Bayer MaterialScience, one of the world’s largest polymer manufacturers, will focus on innovation and sustainability to drive growth as it prepares to be listed as an independence company. Richard Northcote, a member of the company’s Executive Committee, said on December 1, 2014, in Leverkusen (Germany) that these two factors are key drivers for continued commercial success. Bayer MaterialScience will continue to bring innovative products and solutions with sustainablity effects to market in the future, thus helping to master global challenges such as climate change, the growth of cities and increasing mobility.
Northcote emphasised that besides the well-stocked innovation pipeline, Bayer MaterialSciencealso boasts a clear and comprehensive focus on sustainability. All activities will be aligned on improving people’s lives, helping to preserve the environment and conserve natural resources, and creating value. “People, planet, profit – we are pursuing this approach rigorously and with increasing intensity,” said Northcote. The task is to anchor this throughout the company. “We intend to and will live sustainability everywhere at Bayer MaterialScience,” he added.
Another key to future success is the company’s power to innovate, asDr Ulrich Liman, Head of Innovation, Bayer MaterialScience, said, “Systematic innovation management helps us to select the most promising from the multitude of ideas and to then manage the corresponding projects efficiently and with a focus on success.”
Roughly 1,200 employees are entrusted with research and development tasks at the company worldwide. Major innovation centers include Leverkusen (Germany); Shanghai (China); and Pittsburgh (USA). “This regional structure with short, direct lines to the various markets and customers helps us in particular to recognise where exactly there is a need for innovative materials and application solutions,” added Dr Liman.
In the field of development, Bayer MaterialScience has posted a number of new successes, including with its research into carbon dioxide as a new raw material for making plastics. In laboratory tests, the company has succeeded in once again significantly reducing the need for petroleum at the precursor level through the incorporation of CO2. To be specific, the Dream Polymers project is dedicated to a novel component (polyoxymethylene polycarbonate polyol) that now has an alternative raw material content of 40 percent. One of its uses is for the production of thermoplastic polyurethanes, which are required for such things as ski boots.