Shanghai — Covestro AG made its first Chinaplas appearance under its new name this year in Shanghai.
The name change from Bayer MaterialScience has spurred a change in company culture, said Holly Lei, senior vice president, business unit polycarbonates, Covestro Asia Pacific.
“We are very curious about new things. We are very courageous to change things. I'm very excited about that,” she said. “All of a sudden, with a new name, a new logo, a new culture, you feel like you're surrounded with … a lot of exciting things. Although it's been less than a year, I feel like I'm somehow completely adapted here. The energy level is different already.
“In order to be closer to our customers' needs in China, we have invested massively in our innovation hub in Shanghai and we always work closely with academics and government stakeholders on future development,” she added.
Michelle Jou, president of the polycarcarbonates unit, said: “This is a tremendous success and there is a lot more to come in Asia Pacific and China with very positive forward looking market growth in the region. For polycarbonates, there is growing demand in the automotive, rail, consumer appliance and electronics sectors.
“The company's new name has gained a lot of support [within] the company as well,” she added. “Our employees love our company, love our name, love our logo. Somehow [it changed] the company culture. Somehow.”
The company, with 30 production sites worldwide and 2015 sales of 12.1 billion euros ($13.4 billion), is one of the world's largest polymer companies, employing nearly 16,000 people at the end of last year.