Interview with Mr Paul Hulme

Face2Face

Mr Paul Hulme
President
Huntsman Textile Effects

Huntsman Textile Effects is the textile business wing of chemical industry giant Huntsman Group. Completing four decades of existence this year, the Group manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging. Today, the Group employs workforce over 12,000 people and operates from multiple locations worldwide. The Company had 2009 revenues of approximately $8 billion. The Group’s textile business- Huntsman Textile Effects offers a broad range of chemical and dye products that enhance the performance properties and colors of finished textiles and materials. It has a balanced global reach serving over 10,000 customers located in 80 countries and is the leading global supplier of comprehensive solutions for the textile industry. The business has about 4,200 employees and operates 11 primary manufacturing facilities located in eight countries (Switzerland, Germany, France, USA, Mexico, China, Thailand and Indonesia). Mr Paul Hulme is President of Huntsman Textile Effects and is based at Singapore. Mr Hulme was born in England and is a chartered accountant with a business studies degree from Manchester University in the UK. Prior to leading Huntsman Textiles, Mr Hulme was the President of Materials & Effects. Before this, he was President of Huntsman Advanced Materials and Vice President of Huntsman Performance Chemicals. He spent nine years with the Polyurethanes business in a variety of roles including Director of Global Operations, Chief Information Officer, Corporate Business Development Manager for eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, European and UK controller. He also spent five years with ICI Specialty Chemicals. These roles included responsibilities for global business reorganization, development of business strategy, global supply chain process development, and global SAP and IT strategy implementation. Besides his corporate endeavors, Mr Hulme also enjoys playing golf and squash as leisure activities. He is married and blessed father of two daughters. Mr Paul Hulme, in his second appearance on Face2Face, talks about to date happenings in the world of textile chemicals.

Nice to host one more talk with you in Face2Face, Mr Hulme. Please tell us about latest endeavours at Huntsman’s textile arm?

Despite the lagging economy, Huntsman Textile Effects (TE) had a busy and successful year in 2009. Some of our core accomplishments and successes included: the global realignment of the overall TE business, moving our headquarters from Switzerland to Singapore to be closer to our customers, key investments and acquisitions in important markets, innovation through 30 new product launches and the ccontinuing development of research and technology developments in India and Asia.

Even more, we are excited about the prospect of 2010. Led by greater growth in Asia and revived consumer demand, projections are looking upward and positive in this year of a recovering economy. Indeed, it is estimated that global dyes and intermediates will be valued at $19 billion by 2012, with an expected growth of 2% per annum.

Asia is an ideal candidate for this higher production and sales due to its growing population, increased industrialisation and abundant labour – and at TE – we believe we have the key tools in place to help ride with the flow and capitalise on these opportunities.

One example is that we have imposed a self-governance programme through REACH, which stands for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals. REACH is a single coherent system for new and existing substances that governs all substances manufactured in or imported into the European Union, which impacts the entire value chain. We have invested US$30 million into this programme beginning last year which is ongoing for the next two years.

Does that mean the good year begins for textile chemicals industry world over?

There are many signs of a global economic recovery, including higher growth in Asia and an increase in consumer confidence and demand, and TE has taken many steps in the past years to ready itself in this growth.

We have started off the New Year on the right foot with two new key partnerships, which will help to further supplement the leadership position we already hold in Asia. With Alok Industries, a global integrated textile solutions provider, TE was just recently conferred a status as a preferred supplier. With Alps Industries, one of India’s largest home textiles exporters, we signed an exclusive partnership for supply and technical support.

2010 will be the year of opportunities and I am confident we have put all the right tools in place to best confront and take advantage of these.

Published on: 01/03/2010

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.