Wacker Chemicals South Asia secures win at SBR Management Excellence Awards

Its global team remains connected through virtual get-together events.

Wacker Chemicals South Asia has bagged the COVID Management Initiative of the Year – Manufacturing at the recently concluded SBR Management Excellence Awards 2020.

Now in its 6th year, the awards event lauds individuals, innovators and teams whose initiatives have brought tangible business gains for the success of their companies.

Following the shift from the concrete to the virtual world thanks to the global pandemic, Wacker South Asia’s colleagues from representative offices spanning seven countries – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - have been able to reach out to each other and their customers despite the latitudes and longitudes separating them.

The firm introduced internal virtual get-together events to mitigate remote work isolation and feelings of loneliness, and organised a series of successful webinars for its customers and distributors.

“Of course, it is important to stay connected to customers, distributors and other partners, but it’s equally important that our colleagues can keep in touch with each other; social isolation can lead to demotivation and depression,” said Danielle Moore, Managing Director of Wacker South Asia.

“We recognised early on that if colleagues were able to maintain contact between themselves and our customers, they must be provided with the necessary tools and conditions.”

In turn, all of the firm’s staff were provided with laptops, headsets, and where possible, monitors and smartphones.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Wacker was founded in 1914. It entered the Asian market in 1983, establishing Wacker Chemicals East Asia in Tokyo, Japan before a counterpart in Singapore was set up a year later.

To date, the firm has over 3,200 products with 24 production sites across 11 countries. Silicone-based products account for 70% of the firm’s sales, whilst primarily ethylene-related products make up the remaining 30%. Their products range from cosmetic powders to solar cells.