SOLUTIONS THAT BECOME SPECIALTIES

In a world where business leaders are constantly looking to reduce the number of suppliers they work with, one company is changing to meet more of their needs: France-based DECA-CHIMIE s.a.s., a sales agent and distributor of chemical products for a range of industries. With great access and service in Europe and to the growing Chinese market in particular, DECA-CHIMIE is able to offer tailor-made solutions at lower costs and with a high degree of flexibility.

DECA-CHIMIE was established over 30 years ago as an international distribution and trading company, and has been serving a range of industries with industrial chemical products, personal care, pharmaceuticals, elastomers, food, feed and water treatment products in the decades since. In 1998, the company opened its Shanghai office.

In 2011, the company and its subsidiaries were acquired by PLG Holding. Today, the company employs six people at its headquarters in Charbonnières-les-Bains, France, and brings in revenues between six and seven million EUR. “Our three decades in the business throughout Europe have given us the knowledge, expertise and access to products worldwide,” says Patrick Lederer, president of DECA-CHIMIE.

DECA-CHIMIE serves a range of industries with products that make the world economy operate – chemical compounds, additives, derivatives and others. It serves the industrial chemical industry (35% of its revenues), the food, feed and cosmetics industries (33%), water treatment and pool care industries (17%), and the elastomer industry (17%) with tailored products. Roughly half of its products are commodities, and the other half are specialty products. “Our solutions are tailor-made for our clients to meet their exact needs,” Mr. Lederer explains.

France represents 35% of the French arm of the company’s revenues, while its most important trade partners in Italy, Germany, Northern Europe, the Nordic countries and beyond comprise the rest. The company often reaches new customers at the trade fairs it attends regularly, such as Nuremberg’s DKT for elastomers, and pool care fairs in Barcelona and Lyon.

“In the future we would like to be more present at cosmetics and food fairs,” Mr. Lederer says. DECA-CHIMIE also operates a partnership with DECA-SWISS, which has opened up opportunities for the firm in the area of elastomers.

DECA-CHIMIE is different from similar enterprises in China. “We have the advantage that our joint venture in China is a transparent firm with a high degree of flexibility,” Mr. Lederer explains. “This is what differentiates us from the larger trading firms.”

DECA-CHIMIE is also able to set itself apart through its marketing of completely different specialties, which demand a high degree of technical competence. “These are products that do not appear in other company’s catalogues,” Mr. Lederer says. “It is our strategy to establish ourselves firmly in this segment with exclusive partners.”

These specialty products hold a lot of promise for the firm as it looks to future development. The company is looking for new partners and clients who can place their trust in DECA-CHIMIE’s specialty chemicals business, clients who need to know that they are receiving a quality product.

“Our customers want to reduce how many suppliers they are working with and our task is to increase our offerings in order to make it possible for them,” Mr. Lederer says. “We can and will do this – by having specific materials in our catalogue that are difficult to find, or by offering technically complex products.”

Why waste time checking in with dozens of suppliers when you can approach just one? With DECA-CHIMIE, this idea is transformed from a pipe dream into reality.