contact - Agriphar

✽ CORPORATE MAGAZINE OF ARYSTA LIFESCIENCE EUROPE ✽
CONTACT
www.arystalifescience.com
JUNE 2015
17
✽ CONTENTS ✽
4
7
Leaving party for Dirk Barrie
Thank you and all the best Filip Van de Vliet !
2015 has begun with record sales results.
Wayne Hewett’s visit
A tour worthy of any large industrial site
An increase in production on our Flows line
NEWS
ACTIVITY & PROCESS
8
10
Commercial
Meeting in Spain
Yves Viatour,
the new Human
Resources Director
at the Liège site
PORTRAIT
NEWS FROM
SUBSIDIARIES
12
13
They have also joined us recently
They incorporate the new organisational
structure of Arysta LifeScience Europe…
Marc Dubois joins the AIME Business Unit
Two brave representatives of Arysta at the
Brussels 20 km race
STAFF
IN BRIEF
14
16
Liège, a bustling city: all the major
projects are coming together.
Special « Summer »
Quiz
LOCAL NEWS
COMPETITION
CONTACT IS PUBLISHED BY ARYSTA LIFESCIENCE EUROPE ✽ MANAGING EDITOR : José NOBRE, Rue de Renory, 26/1 – B-4102 Ougrée
✽ COORDINATION : Natalie VANDE CASTEELE • PHOTOGRAPHY : Patrick LORQUET ✽ DESIGN AND PRODUCTION : PEPS COMMUNICATION ✽ GRAPHICS : KNOK DESIGN
✽ EDITORIAL ✽
Arysta LifeScience
reorganises to
accelerate performance
Last year, Platform Specialty Products (PSP) acquired Chemtura AgroSolutions and Agriphar, and completed
the Arysta acquisition in February , 2015.
Soon thereafter, we set out to combine Arysta LifeScience, Chemtura and Agriphar under one umbrella.The
resulting PSP subsidiary—Arysta LifeScience— has now reorganised its European operations to strengthen
the company’s performance and capitalise on long-term growth opportunities.
We are eager to enhance both our overall cost position and our ability to provide our European customers
with a broad range of quality, innovative products. These include traditional crop-protection products, seed
treatments, biological products, biostimulants, nutrition products, and adjuvants.
Arysta LifeScience Europe operates from a strong base of more than US$450 million in sales, 14 subsidiaries,
and two world-class formulation and packaging sites (Liège in Belgium and Noguères in France). From this
position of strength, our global footprint and broad presence in Europe allows us to better meet customer
needs and provide business partners with exciting new growth prospects to benefit us all.
Our integration team is now developing a unified and consistent brand for our business that will equip us to
succeed during the 2016 marketing and sales season. Meanwhile, our European operations are now led
by the following team:
José Nobre – President
Paul Thomson – Head of research and development
Jozef Michrina - Head of marketing
Guy de Froberville – Head of commercial distribution countries and third-party relations
Hildo Brilleman – Head of central and eastern Europe
Gilles Cerutti – Head of operations and supply chain
Wim van de Wiele – Chief financial officer
I am very enthusiastic about the future of the new Arysta LifeScience Europe and trust
that you are, as well. Together, we have many tremendous opportunities ahead of us,
and I look forward to working with you all to set our strategies in motion.
José Nobre
President of Arysta LifeScience Europe
Contact #17 | 3
Together, we have
many tremendous
opportunities ahead
of us, and I look
forward to working
with you all to set
our strategies in
motion.
✽ NEWS ✽
Leaving party for Dirk Barrie
After almost 15 years
at the helm, Dirk
Barrie ended his
professional career in
April, by retiring from
his position as the
Chairman and CEO of
the Agriphar Group.
4 | Contact #17
At his leaving party, all the office and production site staff had the opportunity to thank him
for all his hard work in recent years and to wish
him all the best for the future and a happy and
well-deserved retirement.
Dirk Barrie thanked and paid tribute to all of
Agriphar’s personnel: “Since 2002, all together,
we have built up a great company with an outstanding track record and impressive growth.
