One year of Exolon – making a good start whilst facing some demanding challenges

2020: New structures and the coronavirus

"The past year has been a unique one in many respects. The challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic led us to establish and implement new company structures. The aim was to reconcile our economic interests with protecting the health of our employees," states Jens Becker, CEO of the Exolon Group. The reason for this was because during the coronavirus pandemic, demand for some Exolon products increased significantly, such as transparent plastic sheets for all forms of infection control, meaning production was considered essential. Thanks to comprehensive hygiene measures, work in the administration department in Pulheim (Germany), as well as in the production departments at the sites in Tielt (Belgium) and Nera Montoro (Italy), could be continued without pause, ensuring supply to the European market.

The divestment from the Covestro Group structures and the organisation’s continuation as an independent medium-sized company was one of the greatest challenges faced by the Exolon Group.

With only a relatively short preparation period available, the Exolon Group was nevertheless able to commence business as planned on 1 January 2020 – replete with a new company name, a website www.exolongroup.com and fully adapted product and process documentation. Another task was to set up independent IT and financial structures. The Group had only nine months to set up and implement the new ERP system. At the same time, the smooth running of the day-to-day business had to be ensured. "During this time, we communicated with our customers closely to ensure our partners were kept up to date. Thanks to the outstanding commitment of our employees, we were able to implement this project quickly and successfully," states Jens Becker.

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in a wave of orders and a focus producing the relevant products. The strict hygiene requirements in a wide range of areas, such as shops, offices and public buildings, were reflected in the high demand for transparent plastic sheets. Construction projects also continued during the pandemic, ensuring stable sales of Exolon products. The do-it-yourself sector was also buoyant: figures were extremely healthy during the first lockdown, above all for the sale of multiwall sheets. "Despite all the challenges and additional investments we made to protect the health of our employees, the coronavirus actually ensured we had a good first financial year," Becker reports.

Outlook 2021

Further ground-breaking new developments will be pursued by the company in the 2021 financial year, which has just begun. With a comprehensive brand change, the Exolon Group is seeking to further hone its corporate profile.

As part of this campaign, Exolon established the new Exoblend^® and Exolon^® GP B brand names at the beginning of the year for those products that previously belonged to the Bayblend^® and Bayloy^® segments. This was in addition to establishing the new Vivak^® and Axpet^® brand profiles. The Exolon Group will also be announcing a change of name for Makrolon^®, its core product.

In addition to product developments in the field of polycarbonate sheets, Exolon will be increasingly devoting itself to the development of polyester and opaque sheet material. This entails a long-term expansion of the product range and thus an expansion of the application areas in certain segments.