The companies share sites in both Visp and Lalden, Switzerland, where historically Lonza has provided raw materials and services used in the production of DSM Nutritional Products’ vitamins, carotenoids and aroma chemicals.
However, at the Lalden site the 147 Lonza employees will be transferred onto the DSM books from January 2010 subject to employees’ formal acceptance of the plan, according to Lonza spokesperson Dominik Werner.
Supplying DSM with raw materials
“We will still supply DSM with raw materials and services and the jobs for these individuals will remain the same,” said Werner.
According to Werner, the only change will be the company that pays the wages at the end of the month.
“These individuals were in a sense already working for DSM. DSM was paying us to pay these people, our role was really only administrative,” he said.
Extension of partnership
The organisational change is part of an extension of the partnership between the two companies that dates back to 1965.
DSM and Lonza announced yesterday that the partnership, which includes the sharing of infrastructure at the two sites and the provision of materials and services, had been extended to ‘way beyond the 2015 time frame’, although no details of the exact date could be given.
“The extension beyond 2015 is really great. It is a beneficial move for both companies,” added Werner.