This was clearly the result of joint efforts and
magnificent dynamics. Thank you all for your
cooperation and for the professionalism, pleasure and friendship during all these years.” ✤
✽ NEWS ✽
Thank you and
all the best Filip Van de Vliet !
On 31st May, it was
the turn of Filip Van
de Vliet, our COO, to
leave Agriphar and to
give a fresh impetus
and perspective to his
professional career.
At his leaving lunch, staff also had the opportunity to pay tribute to Filip and to thank him
for his energy and the constructive contribution he has made over the past three years, in
Liège as well as with our various subsidiaries
in Italy, Greece and Spain.
Before leaving, Filip said: “These kind of decisions do not come easily, and I am conscious
of the beautiful jewel that I am leaving behind.
Our company is beating today all records on the
most important performance indicators and is
perfectly positioned to become an important
part of the Agrochemical multinational that is
Arysta and that is in the process of ramping up
speed.” ✤
I am conscious of the
beautiful jewel that I am
leaving behind.
Contact #17 | 5
✽ NEWS ✽
2015 has begun with
record sales results.
The sales results for the 1st quarter of 2015 are excellent - 4% above budget
as well as almost 25% higher than sales for the 1st quarter of 2014.
With a new company being established and an
owner that is listed on the New York stock exchange, the quarterly results will be the focus
of a great deal of attention. Therefore, it has
been extremely important for the new company to achieve its budget for the first quarter
and to demonstrate the quality of the company and its organisation.
The sales team clearly played a vital role in
achieving these results, but it would not have
been possible without the support and extra
effort of the supply chain, production and, last
but not least, logistics.
Congratulations and thank you all ✤
Wayne Hewett’s visit
Wayne Hewett came to Liège on 22nd April.
Following a tour of our plant, the new CEO of Platform Specialty Products was invited
to share a lunch in the administrative offices’ canteen and get to know each member
of our staff. ✤
/// From left to right: José Nobre / Wim Van de Wiele / Gilles Cerutti / Wayne Hewett / Paul Thomson / Jozef Michrina /
Filip Van de Vliet / Guilhem de Gaillard
6 | Contact #17
✽ ACTIVITY & PROCESS ✽
An increase of production
on our Flows line
A tour worthy
of any large
industrial site
In a few weeks, we
will have finalised our
informative tour for
visitors to our Liège
production site.
In effect, tours of our plant are increasingly common and we owed it to ourselves to
create an industrial communication tool
that was worthy of that name.
Last months, investment in our “Flowables”
facility has allowed us to double our production
capacity. How?
Like many business in Europe today, our Liège
production site is facing an increasingly competitive global situation, where it is essential to
be able to adapt and respond very quickly to
the different requirements of the market.
Against this background, the production capacities of some of our plants no longer allowed us to meet the demands of our business
sector – so something needed to be done!
Last year, we obtained authorisation to transfer some of the production capacity of the
We have genuinely achieved our aim as,
in addition to various tours being marked
out on the ground, no fewer than 20 explanatory illustrated boards will be set up
within our facilities, enabling visitors to
better understand what we do. These will
include a site map and information about
safety regulations, warehousing and despatch, formulation and packaging, the
water treatment plant and the laboratory,
etc.
Our visitors will also be given a small but
complete guide, which will explain in
even more detail the overall operation of
our manufacturing plant and our various
production activities.. ✤
Our current production
capacity has increased
to 50 m3 a day
Contact #17 | 7
Forberg plant (powders) to the Flows facility,
which initially enabled us to increase this production capacity to 30 m³ a day.
In February of this year, the permit application to permanently increase the production
capacity of the Flows facility, without harming
the Forberg plant, was approved. Therefore,
our current production capacity has increased
to 50 m³ a day, which is enabling us to meet
growing demand from the market for this
range of products. ✤
✽ NEWS FROM SUBSIDIARIES ✽
Iberia
Commercial Meeting report
Once again in Seville,
on 26th and 27th January,
we celebrated our 2nd
Commercial Meeting,
which was attended by
more than a hundred
customers from all over
Spain, including its
islands, and, for the first
time, from Portugal.
