SABIC Polyolefins in the process of restructuring to become more competitive

21-Jun-05

In a bid to meeting its goal of being number one in Europe, Sabic's site at Gelsenkirchen has to work to full capacity to achieve a competitive cost position. The management of SABIC Polyolefins, situated at Gelsenkirchen having an investment of more than 400 million euros and the Works Council have notified the staff of the company of the decision they have reached after a reconciliation of interests. A social plan has been agreed upon after almost three months of negotiations and discussions and it is gathered that agreements have been able to cushion the impact for employees that were to be cut off from their jobs. It will only be 175 employees out of the planned 200 who will be trimmed from their jobs and the surplus will in principle be avoided as far as possible. Some employees are speculated to take early retirement whereas others may avail jobs at SABIC in the Netherlands. This step taken by SABIC is a part of its restructuring program that is considered to help the company to become competitive and is anticipated to assure the company a long-term perspective and achieve its goal of being number one in Europe after achieving a competitive cost position. The organizational and technical changes are liable to affect all units of SABIC Polyolefins, which will enable to optimize the existing site. The second phase in the restructuring process is scheduled to follow when the site will be extended with the construction of a new plant for the production of bimodal polyethylene.