Dr. Ilham Kadri, President, Diversey Care and Somer Gundogdu, Vice President, Middle East & North Africa, speak to Clean Middle East about Diversey Care and Sealed Air integration, market dynamics including challenges along with the Innovations and Sustainable solutions Diversey Care brings to the cleaning and hygiene industry worldwide and the Middle East region.
Diversey, Sealed Air integration

Sealed Air, a global leader in the Protective and Specialty packaging business, acquired in 2011 the Diversey business (now Diversey Care) – the leading provider of cleaning and hygiene solutions worldwide, says Dr. Kadri. Sealed Air was founded in 1960 by the inventors of Bubble Wrap, with this product as the company’s signature brand. Through the years they expanded their portfolio and in 1998 they acquired Cryovac packaging business “to create the world’s leading protective and specialty packaging company,”

explains Dr. Kadri. “Exploring opportunities outside the packaging business, the company acquired the Diversey business. Today, Diversey Care has a global presence and is a 2.2 billion dollar business serving over 174 countries around the world.”

Diversey Care forms about 29% of the Sealed Air business, and in the President’s view it is a division that has probably the “most complicated infrastructure” as they function as a service division catering to various segments including the Hospitality, Facility Management Companies, Food service , Retail and Healthcare sectors.

Dr Ilham Kadri took over the reins of Diversey Care as the Global President in January 2013, two years ago, having worked with Dow Chemicals in the Middle East and Africa for a long period. She has been writing extensively on cleaning and hygiene issues globally.

Somer Gundogdu, Vice President-Middle East & North Africa, comes with a vast experience of over 20 years in this industry and has been in the current position for the past five years. “It’s challenging yet a very fulfilling role, and I enjoy every day of it,” he says.

Focus on sustainability – Our Key promise to our customers and the Globe

Both Diversey Care and Sealed Air are engaging in a historical transformation, which is not only visible in the branding and logos, but also internally, says the President. “It’s about how we serve the markets. With the exception of Sealed Air name, the company rebranded everything including the logo, she notes. “The Trillion represents three core concepts – sustainability, cost savings and performance.

With a wide range of products to serve different market segments, the company continues to innovate and improve its solutions for all industry segments. For instance, Diversey’s Taski machines are “very intelligent”, comments Dr. Kadri, touching upon the main features that distinguish them in the market. The Taski range has been developed following extensive market research. As compared to conventional floor care machines, Taski machines reduce cleaning time and improve productivity by eliminating repeat cleaning, incorrect dosing and backtracking to pick up excess water. A key feature is the Intelliflow system which dispenses the right amount of cleaning solution and water onto the floor in line with the speed of the machine, reducing the consumption of water and chemicals up to 50%. We at Diversey Care are now transitioning from our role as a product seller to a solution provider, she remarks. This holds true for all key sectors we serve.

For instance, in the hospitality sector the main focus is ‘Sustainability’ and all our solutions are driven towards Sustainability. “And a hotel is very complex because you have the kitchen, floors, rooms, spa areas, swimming pool, – all these areas need a great deal of attention.” And to provide a Sustainable Cleaning and Hygiene protocol is our key challenge. For the facility management companies, the biggest cost is labour. So BSCs are interested in labour productivity programmes, which Diversey provides with their machines and expertise, the President points out. In the healthcare sector, the company is now aims to focus on infection prevention and offers a unique technology – the AHP (Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide) based Oxivir which provides outstanding results, Dr. Kadri notes. “It has the best contact time as compared to the drying time, so kills germs faster than it dries, which greatly improves the performance levels. We acquired the Global right for this technology and are rolling it out in the US and will soon be introducing it in the MENEA”

From the sustainability perspective, Diversey Care is a leader in producing concentrates and super concentrates. “Super concentrate is the best sustainability case we have. It’s about onsite dilution, stops water wastage, and in a closed loop like some of the equipment we have, the super concentrates are never touched by the cleaner. So it’s sustainable and completely safe,” says the President. They have on offer portable dosing equipment with a high level of precision and uniqueness.

During the ISSA/Interclean Orlando (November 2014), Diversey Care was recognised with an award from Green Seal, in acknowledgement of their commitment to sustainable leadership. Many of their products have been certified by Green Seal. “Sustainability is in our DNA; we don’t just talk about it, we practice it and innovate for sustainability,” says Dr. Kadri.

Similarly Diversey Care has also partnered with the WWF for a Climate Savers program with a commitment to reduce absolute Green House Gas ( GHG) emissions by 8% below the 2003 levels by 2013. Diversey was the first company in the industry to make such a commitment and the first WWF CS member to provide a “sustainable business case” as reduction targets made were not only to measurably reduce absolute emissions but also to ensure a return on investment, demonstrating that Sustainability is the right approach for the environment as well as the bottom line. “ At the end of 2013 , Diversey Care operations recorded a reduction in absolute CO2 emissions by 48.5% from 2003 levels.

