Key Highlights:
- 2024 has seen high activity and success from Distrupol, with the announcement of a European expansion, recruitment drive, and supplier/portfolio expansion.
- With long-standing relationships with polymer producers, such as Celanese and Versalis, Distrupol’s access to the latest sustainable materials sets them up for delivering the latest innovations to customers.
- The company is working to achieve net zero by 2050, and in recent months the group has achieved ISCC PLUS certification for the UK, Finland, Sweden and Demark, with other sites currently in progress.
In an industry where change hasn’t come about lightly in recent years, we’re seeing power moves from main players in a bid to establish a competitive edge, thought leadership status and unrivalled service for customers. Distrupol, having celebrated 60 years in business in 2023, has kicked off 2024 with a bang, announcing multiple growth strategies to better service the European marketplace.
European expansion
The Distrupol team is renowned for its tenacity for success and drive to deliver the absolute best for customers and supply partners. 2024 has seen an explosion of activity and success from Distrupol, with the announcement of a European expansion, recruitment drive, and supplier/portfolio expansion. Having been absent from the European market for some 15 years, Distrupol felt now was the time to re-establish themselves as a European leader, opening branches in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, joining already well-established businesses in the Nordics, Benelux, Egypt and USA. With a fresh, new team of sales and development engineers across the new sites, it’s a very exciting time to be part of the Distrupol group.
Leading the expansion, commercial director, James Stanton, has made it clear that whilst the expansion has been a main drive of the business over the last 18 months, it’s only intended to strengthen the business’ ability to deliver in the UK. “Expanding across Europe gives us product, supplier, and project development access and knowledge which even further equips our UK team to service customers. The expansive portfolio, technical expertise, logistical excellence, first-class service and absolute quality that pre-2024 regions experienced as Distrupol customers will now be available to designers, manufacturers, producers and OEMs in the likes of France, Italy, Iberia, DACH, CEE, the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. We’re already seeing the positive impact of the wider geographic influence and are very excited to see how this develops.”
With new suppliers being onboarded in a continuous process across Europe, and paying specific attention to emerging trends and markets, the Distrupol portfolio has never been stronger, and OEMs and manufacturers across all European regions are benefiting.
European technical development
As part of the expansion across Europe, Distrupol has implemented a central European development team, which comprises strategically located technical development engineers who provide unrivalled technical support to its customers. The central nature of this defined team enables increased knowledge sharing, which will mean that the UK market, for example, can benefit from developments and innovations taking place in the likes of Spain, France, Italy and Germany.
Although there are many new faces, Distrupol still maintains its family business feel, and team spirit is at an all-time high.
Sustainability always in mind
Despite huge developments across the business, Distrupol’s priority is sustainability. The team is working to achieve net zero by 2050, and in recent months the group has achieved ISCC PLUS certification for the UK, Finland, Sweden and Demark, with other sites currently in progress. In addition to this, Distrupol’s silver EcoVadis rating has been another achievement, with its overall sustainability score being in the top 6% of companies rated by EcoVadis (in the wholesale of waste, chemicals, fertilisers and agrochemical products, and other products n.e.c. industry).
With long-standing relationships with polymer producers, such as Celanese, Delrin, ChiMei, Ineos and Versalis to name just a few, Distrupol’s access to the latest sustainable materials sets them up for delivering the latest innovations to customers. Whether that’s PCR ABS, biobased POM, or recycled PP, product designers and manufacturers can rest assured that sustainability targets will be met with Distrupol.
New leadership
Distrupol’s owners, GPD Companies Inc., recently appointed a new CEO, Kurt Scheuring, who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the role. Scheuring is well known in the sector, having held multiple leadership roles in powerhouse companies such as GE Plastics and Polyone over the last 30+ years, and is primed and ready to lead Distrupol and other GPD Companies Inc. businesses to fresh success.
Partnerships
Expanding reach into other markets is made possible with strategic alliances. Last month, Distrupol announced its newly formed partnership with Polychim industrie SAS to deliver its homopolymer polypropylene portfolio across EMEA.
Commercial director, James Stanton, commented: "This addition to our pan-EMEA portfolio delivers high-quality materials to manufacturers in the consumer, automotive, packaging, and industrial sectors to name just a few. The Distrupol sales and technical teams are well-versed on the properties, advantages and applications of homopolymer polypropylene, and so we're excited to dive into the market. Polychim Industrie is a fantastic supply partner who we're really looking forward to working with in the future."
The feet at Distrupol have barely touched the ground since the start of the year, and that does not seem to be set to change as we progress through H2 of 2024 and look forward to 2025 and beyond.