Focus on new generations, with sustainable ideas and digitalization.
Next 3 years we will unlock together Sirmax investments potential.
Dear Colleagues,
a difficult year is drawing to a close; it has been heavily conditioned by a pandemic that no one could ever have imagined.
I have been sharing the Christmas dinner with many of you for more than 25 years. During this event I used to talk to you and update you on what we were doing. I have been doing it with joy and pleasure. For more than 15 years, I have been travelling and visiting you at every plant in the world: Poland, Brazil, the United States, India. And I like to do the same in Italy: Tombolo, San Vito, Isola Vicentina... During these visits I have always tried to stay with you, to be with you. As CEO, I think it is important to be able to see for myself the working environment in every region. I will be back, hopefully soon, and I will spend with you even more time.
During last year’s Christmas dinner, we hosted the Coach and Captain of Cittadella calcio, our beloved second division team. The 2019-2020 season was the first of our official sponsorship! My speech played on the metaphor: "Cittadella Calcio is to the big clubs, Barcelona, Bayer, Liverpool... as Sirmax is to Basell, Borealis, Sabic...".
That's right, we are the fourth compound PP producer in Europe and the first independent; we occupy the eleventh and fifth place in the world respectively. We play in the first division, in the Premier League: in order to do so without the super champions, we must be a cohesive, flexible, strong, and determined team, with unique tactics and unparalleled strategy.
This year in April, May, June, during the hardest months of the pandemic, we have shown to be a strong club, with a robust financial performance and great human values. We have suffered together, but we got ready for the moment of recovery.
In May I wrote to you: "we must be ready to take advantage of the rigidity of the big players and the fragility of the small ones". And so it was! When the market restarted, Sirmax was ready: it resumed the volumes lost in the second quarter and took some of the market shares of our competitors.
We had the courage not to stop the investments, the works aimed to the doubling of the biopolymer production capacity in Microtec, the doubling of the polyolefin recycling in SER and the realization of the new SER North America plant. The fourth production line in Sirmax North America was also installed and started up. These bold choices now are paying off and putting us ahead of the competitors.
We also had the courage to persevere in the integration of SER and Microtec, continuing to hire new employees and implementing their information systems in order to create Sirmax-compatible organizations that are up to the new markets we will face.
Starting with the new Sirmax brand and its slogan "sustainable ideas", we have focused decisively on the themes of sustainability and digitalization.
We have a lot of young people in Sirmax: they will be able to build a great future, they will be our continuity. Our greatest efforts will be directed to them.
I strongly believe in the next three years, 2021-22-23. We have just presented an ambitious but achievable three-year business plan. In the next 3 years we can capitalize on all the potential we recently built tanks to the more than 100 million Euros invested. There will still be plenty of opportunities to grow and advance for all of you. I keep saying that Sirmax creates perhaps more job positions than the people ready to fill them! The market is still concentrating, the players will be fewer and fewer in number, but bigger and bigger in size. We will see a phase of "reshoring" or regionalization.
Pandemic has shown what we have been saying for a long time: "The competition will affect homogeneous areas, Europe, North America, South America, Russia, China and India. We are a true GLOCAL: we think globally and operate locally. This business model, our presence in different regions with different product lines, is rewarding us.
With a renewed communication plan in place, now we must tell everybody in the world that we have strong values, based on a clear business model, which we want to develop through a sustainable and digital strategy.
I would like to address a special thought to all the Italian expatriate colleagues who have only rarely been able to return to Italy this year. I thank you and embrace you all.
You are the first Ambassadors of Sirmax in the world: thanks to you we succeeded in creating that right cultural, Italian-Polish, Italian-American, Italian-Brazilian, mix.
Thanks to all of you Sirmaxees, I assure you that in 2021 I will be with you all, I will support you in taking up new challenges; I also assure you that I am planning an "after Massimo Pavin". We are a Great Family, a very strong team that soon will no longer need a Captain on the field, but maybe just an experienced President in the stands. I am joining my old partner Franco Coppola, who is retiring after 40 years of service.
I hope you can relax for a few days, experiencing a different, but certainly truer and more intense Christmas, together with your Families, focusing on strong feelings rather than appearance.
I believe that the worst is over and that, starting from January, we will get back stronger than ever.
I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
Massimo Pavin
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