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With approximately 5 weeks to go until March 29th and the United Kingdom’s intended withdrawal from the European Union, there is still seemingly little certainty as to what terms this exit will be under. As a result, 2M Holdings has implemented a number of contingency measures to mitigate against any interruptions to supply.

Visit our brexit section for a full update.

2M’s Gal Maller, Group Head of Strategy & Corporate Development (including M&A) and Commercial Director of Banner Chemicals, has been helping companies in the Chemical Industry future-proof their businesses.

Whatever type of Brexit occurs, the company says it will be well equipped to maintain its supply portfolio; based on growing experience of global import and exports, its financial resource and warehousing capacity.

As part of its Brexit contingency planning, 2M established a Tailored Action Plan (TAP), headed by Gal as its Brexit champion at Board level and includes Brexit Suppliers Champion, Brexit Customers Champion and Brexit Employees Champion.

“It starts and ends with your own people ensuring that we support our suppliers, customers and ourselves in successfully navigating Brexit” said Gal.

Speaking at Chemicals Northwest’s Brexit Discussion Groupon 21st November 2018, Gal advised companies to “Plan, Act Selectively and not wait”, focusing on forward planning and establishing turnkey solutions to for a soft and hard Brexit scenarios.

2M have also recently launched Brexit ARCs (Advisory Roundtable of Customers) to support its customers as part of its ever-evolving Value-Add approach. 2M also launched https://www.2m-holdings.com/brexit/, in an effort to support and inform chemical companies in the Industry and to encourage cross Industry collaboration.

When Manchester’s fire crews battled fierce fires across the region, including Stalybridge, for over three weeks, 2M Holdings responded to their appeal.

The fire had spread rapidly in the continuing UK heatwave. When the fire service placed an urgent appeal to the public for insect repellent and hats to protect the crews, 2M Holdings quickly got in touch with customers and suppliers to see who could help.

We are grateful to our customer Biteback Products, who kindly supplied Surfachem, a 2M Holdings company, with over 100 bottles of ‘Flies Undone™’ DEET Free insect repellent to protect the Fire crews. Surfachem have worked with Biteback products to provide a portfolio of ingredients to aid this growing business.

To keep the crews cool, 2M Holdings also quickly sourced and delivered 100 hats for the crews.

Mottie Kessler MBE, Chairman and CEO of 2M Holdings said: “We are proud to partner with Biteback to support the Manchester Fire crews. Our deepest gratitude goes to the crews for their tireless efforts. We wish them a safe and speedy conquering of the fire.”

James from 2M delivers the hats to Stalybridge Fire Crews

2M hope the hat helps keep firefighters cool

In response to customer demand, 2M Holdings has launched a One Stop Shop of services for new and existing customers. The change provides customers with flexible solutions to their outsourcing needs.

Customers can even outsource their entire supply chain to 2M Services and obtain more business with greater ease.

The change means that in addition to the third-party sample management already on offer, 2M Services can now offer supplementary services including:
•        Toll blending
•        Contract packing
•        Bulk liquid storage

Other ancillary services to compliment the storage, blending and drumming facilities include:
•        Warm rooms to prepare materials for processing
•        An onsite laboratory for retained samples and QC testing
•        Outside and undercover warehousing offers secure storage for raw material and finished goods with automated stock level and movement reports.
•        Onward UK and International distribution with necessary documentation can also be arranged.

2M Services understand that confidentiality of our clients is critical and enter into confidentiality agreements when negotiations with a prospective client begin.

As published in the CBA magazine May 2018. Please click on the image to read full article.

As part of the 2M-STEM programme, we are proud to provide Year in Industry opportunities for young people wanting to access a career in the Chemical Industry.

Following an Industrial placement with us, Dana secured a Year in Industry placement at 2M, which later led to a permanent role in our lab. She tells her story, below:

“My experience in second year with interviews for industrial placement wasn’t good. I’d gone to about five interviews, applied to 25+ jobs, and had either not heard back from some jobs, or had been rejected completely from others. By the time the stressful exam season came round, I had almost fully given up on finding a placement.

That was until my friend sent me an advert from the university, about a six week summer placement at Surfachem, a 2M Holdings Company.

After applying, interviewing and meeting some people, I was delighted to be offered a six week summer job in the head office, sponsored by Santander, to deal with regulatory information for the company. Even though I would have preferred working in a laboratory over summer, I knew that working behind the scenes of a chemical company would still give me an edge when it came to finding a job once I’d graduated.

My first week working for the company went by quickly; I’d been assigned to the technical team and was given my first project, which included updating COSSH and product information sheets. As part of my enrolment, I’d spent time with the other teams within the company – from sales to purchasing and account managers. Everyone in the company was genuinely nice, and would always be willing to help if I came to them with a problem.

As the weeks went by I felt like an essential part of the team, so when I heard from Technincal Director Fakhara Jones that they were exploring a Year in Industry placement for me, I was over the moon.

My placement year was one of the most enjoyable years I’d had at university. I’ll admit that at first it was daunting. The amount of products that were kept and used in the lab, as well as figuring out what did what in a formulation astounded me, but as the weeks passed I found that I could commit a lot of the information to memory.

Preparing for SCS Formulate was one of the biggest tests of my placement year. We needed to make up about 20 different products, all to be displayed at the exhibition, within a couple of weeks. Since we were making such a large amount of products, working precisely and efficiently was essential.

As my Year in Industry came to an end, we started having discussions about me coming back and working part time through my last year at University. It was an amazing opportunity. Not only did it allow me to keep up to date with projects and formulation work, but it also meant that coming back full time after Graduation would be a smoother process, both for myself and the company.

Two weeks after finishing my last exams, I started working full time for Surfachem, and I honestly couldn’t be happier. The experiences and relationships that I’ve gained throughout these two years invaluable and I hope that my journey into Formulation continues to be just as wonderful.”

Dana, Technical Development Chemist, Surfachem

Dana at the Surfachem technical laboratory within the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre at The University of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK

Dana graduating with a Chemistry Degree from the University of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK

*This article was first published by Chemicals Northwest in the December 2017 edition of Elements Magazine
For further details, please contact Liran Maller, HR Director at 2M Holdings: lmaller@2m-holdings.com

David Dalton (right) receives the Gerald Soane Award from former SIA Chairman Geoff Stamper
Photo courtesy of Andrew Norman

Britain’s Solvent Industry Association (SIA) has awarded David Dalton, Group Compliance Director of Banner Chemicals and its parent company, 2M Holdings, their prestigious annual Gerald Soane Award for Safety, Health, and the Environment at their Annual General Meeting in October 2017.

The award was given in recognition of David’s outstanding work on a number of Guidance Notes in the 2016-17 period and for his ever-present and ongoing commitment to the Association.

David said:
“The SIA Technical Committee’s aim is to improve knowledge throughout the solvent supply chain and advocate the adoption of best practice when handling solvents.

The focus of the SIA’s Guidance Notes is to provide straightforward practical advice to end users where technical resources may be limited.

I am extremely pleased to be the recipient of Gerald Soane award for my work with the Technical Committee, which is a collaborative process drawing on a wide range of expertise and knowledge from member companies.”
David has been an active member of the SIA’s Technical Committee for many years and has worked tirelessly for improved Health and Safety across the Industry.

This award follows previous recognition from Chemicals Northwest for SHE in ensuring safer packaging practices along the supply chain, in accordance with ADR regulations, which David wrote for the SIA in 2015.

Banner Chemicals is part of the 2M Group and is a full and active member of the Solvents Industry Association.