Blue Magic against a benchmark exhaust bleaching process. ONE WAY toward a more sustainable bleaching process: Archromas Blue Magic all-in-one bleaching process, with Imerol« Blue, brings substantial improvements