TFL and Lanxess finally came together on June 1, 2021, and in the year since the start of the integration of the two companies, progress has been steady but slow.

One of the reasons for the delay in not being able to integrate both companies at a faster pace to create the new TFL, was the pandemic. The pandemic restricted meet-and-greet reunions in 2021 and most of the work of getting to know each other, exchange views and participating in product briefings had to be done online.

During those initial months and mainly within Europe, first workshops for experts were organised by both companies to meet, talk about their specific portfolios and get to know the corresponding products. These workshops covered, for example, beamhouse, wet-end, waterproofing, fatliquors, automotive finishing, Shoes and leathergoods and dyestuffs.

Integration of the two teams on a technical level has been quite swift but due to travel restrictions, other regions had to be dealt with digitally and these online workshops were organized by the European team that was getting to know each other.

Integration of two successful companies cannot take place without developing a new common culture and this is also being dealt with in Europe for the rest of the global network. Proposal have already been presented to the Executive Board so that the integration of TFL and Lanxess may continue apace to give birth to the new TFL.