Catch up with Dr Kevin Matthews – Scott Bader CEO
As we enter the second half of the year, we recently caught up with Scott Bader CEO, Dr Kevin Matthews, to discuss 2022 so far and the companies progress towards its strategic goals 🎙️⬇️
Firstly, I would like to send my condolences, along with my fellow colleagues, to the Bader family on the recent passing of Godric. Godric played a fundamental part in the success of Scott Bader and, even more importantly, he was a fantastic person that touched the hearts of so many colleagues at Scott Bader. He will be sorely missed.
How has 2022 been for Scott Bader so far?
We started 2022 feeling very positive about the year. Concerns about COVID seeming to be behind us we looked forward to supply chains and markets stabilising. Then tragically in February the war in Ukraine broke out, further supply chain disruption occurred, energy prices rocketed and the European market became much more cautious. So there have been headwinds and a continued degree of uncertainty that is acting as a drag on business performance.
Do you feel Scott Bader is making progress against its strategic goals?
Yes, despite the macroeconomic backdrop of COVID, supply chain challenges and now the Ukrainian war we have executed on a number of stated strategic ambitions. In the Incubator Zone, we have established three technology incubators in Personal Care, 3D Printing and Polymer Mimetics. In the Transformation Zone, we followed the 2019 Australian acquisition with the acquisition of land in Mocksville, North Carolina. In July 2022, we have completed on the acquisition of the business of Satyen Polymers Private Limited in Mumbai, India and begun construction of the new production facility at Mocksville. These are both significant steps in expanding our footprints in the regions. The Performance Zone has seen a number of exciting new customer opportunities being developed and a strengthening of our global sales presence with a new office in Italy. Finally, in the Productivity Zone we are engaged in project Boost as well as a significant upgrade of our S&OP and procurement processes all of which should lead to more effective customer supply.
With its 2036 vision, Scott Bader has a strong focus on sustainability. What sustainability projects are currently being worked on?
Scope 1 & 2 emissions where we have a target for a 60% reduction by 2025 and 100% by 2028. Having asked our operations colleagues to set up a team to focus on this issue they recently reported back an initial view that hitting these targets would be possible. We now have to look at aligning the various work streams with the other projects and investments we have.
What are your hopes for Scott Bader in the second half of the year and into 2023?
I hope that we can get some stability through the rest of 2022 so we can push on hard in 2023 towards the strategic goal.
Do you have a final message for Scott Bader colleagues and customers?
We have demonstrated both our resilience and innovative capability over the last few years. We are well positioned to respond to further shocks and downturns. Indeed with the new assets in new territories as we follow our customers globally to provide them with optimal customer service, we believe we are well positioned for growth, especially in those regions.
