Global specialty chemicals company Ashland (Covington, Kentucky, USA) announced that it will be moving from a functional organizational structure in which the organization is divided into smaller groups to a business-unit structure in which individual units are responsible for their particular lines of business.
Under its new business-unit focused realignment, which is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of FY 2020, Ashland will organize around three primary, external-reporting segments and a corporate-reporting segment. Each of the three primary segments will serve certain business units: Life Sciences includes pharma and health and wellness; Specialty Additives includes coatings and performance specialties, and Intermediates and Solvents will report the results of the company’s Lima, Ohio facility. In addition, the corporate segment will manage the company’s corporate governance activities and certain legacy matters.
This business realignment will enable the company to match distinct business models, resources, and cost structures to each business unit, thereby allowing for greater ownership and accountability for short- and long-term performance outcomes. In addition, incentive rewards will be aligned with the performance of business units.
Ashland also announced that Min Chong will be leading the Specialty Additives segment effective January 1, 2020, while Tim Plane will head the Performance Adhesives unit. Chong was previously head of the global Crosslinker Business at Evonik (Essen, Germany), while Plane rejoined Ashland in 2018 after serving as president of the U.S. subsidiary of Savare Specialty Adhesives (Delaware, Ohio, USA). Both Chong and Plane will report to Ashland Chairman and CEO Guillermo Novo.
Source: Ashland, www.ashland.com.