European Managers’ Meeting

From 12-14 September, Carpenter’s executive leadership and European managers met in Brussels, Belgium, to hear presentations on company news following the exciting growth we experienced in 2023. Great camaraderie was enjoyed, and European divisions showed strong team spirit – especially Carpenter France!

Gathering as One Team for the first time facilitated much enthusiasm. Icebreakers and team-building exercises strengthened initial bonds, and participants embarked on a walking tour of Brussels to view historic architecture and cultural sites.

Many presentations given during the meeting provided details on steps that have been or will be taken throughout integration. These include implementing standard practices and procedures, improving production site organization, and utilizing regional R&D support.

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to discuss who we are and what we do. We are a company that positively impacts our communities, forms meaningful relationships with our partners and customers, and strives to be the best each day. We are One Team!

R&D integration has begun

Integration has begun on many fronts since our acquisition of Recticel Engineered Foams was finalized in June. As part of this large-scale, ongoing process, members of the R&D Integration Committee, led by Scott Pugh, Carpenter’s Vice President of Research and Development, recently visited Belgium to discuss the best way to integrate our R&D processes.

The visit in early August included a stop at our plant in Roeselare, where Bart Haelterman, our new R&D and Sustainability Director for Carpenter Europe, joined the group to learn about processes at legacy Carpenter. The group then traveled to Wetteren to tour the Engineered Foams production plant and the Sustainability and Innovation Department (SID), which is similar to the Reinhart Technical Center (RTC) in Richmond.

The Committee is made up of delegates from RTC and SID who work on specific disciplines – such as testing, chemical projects or slab stock development, for example – and are matched up with a counterpart from the other location. They communicate with one another and disseminate information as needed. These connections were established early on and will be key in fostering a collaborative environment as integration continues.

“I’ve been very pleased with the level of excitement and collaboration,” said Pugh. “I would say the groups have been very receptive and very open to working together at a high level of excitement.”

Pugh said the first step in R&D integration will be learning about the capabilities and operations of legacy Carpenter and Engineered Foams.  

Part of that is assessing how all European Carpenter plants can be supported by our newly acquired R&D sites. Prior to the acquisition, most R&D support for Europe came from RTC. Now, we not only have SID at Wetteren, but Duderstadt, Germany, provides considerable support for systems, and there are also several local hubs. The Committee is looking for synergies in how testing and other capabilities can best be used for regional support. 

RTC, in coordination with Duderstadt, is supporting our new plants in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and Piedmont, South Carolina.

Another current action item is leveraging our polyol business to use existing Carpenter polyols in Engineered Foams formulations whenever possible. This involves finding Carpenter equivalents to polyols that Engineered Foams plants have traditionally purchased from other manufacturers.

Forming a plan for sustainability was also discussed during this initial visit. Haelterman said the first step of the plan is to understand both organizations’ level of awareness about sustainability. Then comes the development of a global Carpenter strategy. This may differentiate between North America and Europe due to legislative or regulatory bodies, so the Committee is also considering the best way to approach any legal requirements.

Future integration efforts will include more cross collaboration and additional visits between Engineered Foams and legacy Carpenter locations. A group from SID visited RTC in September, and another RTC visit to Europe is planned for later this year. Small groups are making these visits in stages so that all important topics can be adequately discussed and genuine connections are formed.

While R&D integration has just begun, establishing connections seems to be a success already.

“It feels like we were colleagues before,” Haelterman said of working with the team at RTC. “It’s like I met them years ago.”

Safety Day recap

Safety Day took place in our Engineered Foams (EF) production sites in late September. A few legacy Carpenter plants – Roeselare, Belgium, and Noyant, Loriol and Craon in France – also participated on a small scale. The initiative began in spring 2018 as part of the EF Simply Safe strategy to work toward an accident-free workplace. 

“Safety Day is a key element in the Simply Safe program and is generally very well received by the employees,” said Laurent Verschuere, Carpenter’s new HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) Manager for EMEA and APAC.

“We take the opportunity to dive into relevant safety subjects with all employees, but this year especially, it’s also a kind of social event in a period where we might really need that,” he added, in reference to a turbulent two years during which the acquisition was in limbo.

Verschuere provided the framework for Safety Day, including the theme and common materials, for approximately 30 participating plants.

This year’s theme, “It’s in Our Hands,” was decided upon after a review of recordable accidents in EF plants from the last few years revealed a spike in hand/wrist and cut/laceration injuries.

The slogan is about being aware of hand safety and hazards, but it also reinforces the idea that safety is something in which everyone can and should partake. 

Plants began the day with a video message from President and CEO Brad Beauchamp. A memory game that required employees to match pictograms with images to help identify and discuss potential risks was also provided to all sites.

Local teams turned Safety Day into a full program by organizing workshops to remind employees of safety practices in their specific plant. Exercises included the use of basic safety tools, such as fire extinguishers and PPE, and more complex activities as well.

Trilport, France, for example, prepared an escape game to simulate an emergency in the plant. Employees had to find clues and follow all proper procedures to complete the game. There was also training on the risks involved with lift trucks and other workplace transport machines, and so on.  

As these efforts complement Carpenter’s strong focus on safety, leadership is considering how the Simply Safe program could be “Carpenter-ized” and implemented where appropriate.

Roeselare: High-tier Seveso site

Our plant in Roeselare, Belgium, achieved the designation of a high-tier Seveso site in May 2023.

A Seveso site is an industrial site that is required to follow strict rules and regulations due to the types of materials used for production. These rules include the amounts of materials permitted on-site, and they differ between low-tier and high-tier classification. Requirements are aimed at preventing major industrial accidents involving hazardous materials and limiting the consequences for humans and the environment.

Robin Smessaert, Roeselare Division Manager, explained that moving the plant from a low-tier site to a high-tier site was necessary to maintain the Tyrefill business in Belgium.

The low-tier Seveso permit required Roeselare to stay under 200 tons of Seveso substances in total. The GHS classification of Tyrefill’s base component and the end product itself were slated to change in 2023, meaning that Roeselare would exceed the scope of the low-tier permit if any finished blend was stored at the plant.

So at the beginning of 2022, Roeselare began the process of applying for a high-tier permit.

The first part of the process was working with authorities to complete an environment safety report to study the risk perimeters and the types of buildings and activities around the plant that would be impacted in the event of an accident. Second was the SWA-VR, a report of all internal safety measures and the exact amounts of every Seveso substance that the plant wanted to store. These steps took nine months.

Then came the permit application, which took another three months for approval.

Smessaert said that the plant took the opportunity to incorporate expansion options in the permit, which will help guarantee business continuity even in the case of supply chain issues. For example, Roeselare now has approval to store extra amounts of Tyrefill’s base components and the finished product. Closer monitoring by regulatory authorities is required with the high-tier classification, but it sets up Roeselare for future growth.

We are proud of the work that made this achievement possible!

Let’s Talk Carpenter

President and CEO Brad Beauchamp is launching a new platform for providing company news and updates to Carpenter employees across the globe.

Debuting in Q4, “Let’s Talk Carpenter” will be a recurring interview-style conversation with Brad about business performance, plans for the future, our various market segments, and other current events. 

A key component of “Let’s Talk Carpenter” is the opportunity for employees to submit business-related questions or discussion topics. A brief online submission form has been created to receive your input and help Brad determine the topics that employees want to know more about.

All employees are welcome and encouraged to utilize the form as often as desired!

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