The conference was held in the splendid
“Plaza de España” and relished its beautiful
surroundings. Javier Coronado opened the
Conference by highlighting how beneficial
and important these meetings are for keeping
our commercial network informed, especially
this year with the final integration of Arysta
LifeScience. He also focused on “the qualitative and quantitative change for Agriphar Iberia resulting from this incorporation” and announced the launch of the first product from
Chemtura to be included in our product range
- Rango, a very interesting systemic herbicide.
Another important point for discussion was
the current registration of agrochemicals, an
issue that was raised in a highly unequivocal
speech by Amelia Carta. Lara Ramaekers was
the third speaker, explaining, in wonderful
Spanish, how we work in Global Development
8 | Contact #17
and highlighting the key ongoing projects for
new products/applications.
Clara Narrillos outlined the most important
development projects on the Iberian Peninsula, and commented on other products
from Chemtura, which will be included in the
Iberian catalogue, including the miticide, Acramite, presented by Giancarlo Chiot.
The next speaker was Professor Antonio Trapero, an olive tree expert from Cordoba University, who presented the impressive results relating to the efficacy of Syllit® against leaf spot,
anthracnose and olive knot trials.
José Buendía brought the Conference to a
close after lunch by providing details of the
commercial policy for this year.
Once the Conference was over, customers
✽ NEWS FROM SUBSIDIARIES ✽
in spain
were able to enjoy a pleasant walk around the
city centre, taking advantage of a warm and
sunny afternoon, which is quite normal for Seville in the winter.
For dinner, we had chosen a fabulous riverside restaurant with a spectacular view of the
“Torre del Oro” and “La Giralda.” During the
course of the meal, Agriphar Iberia surprised
all the customers with a live drawing, on a
huge canvas, of a Spanish horse bearing Agriphar’s logo. ✤
Javier Coronado
insisted on
how beneficial
and important
these meetings
are, especially
with the final
integration
to Arysta
LifeScience
The first step
towards the
integration
of Arysta
LifeScience
on the Iberian
Peninsula
On 4th and 5th March,
the entire Iberian
Sales, Marketing and
Registration team
attended initial training
on various products
produced by Chemtura
AgroSolutions, which
have recently been
included in their
portfolio.
The training was led by Luigi Avella
and Kostas Papadopoulos, Chemtura
Marketing Managers for Insecticides &
Acaricides, who provided participants
with a very interesting approach to the
management of products such as Acramite or Dimilin. ✤
Contact #17 | 9
✽ PORTRAIT ✽
For Yves Viatour, the
necessary expertise
for working in
human resources
is mainly defined
in terms of life
skills: listening,
availability, the
ability to negotiate,
empathy and
assertiveness.
10 | Contact #17
✽ PORTRAIT ✽
Yves Viatour, the new Human
Resources Director at the Liège site
Yves Viatour joined Agriphar as the Human Resources Director for the
Liège production site and offices on 2nd April.
Yves Viatour is a law graduate with a degree in
employment sciences. He has more than 20
years experience of human resources in business sectors including food processing, metallurgy, the press and automotive distribution,
within local and international companies.
As the son of a farmer, Yves was already familiar with the Group before joining it: “I knew
the name Agriphar, but I associated it more
with a producer of fertilisers than a benchmark
in plant-health products.”
For Yves Viatour, the necessary expertise for
working in human resources is mainly defined
in terms of life skills: listening, availability, the
ability to negotiate, empathy and assertiveness.
“I am a pragmatist and a practical person.
