ASK THE EXPERT: CUS We catch up with Dr Ian Martin, technical manager at Incorez Ltd to find out about his role
Incorez Ltd manufactures polyurethane and epoxy technology, distributing to over 25 countries around the globe. The company’s product range includes waterborne polyurethane dispersions, waterborne polyurethane/acrylic hybrid dispersions, waterborne epoxy curing agents and oxazolidines. Incorez works in partnership with companies to develop ‘customised’ solutions to meet their exact requirements.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT INCOREZ? As a technical manager, I am always looking for opportunities to grow our business through furthering our understanding of what our customers’ needs are and developing new products to satisfy those needs. When any member of the sales team returns from seeing a client, we assess whether there is an opportunity or need to develop something specific for them.
I essentially act as a filter, weighing up the technical merits of a project – whether we can deliver and have the technical know-how to achieve what a customer wants – against the business value. We have to consider whether the project is too ambitious. Can we provide a cost-effective solution? Are there regulatory constraints that we need to consider? We don’t turn a new opportunity or anything away first hand, but judge it on its own merits. Ultimately, we want to work on projects that come to fruition for both us and the customer.
24 | ADHESIVES & SEALANTS
WHAT INDUSTRY SECTORS DO YOU
WORK IN? We are strong in many areas of the coatings sector, from flooring to graphics. In the area of flooring we are making excellent inroads into that market now thanks to our new high- performance water-based epoxy hardener Amirez 148/055. Whilst our Dispurez polyurethane dispersions are going from strength to strength in various thin film coating applications due to the versatility and performance of this chemistry. If a customer comes to us with a problem we first think about our technology and what would be the best approach to solve that problem. Sometimes this is straightforward and we already have a solution to hand, however, sometimes it requires some lateral thinking and feasibility tests to make it work. The latter approach is always the more exciting and generally leads to a deeper insight into our technology and new opportunities to grow the business by building strong technical relationships with our customers.
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPAL
CHALLENGES IN YOUR ROLE? Balancing immediate business needs and demands with a longer-term strategy to develop new technologies or products
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