JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #131 - Novembre/December 2019 - 10

NEWS strategy

«Agility and speed are key
to delivering for our customers»

"

interview
A little more than 18 months after he took office, we got in touch with
Marcio Sandri, President, Composites Business, Owens Corning, to talk
about the company's projects, his feeling about the market, the growing
sectors... and his priorities.

Marcio Sandri,
President, Composites Business
Owens Corning

JEC Composites Magazine:
Overall, what is the situation
of the composites market, and
glass fibre in particular?

Marcio Sandri: There is
mixed news here.
The good news is that the
global demand environment is stable. Key glass fibre end-markets are also expected to grow. With Owens
Corning's focus on investing for growth and supporting customer growth, we are
optimistic about achieving
success in today's glass fibre
market. However, "good" is
no longer good enough, and
that's the less-good news! The
composites industry must do
a better job of identifying new
applications for our materials.
Just as we did with thermoplastics for cars and fabrics for
wind, our industry needs to
find and convert dynamic new
end-markets for our materials.
The silver lining in this
news is that composites possess a unique array of attributes that make this challenge
achievable.

10

Inflation is now a constant,
too. The return to inflation in
2017 hasn't abated, meaning
higher energy costs are present across all regions. Since
2017, Owens Corning (OC)
has taken several actions to
mitigate the collective impact
of inflation. These included
enhancing productivity, leveraging our scale in negotiations with our suppliers and
passing on some costs to our
customers. Inflation will continue to be a challenge going
into 2020.
Do you have a word in
particular to address
the market as a whole?

M.S.: Carrying on from my

comments above, I have two
words: speed and conversion.
I have repeatedly said that our
industry must challenge itself
to make the case for growing the use of composites on
a global basis. To this end, innovation and product development need to be quicker.
At OC, we believe that agility and customer intimacy are
the recipe for achieving this
acceleration. As an example,
one of our leading wind customers recently requested us

to urgently develop a stiffer
fabric than a current OC reference without compromising existing best-in-class wetting properties. In less than
three months, a global science and technology team developed two minimum viable
products that are stiffer and
have better handling properties than the current product.
Agility and speed were key to
delivering for our customer.
Speaking about the topic of
conversion, finding new applications for composites and
converting existing markets
to the use of composites is
essential. Owens Corning is
no stranger to material conversion. As far back as 1944
with the first FRP boat hull,
OC has played a key role in
the growth of the glass fibre
industry. We are focusing on
growing markets and strong
value propositions to drive
material conversion forward.
Our industry has a tremendous opportunity to grow
alongside a strong market.
Historically, composites have
grown at 1.6 times the rate
of industrial production. It is
up to the composites indus-

	 jec composites magazine / N°131 November - December 2019

Exhibited by Owens Corning at
JEC World 2019 (March, 2019)

try to accelerate market platform growth with new applications.
Have things changed a lot
since you took office a little
more than a year ago?

M.S.: When asked this question, I immediately think, plus
ça change, plus c'est la même
chose. The recent decline in
global automotive sales appears new and challenging.
But it is far from new, and
challenges are something the
composites sector is used
to facing. The beauty of and
challenge for us is that we
must remain adept to change
while remaining committed
to taking long-term positions.
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #131 - Novembre/December 2019

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