Therefore, I try to get to know and understand a
company’s different business areas. On a daily
basis, I strive to implement complete policies
in terms of Human Resources. Policies that enable skills to be developed within the company
and that ensure our employees want to come to
work and enjoy being at work… “
In his everyday life, even though he doesn’t
have much free time, Yves likes walking and
tries to devote as much time as he can to his
children: “I walk between 30 and 40 kilometres
at the weekend. I try to keep myself fit… and forget about forms!” ✤
Proust
Questionnaire
If you were…
A quality... Listening
A country... The Philippines or Thailand
A colour… Orange
A flower… A forget-me-not or a red rose
A book... “Le Zèbre” by Alexandre Jardin
A song... “Imagine” by John Lennon
A painter... Paul Delvaux
A drama... Game of Thrones
A motto... Listening, Honesty, Frankness
I strive to
implement
complete policies
that enable skills
to be developed
within the
company
Contact #17 | 11
✽ STAFF ✽
The following people have also joined us recently
Cédric Gochel
Arrived on 2015.01.19
Position: Accounting, Belgium
Following his accounting studies at the Institut Sainte-Marie in Liège, Cédric worked for a Brussels-based telecommunications company for 7 years. He now lives near Chaudfontaine with his partner and two children, Simon (4) and Noé (1).
Cédric loves reading, films and cuisine.
Bruno Bosmans
Arrived on 2015.02.01
Position: Maintenance & Engineering, Belgium
Bruno has a civil engineering degree and around ten years experience with industrial operators including Holcim and
TI Automotive. He likes to have hands-on contact in order precisely understand the expectations of operators and the
chain of command.
The challenges of his role in 2015 will be to expand implementation of computer-aided management of maintenance
work, and to include all those people involved in each engineering project. This provides the advantage of hearing everyone’s opinion and should enable us to better meet expectations.
Bruno has two daughters with whom he spends a lot of time, he plays badminton, cycles and also loves gardening.
Elisabeth Thirion
Arrived on 2015.04.13
Position: S&E, Belgium
Elisabeth has a chemical engineering degree and has previously worked in the metallurgy and pharmaceutical industries. Her specialist areas are process improvement and performance management – TPM & WCM – as well as integrated
quality, safety and environmental management.
Don Pendergrast
Arrived on 2015.04.17
Position: Product Development, UK
Based in Coventry (UK) and forming part of the EU Product Development Team, Don already has vast experience in the
agronomy sector. He will take charge of conducting tests on a local level and will be responsible for passing on technical
data to our distributors and will hold various conferences on crop protection in Great Britain.
Vincent Denis
Arrived on 2015.04.27
Position: Controller, Belgium
Vincent completed his training as an accountant with a Master’s Degree in Tax at the EPHEC. He has many years experience of controlling and budgets for various well-known companies. He likes cooking, films and football.
12 | Contact #17
✽ IN BRIEF ✽
They
incorporate
the new
organisational
structure
of Arysta
LifeScience
Europe…
Two brave representatives
of Arysta LiveScience at the
Brussels 20 km race
Congratulations to Jean-Luc Lamproye and Geoffrey Wyns who pounded the streets of our capital on 31st May as part of the 36th running of the legendary Brussels 20 kilometre race.
This year’s race, which was started by the Prime Minister, Charles Michel, brought together
40,000 people from 133 different countries.
Jean-Luc completed the 20 km in 1:44:35 and Geoffrey finished in 1:49:21.
Is anyone interested in running next year? ✤
Christophe Corman will effectively
lead the accreditation team, on a regional and national level, and will ensure that Arysta obtains accreditations
that will enable it to develop its product range and guarantee the growth
of its business. Alan Pirotte will be
head of the formulation department,
which is responsible for developing
new products, providing support for
changes in the sources of active ingredients and for intellectual property
matters.
On a commercial level, Martin Martens will be managing regional projects and, specifically, establishment
of the company’s own divisions in
Western Europe where Arysta is not
easily able to access the markets. Malou Vincent will be responsible for
developing sub-contracting activities
for the Noguères and Liège (Ougrée)
sites.
Finally, in an operational level, Alain
Orban remains in charge of the Liège
site and will manage production and
packaging activities in Europe.
Congratulations to all of them. ✤
Marc Dubois
joins the AIME Business Unit
Marc Dubois joined the AIME BU as Head of Middle East
North Africa in May.
