Lanxess’s Rhein Chemie combines rubber and colourant specialties business lines

Following the acquisition of US firm Chemtura in April this year, specialty chemicals company Lanxess has revised its organisational structure. The two business lines Rubber Additives Business (RAB) and Colourant Additives Business (CAB) now both belong to the Rhein Chemie business unit.

RAB supplies a broad range of pre-dispersed chemicals, processing promoters, vulcanisation and filler activators, anti-sun check waxes, release agents, tyre marking inks and high-performance bladders; CAB, on the other hand, supplies high-quality colourants for use in numerous demanding applications and manufactures organic colourants at a state-of-the-art production facility in Leverkusen. It also serves customers around the world with the help of a global logistics and warehousing network.

Lanxess’s goal with this restructuring is to adopt a more targeted approach with an even stronger customer focus. The unit will in the future cover specialty business with active ingredient compounds, specialty chemicals and processing aids for the rubber, plastics and colorants industries.

“The two business lines have similar requirements and the realignment caters to our specialised business, which sometimes involves small volumes,” says Philipp Junge, who has been head of the Rhein Chemie business unit since April 2017. Junge is also in charge of the RAB, having been responsible for this business line since the end of 2014.

Dominik Risse, who is returning to the operational side of the business from the Mergers & Acquisitions group function will head the CAB. He was previously responsible for Lanxess’s colourants business in his role as head of Marketing.

Rhein Chemie will remain the umbrella brand for the rubber and colourants business. The lubricant and flame retardant additives business, meanwhile, has been transferred to Lanxess’s additives business unit. Together, these two business units form the Specialty Additives segment in the company’s extended organisational structure.

The Rhein Chemie business unit currently has around 1,000 employees and supplies more than 2,000 products to over 3,000 customers in 120 countries across the globe.