SABIC inaugurates Asia Pacific regional HQ in Singapore

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has officially inaugurated the new premises of its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. The ceremony took place in conjunction with the internal launch of the 1SABIC global operating model, which was held at a town hall meeting in Singapore for more than 200 employees based here. His Highness Prince Saud cited SABIC’s growth in Asia as driving the need for 1SABIC, which integrates the company’s three key business divisions. “The growth we are experiencing here in Asia shows exactly why our new global structure is so important to maximize the potential from changing economies and markets. With our new unified structure, we are now able to bring financial resources and shared processes anywhere in the world to take advantage of newly emerging opportunities.” SABIC is the positioned as the world’s number five manufacturer of petrochemicals and had global revenues of US$40 bln in 2008. It aims to be the world’s preferred leader in chemicals by 2020, with revenues targeting to grow by US$60 billion. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, said that 1SABIC will allow the company to move financial resources and shared processes more efficiently to achieve the greatest results particularly in key regions like Asia.” With a unified global structure, SABIC and its customers can now leverage a coordinated manufacturing organization with a huge value-enhancement potential. Our business units will be closer to markets and decision makers, and our shared strengths can be projected across continents to bring about production cost advantages, as well as making us an even stronger innovator,” he added. SABIC has a solid presence in Asia Pacific with more than 40 offices and 10 plants across the region, and technology centres in China, India and Japan. SABIC’s employee base in Asia Pacific has also grown rapidly in recent years with a current headcount of over 2,000. Worldwide, SABIC has 33, 000 employees in more than 40 countries. inWith the new structure, Al-Mady said the leaders and employees of the company are in the best position possible to reap the rewards of the new and better SABIC: “Our past achievements have been great—with revenues growing eight-fold over the past decade alone, and new acquisitions, affiliates and plants being added all the time. In the process we also developed a world-renowned product portfolio, cultivated superior talent and built a massive global footprint.” In the near future, SABIC is also set to open a new Technology and Innovation centre in Shanghai, which will bring major research resources to support polymers and engineering plastics applications in Asia.