“Innovation is increasingly taking place all over Asia, and since demand is growing from Asian customers, we are bolstering our global capacities to follow our customers across the region,” says Peter Meinshausen, president of Evonik
for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand region. “The developments and needs in different economies drive our actions.”

Anchored on a 150-year-old German industrial heritage, Evonik offers tailor-made chemical products and solutions to a wide range of industries including automotive, agriculture, construction, nutrition, food, feed, plastics, electronics, health and pharmaceutical. A global frontrunner in speciality chemical production, Evonik is taking on a mentoring role, advocating sustainable development processes and offering solutions that help position clients as responsible and attractive industry players.

One such breakthrough is Evonik’s use of essential amino acids for advanced animal nutrition. For more than 60 years now, Evonik has been a reliable partner to the feed industry. The company’s CreAMINO product, for instance, is the only supplemental creatine source for broiler chicken nutrition. Besides compensating creatine deficiency, CreAMINO also increases the fertility and hatchability of eggs, and reduces the mortality of embryos.

Besides CreAMINO, Evonik also set up two years ago a world-scale production complex of methionine, one of its core businesses in Singapore. As an essential amino acid for poultry and swine, Evonik’s methionine ensures more balanced nutrition will be provided. With the rapid population growth and rising consumption of meat in Asia, Evonik has already started its construction for the second methionine complex in Singapore, and it is expected to become operational in 2019.

“We put the needs of our customers at the helm of our major considerations,” Meinshausen says. “We respond to market needs in a timely way and we invest significantly to offer solutions that help customers develop innovative products. We also support customers as they penetrate new markets.”

In the automotive field, Evonik is bolstering its global capacity for precipitated silica to support tyre manufacturers in Asia. This included the expansion of its precipitated silica production capacity in Thailand in 2014. The chemical is used as reinforcing fillers for the rubber industry, and car manufacturers apply it to significantly reduce rolling resistance in tyres. Manufacturers that use a silica-silane combination can produce tyres that save fuel by up to 8 per cent compared to conventional passenger tyres. Apart from tyres, precipitated silica is also used in hoses, belts and rollers.

Positioning itself as a modern industrial group, Evonik seeks to generate closer and smoother integration of customers’ needs with new technologies. Adopting the latest digital trends and production methods, it leverages digital electronic systems to manage the ease of use of its solutions for customers. Evonik is also closely working with industry players, local universities and research centres to develop strategic scientific partnerships that unearth creativity and foster innovation in the region.

“The core goal is to enable our customers to grow further by serving their needs across all Asian markets,” Meinshausen says. “With creativity as one of our corporate missions, we will continue to foster closer collaboration with Asian manufacturers by providing products and solutions that fit their unique needs and requirements.”