EIC Article: Reinforcing Responsible Values

*Transcript of article taken from the Energy Industries Council’s 2023 Survive & Thrive Report*

How is Belzona Thriving?

Any company in operation for 71 years can say they’ve stood the test of time. For Belzona, while its core proposition and purpose had largely remained the same, the priorities of the industry and its clients were shifting.

And although always a responsible business at heart, the time had come for Belzona to truly shout about its sustainability, the company now guided by a new strapline – polymeric solutions for a sustainable future.

Despite it being early days operating under the new mission statement, green shoots are appearing. Customers have already come calling in search of more circular solutions to their maintenance problems.

The Challenge

For decades Belzona has been providing products and services to solve the maintenance issues found within equipment and structures across a variety of industries. Specialists in the design and manufacture of polymer based repair composite materials and industrial protective coatings, the company has built its reputation in the market thanks to a huge amount of experience and a bespoke approach to every customer’s needs.

Those needs, however, are evolving. Industrial sectors are investing more in ESG strategies and circularising their businesses to become more sustainable – as a result, those firms in the supply chain which portray sustainable principles and provide circular solutions are more likely to secure their custom.

Belzona realised it needed a new mission statement that would enable it to become more in tune with the modern world,
a world which is dialled into sustainability like never before through the likes of social media and online connectivity.

The Solution

Senior management and marketing teams from the UK and US began working on mission and values proposals, coming together in June 2022 to share ideas and agree a unified way forwards. The company’s previous slogan around being the first global choice for protective coatings and repair composites was replaced with a snappier, more value-driven statement: Polymeric solutions for a sustainable future.

Belzona is also underpinned by what it calls the three i’s – integrity, investment and innovation. And although this relabelling may, at face value, look as if it is about changing hearts and minds inside the company, the truth is the firm has always operated with corporate responsibility at its core. Indeed, the exercise is geared towards changing its messaging towards end users with a view to supporting them in their own sustainability journeys.

For example, repairing instead of replacing is now core to the Belzona mission – repair for a fraction of the price, while also delivering significant environmental benefits. It is something the company has done for decades, but only now is the proposition being labelled to appeal to the modern-day customers’ priorities and needs.

Belzona is also working with its own supply chain to determine emissions generated in the production of its
polymeric solutions, the idea being to gain visibility, make enhancements and take their learnings to customers to enable them to make informed decisions about reducing their carbon footprints. Another important step has been the creation of an internal Environmental Committee to oversee targets and ensure these are being worked towards – early commitments include two years of supporting tree planting charity work and offering staff three days paid leave to undertake voluntary work.

All of this has been housed into a multi-year business plan. Currently in year one, key goals are to embed the new
focus and mission across the entire organisation, as well as customers and suppliers. Customers have already been looking for repair instead of replacement because of the clear circular economy benefits. For example, over the course of several years, a steel fabricator in the UK’s East Coast managed to save millions of pounds by deploying polymeric repair and protection systems onto more than 2,000 metres of its gas pipeline, including epoxy repair mortars and stainless steel protective coatings.

Belzona has also been supporting a UK-based power distribution company whose assets are subject to SF6 leaks in their transformers. SF6 is described as the world’s worst greenhouse gas and is 23,500 times more potent than CO2. In early 2022, Belzona created a tailor-made solution to stop leaks on a transformer owned by an electrical distribution operator. After several stages of prequalification, a trial repair was completed and has now been in service for nine months. With Belzona’s support,
the organisation is now achieving a 90-95% leak reduction rate, with an ambition to reach 100% in the near future.

It is these types of repair success stories that the company will need to keep on shouting about. And with its refreshed
focus on sustainability messaging, Belzona is perfectly positioned to drive forwards green agendas.

About Belzona

Belzona is a world leader in the manufacture of repair composites and protective coatings for machinery, equipment, buildings and structures. The company can meet the ever-changing and challenging demands of industries by providing solutions for the long term that reduce downtime and lower maintenance costs. Available through a global network of distributors, supported by headquarters in the UK, USA, Canada, China and Thailand, Belzona provides 24-hour technical support and on-site assistance.

Interested in purchasing Belzona repair composites and protective coatings?