UNIVAR

UNIVAR

We conducted an enjoyable interview with Nilay Midilli, Industry Director for Paints, Construction Chemicals, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers (CASE) for Univar Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Region, about her professional background, new job description, product groups and services. Ms. Midilli, first of all we congratulate you on your new position and wish you great success. Could you briefly tell us about yourself and your professional background? Could you explain your new job description a bit? Thank you very much. I graduated from the Chemical Engineering Department of Yildiz Technical University. I started working in the chemical distribution sector 17 years ago. My first company was Eral-Protek, where I started as a sales engineer, and I held various responsibilities until the company was acquired by Univar in 2011. After joining Univar, I served as Univar Turkey Country Manager between 2011 and 2015. In March 2015, I was appointed as Trade Manager responsible for the CASE Industry in Univar's Europe, Middle East and Africa region and took on responsibilities such as managing key suppliers, new business development, and managing technical and commercial teams. In July 2016, I was appointed to the role of Industry Director for Paints, Construction Chemicals, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers (CASE) in the Univar Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. In this new position, my responsibility is to support the implementation of Univar's CASE Industry strategy and strengthen Univar's supplier and customer network with our purpose-built commercial and technical organization.

Could you tell us about your company's development process from its founding to today?

The history of our company goes back to 1924, when George Van Waters and Nat Rogers opened a small firm in Seattle, Washington, USA to buy and sell maritime materials, paints, raw materials and cotton linters. From the 1960s onward, the company grew through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions, and in 1974 the name Univar was adopted. Today, Univar is a world leader in the distribution of chemicals and additives and also provides related services. Our scale, geographic reach, diverse distribution channels, industry expertise and comprehensive product portfolio enable us to establish strong and long-term relationships with our suppliers and provide single-source solutions for our customers. Since the end of 2014, Univar has served the industry in the EMEA region with a three-pronged approach – "bulk chemical distribution, local chemical distribution and focused industry distribution" – tailored to the needs of different customers and markets. This organizational arrangement aimed to increase performance and focus on the needs of certain customers, specific markets and suppliers. In the EMEA region, the CASE industry is also one of the selected focused sectors and is managed centrally with specialized sales, technical teams and technical equipment.

Could you tell us a bit about Univar's product groups and the sectors it serves?

Univar offers a broad portfolio containing more than 4,500 chemical products to its customers in a wide variety of sectors. We distribute to more than 115,000 customer locations worldwide. Our chemical portfolio includes acids and bases, surfactants, glycols, inorganic compounds, alcohols and, in addition, hundreds of other specialty chemicals and additives used in final markets. The sectors we serve include:

• Agriculture,
• Paints, Construction Chemicals and Adhesives,
• Environmental Sciences,
• Food and Beverage,
• Domestic and Industrial Cleaning,
• Energy,
• Personal Care,
• Pharmaceutical Ingredients.

Could you provide more details about the Univar CASE product groups and services you provide to the relevant sector?

As I mentioned earlier, Univar offers a very broad range of products to diverse markets containing both specialty products and general chemicals. We remain one of the most important general chemical distributors serving the Paints and Adhesives market, and the general chemicals serving this sector are managed by local Univar teams. Differently, the CASE business unit for which I am responsible is managed centrally in the EMEA region and operates in 26 countries. We have a team of over 100 people responsible solely for the sales and marketing of specialty product groups dedicated to the CASE sector. Our main product groups include silicone resins and additives, epoxy resins and hardeners, polymers and emulsions, cellulosic ethers, powder polymers, thixotropic agents, pigments, carbon black varieties, dispersants, neutralizers, polyurethanes and fillers. In addition to our main product range, we also provide our customers with many different specialty chemicals that complement our product portfolio. With our two paint laboratories located in the United Kingdom and Italy, we are able to support our customers in developing new and innovative paint systems. Our team has extensive research and development, paint formulation and testing experience spanning many years across a broad range of technologies and industries.

Could you provide information about Univar's policies and principles?

Our vision is to be a world leader company in chemical product distribution and in the supply of products and related services, a company where the best people want to work, and to create benefits for all stakeholders. We value relationships, achieve success through performance, pursue growth through innovation with new markets and opportunities, and do everything safely and without compromising integrity. Safety is always our number one priority. We exercise maximum care to protect our employees, customers and suppliers through safe delivery, storage, safe operating practices and safe working conditions.

Could we learn about your after-sales service and customer satisfaction philosophy?

In addition to selling and distributing chemicals, we provide important distribution services and value-added services for producers and our customers by leveraging our transportation and storage infrastructure and our extensive experience in working with chemicals and hazardous materials. This intermediary role is becoming increasingly important every day, particularly given the growing tendency of chemical manufacturers to outsource distribution to higher levels to meet their needs and increase supply chain efficiency. These services include:

• Inventory and sample management,
• Product information and technical expertise,
• Mixing, blending and repackaging,
• MiniBulk storage and distribution systems,
• Waste management services and
• ChemPoint.com, which operates essentially in North America and EMEA, a unique distribution platform that facilitates the marketing and sale of specialty and qualified chemicals.

What do you pay attention to in order to ensure the long-term success of your products in the market?

Our employees can offer our customers extensive expertise by adapting perfectly to sector, geography and end-market needs, including improvements provided by our supplier partners. Similarly, our supplier partners rely on our market information from markets and our customers.

What are your company's activities in health, safety, sustainability and REACH?

Univar's emphasis on high safety standards and practices has resulted in a reduction in safety-related and environmental incidents over the past decade, and 2016 was recorded as Univar's safest year. Through accident prevention efforts, work stoppage authority, process and facility audits, safety committees and training, post-incident investigations, safety and environmental audits, we work to eliminate accidents that occur at work. We place great importance on reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint, ensuring the safety of our employees and neighbors, providing sustainable solutions to help our suppliers and customers grow, and ensuring the safe use of our products. Univar also has an ongoing series of sustainability and waste reduction initiatives. Univar has been involved in the REACH process for years, including working with FECC. In this field, Univar, which helps establish rules, is ready to provide monitoring, advisory and management services to our customers for REACH compliance. Regarding joint support for products we supply under REACH, we continuously exchange views with our suppliers.

Do you have any new projects you would like to share with us for 2017?

We are constantly improving our commercial and technical capabilities. Recently we enabled some of our important suppliers to open up to new markets, and we continue to add new specialty product ranges from new suppliers to our portfolio. We will focus more on laboratory services to enhance our technical support and help our customers develop new systems. Our team is working to organize customer events, technical seminars and new product launches for 2017.