Rotam announces management changes

A major restructure has been announced by Rotam CropSciences as the proprietary post patent crop protection business gears-up to keep pace with their rapid growth strategy and to enhance efficiency and strategic development of the company.

Senior management changes and a restructuring of the company's regional divisions worldwide - which have grown from six to nine regions - reflects the company's ambitious growth strategy that is currently increasing at a rate of 20% per year. The changes are accompanied by high level investment in R&D and manufacturing.

With changes taking place from the very top of the organisation, the firm's CEO James Bristow has taken on a new, fully global role as his position as International CEO is extended to encompass the Chinese market. This follows the integration of the PRC region (previously operating as JRC - Jiangsu Rotam Chemistry). James takes on the responsibility previously held by CY Lo, who headed-up the PRC division prior to his recent retirement.

Mark Lu continues as Rotam's Chairman.

James Bristow explains that his new role has been an opportunity to set a vision for the company, from which subsequent corporate changes have stemmed. "We have the entrepreneurial spirit within the business to see individual drive and passion being used to innovate and generate superior products. Our people are key to our business and the new management restructure reflects this."

Rotam's central focus on people as its primary asset is evident in the raising the position of the Head of Human Resources to the level of Senior Vice President in the Structure which sees the promotion of Ms Annie Yang to the position of Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources , a role that will be vital in supporting the growth of the whole organisation.

Further management changes see Jean Michel Duhamel consolidating his role into Chief Commercial Officer, supervising the nine world regions, business development, sales and marketing. Jean Michel will be working closely with executive management team members CFO William Yuen and COO Mr K Subramanian.

R&D will be managed by the Senior Vice President and Head of Technical Development, Dr. Yifan Wu. Yifan also takes the role as General Manager of Rotam's largest production and laboratory complex in China (JRC), reflecting the business's commitment to R&D and technology.

At the Regional level, Vice President James Liu widens his scope from his role as Commercial Head China to take on the regional leadership position of Head of China Region. As well as his wider responsibilities across all China operations, James adds the China Business Units of Plant Nutrition and Seed to his existing Crop Protection organisation.

The new management restructure has marked the start of a new era for the rapidly developing business, and comes with a new definition of the territories across which Rotam operate. While the Corporate Office in Hong Kong and principal manufacturing base in China is maintained, the company will define its operations across nine, rather than six, major regions.

This sees Argentina split from Brazil, and Taiwan being considered a region in itself - as a country that is strategically important for the company's manufacturing and R&D facilities. India will also be a new region for Rotam.

In all, the global divisions of Rotam now comprise of; the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Asia Pacific, India, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), NAFTA (USA, Canada, Mexico), LAN (Latin America North), Brazil, and Argentina.

In addition to the restructure, there has been greater investment in research and development, with a new laboratory facility that extends to 27,000m2 over nine storeys in China; as well as enhanced manufacturing capability, with new plants in Taiwan and North China.

Improved internal organisation under which the new management will operate is another key part of delivering the Rotam vision, which sees new internal processes and structures being introduced.

"Ultimately the changes will allow Rotam to deliver more quality crop protection formulations to the market - which is what we do best," concludes James Bristow.