Production & Supply
Our active ingredients are produced in eight factories globally. Established centers in Switzerland, the UK and the USA are now complemented by major manufacturing facilities in China and India.
Finished goods are produced locally at an additional 18 formulation and pack facilities around the world. These facilities enable us to quickly introduce new products, and to sell our range competitively in local markets by reducing costs in production and supply.
Demand was strong across our crop protection product range in 2008. We have identified two key product families with exceptional growth potential and will invest $600 million over the next three years to increase production capacity for these products. Capacity will be increased for azoxystrobin (AMISTAR®) at Grangemouth, UK and for thiamethoxam (ACTARA®/ CRUISER®) at Monthey, Switzerland.
In 2008, we began working to strengthen our relationship with a number of strategic crop protection suppliers. We offer support with technical advice and guidance on the management of health, safety and environment (HSE). Our crop protection procurement awards recognize suppliers that have delivered outstanding performance and reliability, and responded quickly to our needs.
As the business continues to expand, we need to have the right people in place to maintain high standards in all our operations and drive the innovation which is at the heart of Syngenta’s performance. In order to expand our workforce in response to growing demand, in 2008 we created nearly 1,400 new jobs around the world. Many have joined Syngenta in emerging markets to support our expansion in these regions. In addition we have welcomed around 1,500 new employees following the acquisitions we have made, bringing the total number worldwide to more than 24,000.
Our seeds are produced all around the world on our own sites and by contract growers. We provide the seeds produced by our R&D teams for multiplication into commercially salable quantities. The growers are critical to our ability to supply seeds of the quality our customers demand in the quantities they require. We are currently working to standardize growers’ contracts globally. Regular site visits are routinely conducted by our managers to evaluate growers’ performance and ensure our protocols are followed to ensure seed quality.
We are working with the Fair Labor Association to develop a methodology to monitor and improve labor standards on seed farms in three key regions of India. This covers a wide range of issues, including awareness of our Code of Conduct, health and safety, pay and benefits and child labor. We audited 2,300 seed farms in 2008 and plan to monitor all seed suppliers in these regions by the end of 2009.