Innovations – Our Key Enabler

Innovations is our blood line and our intention is to surprise our customers with the same says Somer. One of the key innovation from Diversey is the world’s first GPS empowered machine launched by the company last May at ISSA/ Interclean Amsterdam with a commercial success in Europe Add to the Taski machines portfolio is the new Swingo XP R which is a Stand on machine with a Rotating brush technology again something which we believe will surprise our customers with its simplicity and performance The laundry segment has been one of Diversey’s main strengths, and the new innovations in the laundry portfolio include Clax Advanced and Clax Xcellence “that not only improve the whiteness / cleanliness of the linen, but also helps our customers to conserve water and energy as well as reduce the rewash levels,” says Somer. Another breakthrough is the Suma Freeze.

“One of the biggest challenges in the hospitality sector is food preservation, and the freezer has to be clean at all times, protecting the food from contamination and so on. With Suma Freeze, one doesn’t have to defrost and can clean the freezer without removing the contents,” he explains. 2015 is going to be another exciting year for us with a number of Innovations in the pipeline and we are going to be launching a Waterless Urinal system called “ Ecobug” as well as a Coffee Vending Machine Cleaning program called as “Suma Café” to start with...

Middle East & Africa - Key market driver for Diversey Care

In Somer’s view, Diversey Care is a forerunner and the dominant supplier in this part of the world. “If you follow the trends in the hospitality business, a significant portion of the global pipeline is coming up in this part of the world and we look forward to capitalise on that growth while developing our footprint in other segments that we serve like facility management, food service and healthcare.” “Product care and food care are the other business units that are of significant size globally, but underrepresented in the Middle East, and we are making a significant investment into both BUs, leveraging the Diversey Care footprint to accelerate the growth on both.” 2014 was a great year for them on the Lodging and Food Service segment where they acquired significant businesses from their competitors that increased their market share dramatically. “Likewise, we’ve been increasing our share and doubling the FM business over the last two years, and we expect to continue in the near future as well.”

Within the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a growth market, although from the service base the UAE is probably more mature than KSA, Dr. Kadri comments. “It’s not just as Diversey but also as Sealed Air, because Food Care and Product Care markets are growing and Diversey has become an infrastructure that allows other divisions of Sealed Air to build on and grow.” “Saudi Arabia is the cluster’s ‘growth engine’” says Somer.

“I expect continued growth in Saudi Arabia, and that we will continue to grow very strongly in the Kingdom with a significant investment across all segments that we serve.” As for Egypt, he says the last four years wasn’t an easy journey for the country.

“I’m proud that though we did not grow our top line very strongly, we’ve continued honouring the commitments we’ve given to shareholders during these turbulent times in the country leveraging the dominant position we have in the marketplace.”

Challenges in the Middle East market

The biggest challenge Diversey sees in the Middle East is the variations in different markets, with the standards of cleaning being grossly different in each market. “Yet, with the 2020 vision in the UAE, every institution is striving to increase their standards. We would like to be the forerunners in that race by supporting all the industries that we serve to attain these standards.

The other problem is the employee turnover. In all the segments that we serve, employee training and development is a key challenge, whichever angle you look at it. We try to partner with our clients to uplift the required standards to their employees, in order to serve their customers better than they do today,” says Somer.

Key strengths in competitive environment 

Touching upon their leading market position, Somer notes, “Perhaps our biggest strengths are our footprint, innovative solutions and proximity to our customers. We are twice the size of our closest competitor from a business size which gives us an excellent coverage and customer intimacy in all markets we serve. We also have a dedicated “Knowledge Centre” where we invite our clients to demonstrate our differentiators or solutions to common problems they face or provide training for a wide base of customers.

“For every key market segment that we operate, we are launching a set of innovations to surprise our customers. The Middle East team has the privilege of having a significant innovation share of the total turnover, and as a group we are proud of that and would like to extend that percentage further going forward,” he emphasises.

Another positive development is that technology will soon be exported from the Middle East, says Dr. Kadri. “The Middle Eastern team is surprising me. With their passion for excellence and the disciplined manner in which they function and manage their portfolio and customers’ needs, they have earned the right to innovate here and export outside, which is a unique story in my experience in this region.”

On their distribution strategy in the region going forward, Somer says there was a time in the history of Diversey Care when the Middle East headquarters in Dubai was a distribution centre and all countries were served by distribution partners. “We have come a long way since then, where we converted a significant portion of our business to direct, yet our distribution partners will always be an integral part of our business.”

“Definitely, our biggest investment will be in the Africa, Middle East, Egypt & Asia Pacific region. We love growth and wherever there is profitable growth we will stay focussed and continue our journey,” Dr. Kadri concludes.