china national chemical corporation (chemchina) held its annual work conference in beijing from jan 12 to 13. at the conference, chemchina decided to fully implement the spirit of 18th national congress of the communist party of china and 2013 central economic work conference.
chemchina announced plans this year in accordance to arrangements laid out in a recently concluded meeting of china's centrally-managed state-owned enterprises. the corporation will make it a priority to push forward structural adjustments, improve management, and enhance quality and profit development.
ren jianxin, gm and party chief of chemchina, reported the achievements the corporation made in spite of the adverse economic situation in 2012, domestically and globally. ren said the slowdown in world economic growth and downward economic pressure in china made 2012 the most difficult year in terms of economic recovery since the financial crisis broke out. the chemical industry faced more daunting challenges, including worsening conflicts between cyclical adjustment and overcapacity, rising costs and falling prices. the enterprise also had to deal with increasing levels of accounts receivables and growing inventories amid grim production and management situations. in the face of the negative factors, chemchina thoroughly carried out the decisions made by the central committee of the cpc, state council and state-owned assets supervision and administration commission (sasac). the enterprise also invited world-class think tanks to help analyze problems, organized 107 enterprises to host theme-oriented seminars, and responded actively towards the complicated and malleable situations at home and abroad.
centering on the theme of “stable growth, structural adjustment, management improvement, and profit expansion” chemchina focused its efforts on changing its growth model, transforming its economic structure, and enhancing the level of management to ensure progress during times of adversity. in 2012, chemchina brought in about 205.9 billion yuan ($33.1 billion) in revenue, an increase of 15.02 percent. the total profit of its 82 companies reached 7.52 billion yuan, with 15 companies seeing profits of more than 100 million yuan. six overseas companies, including adisseo and mai, had revenues of 45.8 billion, reaping profits of 1.83 billion yuan. by the end of december 2012, chemchina’s total assets were worth 253.5 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3 percent.
while intensifying efforts to restructure and reorganize in the slack economy, chemchina adopted many initiatives to improve management, such as pushing ahead with world-class production upgrades, reforming procurement, benchmarking energy-intensive products, reducing non-productive costs, further advocating informatization, and strengthening risk prevention and control. in 2012, chemchina implemented 442 projects for continuous progress. it completed 73 technological-upgrade projects requiring little investment but yielding instant effects. the enterprise also saved a total of 878 million yuan in costs by improving its centralized procurement system.
in setting the course for 2013, ren jianxin said this year marks the start of implementation of the spirit of 18th national congress of the cpc. it marks a critical transitional period to carry out china's 12th five-year plan (2011-2015). chemchina will work under the guideline of “one center and four emphases”. the center represents the focus on improving development quality and profit. the four emphases are: strengthening the foundation through management improvements, pushing forward transformation and upgrade through structural adjustments, boosting global cooperation through increased internationalization, and sharpening core competitive edge through better talent management.
leaders of different chemchina sectors also delivered speeches on topics such as production and operation, human resources, financial management, patent and scientific research, planning and investment projects, informationization, enterprise website and brand management, discipline inspection and auditing, creation and innovation. the work conference also had a short and warm ceremony to hand out the chemchina award 2012.
lv huangsheng, chairman of the board of supervisors of state-owned enterprises, and sasac officials were also present at the conference. more than 470 people – including leaders of chemchina, department managers, subsidiary directors, chemchina workers congress deputies, 18 representatives from chemchina overseas companies and foreign professional managers – also attended the conference.
the organization of the annual chemchina work conference has always adhered to a tight schedule and thrifty spending. in response to the cpc’s latest call to improve work style, this conference made further efforts to reduce print materials; cancel flower displays, poster decorations and tea breaks at the venue; simplify paperwork and office supplies; control meeting length and expenditures; and improve efficiency.