Albis Plastic GmbH has completed its split into two separate business units.
The firm's resin distribution business will continue to operate as Albis, while its compounding unit will do business as Mocom. Both units are part of Hamburg, Germany-based Otto Krahn Group. Plastics recycler Wipag and chemicals distributor Krahn Chemie also are part of the group.
Otto Krahn CEO Philip Krahn said in a July 14 news release that the new structure "is good for our customers, good for our distribution partners and good for us as a group."
Benefits to the new structure include clearer responsibility for results and costs and shorter decision-making paths, he added. "Our customers continue to have access to all products in our comprehensive portfolio and benefit from our independent consulting know-how and technical understanding," Philip Krahn said.
Horst Klink, head of the new Albis, said that the distribution business "focuses on sales as an independent consultant, with one of the market-leading and most comprehensive product portfolios."
Compounding unit head Ian Mills described that business as "an innovative thermoplastic compounder developing high-quality, sustainable solutions at competitive prices in close cooperation with our customers."
Albis and Mocom will have separate locations and offices, although both will be based in Hamburg. Mocom will operate all R&D and manufacturing work.
Albis will employ about 450, distributing almost 1 billion pounds of material annually. Mocom will have more than 700 employees and annual compounding production capacity of almost 450 million pounds. Mocom operates eight plants in Europe, the U.S. and China.
In an email to Plastics News, officials said that the transformation program "is primarily an internal restructuring program."
"For the majority of our customers, nothing will change as they will continue to be served by the Albis team," they said. "Albis will continue to sell products from our distribution partners as well as Mocom products. This is especially important for our customers who we supply with both the products of our strategic partners and also our own branded compounds."
They added that Albis compounding brands such as Altech and Alcom will continue to be produced by Mocom.
Like many global businesses, Albis and Mocom have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In this time of crisis, it is once again clear how essential plastic is for modern technologies," officials said in an email. "Demand for our medical plastics, which are used in respiratory masks, diagnostics, respirators and other medical supplies, has risen sharply."
In the first quarter of 2020, the businesses had "stable economic development," which officials attributed to supplying products to customers in various industries.
Although many automotive companies — one of the most important sectors for Albis and Mocom — have felt the effects of the crisis, officials said that they "are lucky enough to have steered a comparatively stable course through this crisis."
"As a family-run company, we were able to react quickly to the circumstances and our employees found solutions to most of the challenges that the crisis presented us with," they added.
On the circular economy front, officials said that in recent years all companies of the Otto Krahn Group have supplemented their product portfolios with products based on recycled materials. Mocom also has fiber recycling plants in Germany and the U.S.
"Sustainability will be at the core of both businesses activities," officials said. "Both have product ranges utilizing recycled materials either from [post-consumer or post-industrial] streams and both are committed to sustainable operations."
Prior to the split, Albis Plastic posted sales of 1 billion euros in 2019. Otto Krahn Group was founded in 1909 by its namesake as a trading company dealing in rubber materials and products and related goods.