The Rhein Chemie Additives business unit (BU ADD) Lipetsk site, which has been manufacturing rubber additives since mid-2013, was built in a green area in Lipetsk Industrial Park, about 500 km southeast of Moscow.

It was clear that lasting commercial success with local tire and rubber industry customers in Russia could not be achieved without ISO 9.001 (quality management) and ISO 14.001 (environmental management) certification. BU ADD therefore started a support program in early 2014 to enable the new site, the first LANXESS production site in Russia, to be incorporated into the group master certificate as rapidly as possible.

After a kick-off event in January 2014, two HSEQ workshops were held in April and June 2014 with the aim of expanding the existing OOO LANXESS management system in Moscow to the production site in Lipetsk.

A commercial workshop in October 2014 and an HSE workshop in March 2015 rounded out the support program and enabled the highly-motivated team on site to build and integrate the systems and processes to the group level.

The results are impressive: The audit, carried out by external auditor DQS, passed with no deviations and only a few recommendations.

“The construction and control of the processes in the triangle between Moscow, Lipetsk and BU Central in Germany were a special challenge. The existing management system at OOO LANXESS cooperated with us excellently. Many thanks to all involved,” said Karl-Heinz Müller, Production Manager of the Rubber Business Line of BU ADD.