High Performance Businesses in Several Global Chemical Companies

 In a previous blog, I showed the reporting segment names used by 38 global chemical companies.  (Click here to see that blog.)   Three of the 38 companies have high performance in one of their reporting segments names (Evonik, Lanxess, and Sekisui).   

In this blog, I provide brief descriptions in the table below on those three companies’ (Evonik, Lanxess, and Sekisui) high performance businesses.  I also reviewed the annual reports of the other 35 companies as to what high performance businesses they have, even though they have no high performance reporting business segments.  The other companies that indicate high performance businesses are also presented in the table, along with brief descriptions of their high performance businesses based on my review of the companies’ annual reports.  Altogether, 20 of the 38 companies indicate high performance businesses, and 18 of the 38 companies report no high performance businesses and are not listed in the table below.

 

company	high performance businesses
albemarle	high performance greases due to lithium	high performance plastics due to bromine-based additives
arkema	high performance thermobonding adhesives	high performance bio-based polyamides
asahi kasei	high performance filters used in pharmaceutical manufacturing
celanese	high performance engineered polymers
chemours	high performance fluoro polymers
dsm	high performance polymers
dupont	high performance engineering resins, adhesives, silanes, lubricants
eastman	high performance coatings
evonik	high performance additives	high performance polymers
huntsman	high performance building insulation
lanxess	high performance materials
linde	high performance coatings
mitsubishi	high performance films	high performance chemicals
mitsui	high performance packaging materials
nitto denko	high performance materials
sekisui	high performance plastics
solvay	high performance polymers and composites
sumitomo	high performance products
toray	high performance abs business
wacker	high performance materials	high performance additives

 

In the last blog in this series of blogs on the reporting segment names used by 38 global chemical companies, I wrote that I would try to provide information on how “high performance” might differ and relate to “special chemicals” and “advanced materials” when used by the 38 global chemical companies when discussing their businesses in their annual reports.  (Click here to read that blog.) 

Here are what I believe are the differences in the terms “special chemicals”, “advanced materials”, and “high performance” when those terms are used in the annual reports to describe businesses: 

‘Special chemicals” businesses are described by the companies in their annual reports in similar terms to how “advanced materials” businesses are described.  Both businesses (special chemicals and advanced materials) are attempting to bring differentiating properties in the products that they are providing to customers.   A difference seems to be that in the special chemicals businesses individual chemicals are being providing that help the customers produced finished products, while in the advanced materials businesses, products are usually finished polymers that are incorporated into the customers products.  The “advanced materials” are met to replace other materials previously used, bringing greater value by the use of the newer material. 

The term “high performance”, although used by three of the 38 global chemical companies in a segment reporting business name, is a much more general term.  My impression is that when “high performance” is used it generally means a performance is enhanced in  some way, without specifying what is met by performance.   The term “high performance” is used more in the sense of a marketing term, an adjective.  One should ask exactly what performance is enhanced and compared to what.