Marc will remain based in Liege and, along with his team, will
be responsible for integrating the product ranges of Agriphar,
Chemtura, Goëmar and Arysta in this area. ✤
Contact #17 | 13
✽ LOCAL NEWS ✽
Liège, a bustling city:
all the major projects are coming together
Seven years ago,
the authorities in
Liége outlined their
global development
strategy and, today,
the City of Liège is
clearly demonstrating
its metropolitan
ambitions.
Officially opened in 2009, the Calatrava station, considered by some “the most beautiful
station in Europe” provided the impetus for
this redeployment, which is based around two
key ideas: openness and accessibility. With
this twofold objective, the City of Liège is currently creating a brand new urban axis from
Guillemins station to Médiacité.
Various developments will stand side-by-side
along this kilometre long route: homes, offices, green spaces and, of course, the future
tramway, which is intrinsically linked to all
Liège’s future urban challenges.
/// New Finance Tower
14 | Contact #17
With this large scale urban “makeover”, which
will witness the emergence of a business and
residential district close to an international
station right in the heart of the city, Liège is
clearly demonstrating its aim of becoming a
leading European city.
Opening up views over the
Meuse and guiding pedestrians
between districts
Redevelopment of the highways along the
banks of the Meuse, which began at the end
of 2012, is continuing, in order to improve the
city’s accessibility and allow for the installation of a tramway in 2018.
✽ LOCAL NEWS ✽
A 1,250 metre long bridge for cyclists and
pedestrians spanning the Meuse is also under construction. It will connect the Guillemins area to two other districts: the Parc de
la Boverie and its future International Art and
Culture Centre (the CIAC), as well as the economic and commercial Médiacité hub, in the
Longdoz district.”
Just a 15 minute walk from the station, another vast construction project is progressing
visibly: that of the former site of Val Benoît
University. Once renovated, this attractive
modernist complex on the banks of the Meuse
will provide 30,000 m2 of space for businesses
and almost 33,000 m2 for housing, as well as
shops, offices, services, etc.
The crème de la crème of
architecture
Also in the immediate vicinity of the station,
the Vennes district will house a 100,000 m²
mixed use development, comprising housing, a hotel, shops, etc. The fact that the Dutch
architect and international star Rem Koolhaas
will be designing the complex is the icing on
the cake.
As the face of Liège is changing dramatically
and enduringly, no district of this bustling city
appears to be immune.
/// New urban axis
/// Médiacité
Contact #17 | 15
Following on from the Spanish architect, Calatrava, for the station, Israeli architect, Ron
Arad, for Médiacité, and French architect,
Ricciotti, for the future International Art and
Culture Centre, Liège has undoubtedly procured the services of the crème de la crème of
international architecture. ✤
Liège is clearly
demonstrating its aim
of becoming a leading
European city.
✽ COMPETITION ✽
To W
in
A WE
Origi BER Spi
ri
nal E
210 t
barb
g
ecue as
Summer will be hot…
Quiz
How can I enter?
You can only enter our competition via our Intranet site. You have until midnight on 15th August to enter. The winner will be selected automatically.
Questions
Answers and results for the previous quiz
1. In Jean Becker’s film “L’été meurtrier” (One Deadly Summer),
which French actor and singer starred alongside Isabelle Adjani ?
ANSWER 1 : Humphrey Bogart is listed as the greatest of Hollywood’s
legendary actors
ANSWER 2 : Katharine Hepburn is listed as the greatest of Hollywood’s
legendary actresses
ANSWER 3 : Gene Kelly sings “I’m singing in the rain” in the musical “An
American in Paris”
ANSWER 4 : “Geant” (Giant) was the last film featuring James Dean
ANSWER 5 : Th
e characters Wallace and Gromit are made from plasticine
2. Which composer wrote “Le songe d’une nuit d’été” (A Midsummer
Night’s Dream)
3. Joe Dassin said in L’été indien (The Indian Summer) “Avec ta robe
longue, tu ressemblais à une aquarelle de…”
4. What should you do on the night we change to summer time
5. Which artist painted “L’été”(Summer)
Congratulations to Marjorie Szimjonka who won a PIONEER MCS-434 home cinema system.