Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Frost and Sullivan Honors Industrys Top Achievers at 2006 Excellence in Chemicals Awards Banquet

Frost & Sullivan presented twelve awards at its prestigious 2006 Excellence in Chemicals Awards Banquet held in the city yesterday evening. The well-attended banquet Honored companies for outstanding performance across the chemicals, food ingredients and materials sectors with awardees excelling in sectors as diverse as food fibres, flavorings and vitamins to work wear, silicones and flame retardants.

Awards were conferred for market leadership, business and brand development, technology and product innovation, exceptional growth and competitive strategies, product excellence as well as focused customer service. Honorees from the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Japan and the United States celebrated their companies' achievements and, most importantly, the performance of their teams.

Among the evening's award recipients were Cosucra Groupe Warcoing, Raisio Benecol Ltd. and Natraceutical for their demonstrated leadership in competitive strategy, brand development and growth strategy, respectively. Supresta picked up the award for Market Leadership of the Year for its outstanding performance in the European flame retardant market.

Belmay Ltd., Mascot International A/S, Schoeller Textil AG, Switzerland, Ticona GmbH and Merck Eprova received Awards for product-related excellence. Dow Corning Corporation was acknowledged for their superior customer services while Exatec and Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. Bio-Chemicals Business Unit were recognized for their technological successes.

Delivering the keynote speech on 'Review of 2006: A Year in the Chemical Industry', Dr. Brian Balmer, Frost & Sullivan's Programme Manager of Performance Materials Research, examined the hottest trends, innovations, challenges and opportunities that defined the chemicals industry over the course of this year.

"The challenges facing the major chemical industry Product groups - specialty chemicals, materials and, foods - are essentially the same," said Dr. Balmer. "These involve concerns related to identifying the most promising new country markets in which to grow, tackling the dilemma of commoditisation versus specialisation, effectively harnessing both internal and external sources of innovation, as well as responding to emerging or changing legislation such as REACH, WEEE, the biofuel directives, food labelling and PPE directives."

Dr. Balmer also touched upon some of the key trends that have come to characterise the European chemicals industry. "Due to cost considerations and an increasingly dispersed customer base, outsourced production is rising. Understanding the basic dynamics of this trend, hiring and retaining the right staff and ensuring IP protection is imperative if companies are to leverage the benefits of outsourcing their production activities."

The Awards Banquet was attended by almost 60 participants from Europe's leading chemicals, food and beverage ingredients companies.

The following is a complete list of award recipients: 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award Cosucra Groupe Warcoing 2006 Market Leadership Award Supresta 2006 Product Line Strategy Leadership Award Belmay Ltd. 2006 Brand Development Strategy Leadership Raisio Benecol Ltd. 2006 Technology Innovation Award Exatec 2006 Product Quality Leadership Award Mascot International A/S 2006 Technology Innovation Award Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd., Bio-Chemicals Business Unit 2006 Product Innovation of the Year Award Schoeller Textil AG, Switzerland 2006 Product Innovation Award Ticona GmbH 2006 Growth Strategy Leadership Award Natraceutical 2006 Product Differentiation Innovation Award Merck Eprova 2006 Customer Service Innovation of the Year Award Dow Corning Corporation Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics.

Frost & Sullivan Chemicals and Food Group is the strategic market consultant delivering insight and understanding to support business growth internationally. We identify and analyse the critical market challenges companies must address to become successful competitors in their industry. Our work is focused on these challenges in order to provide our clients with market strategies that enable them to increase revenues, market share and profitability.

The Group continuously monitors a comprehensive spectrum of chemical and food markets for trends, market measurements and strategies, and delivers powerful data via research publications, bespoke market intelligence projects and customized consulting.

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