COVINGTON, KY – Ashland has taken another step in its plan for the future, furthering its strategy following its eventual separation from Valvoline, as the company reveals its new Always Solving™ corporate identity. Ashland also unveiled the organizational culture that will continue to differentiate the company as it works to become a premier specialty chemicals company.
“We’ve been on a thoughtful and determined journey since announcing plans to separate Valvoline and Ashland into two great standalone companies,” said Bill Wulfsohn, Ashland Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Today, we’re both strong, independent, industry-leading companies positioned for bright futures.”
Along with his global leadership team, Wulfsohn developed a competitive strategy that empowers each of Ashland’s chemical businesses to develop its own comprehensive strategic approach as to where to compete and how to win in their marketplace. Each will employ its own core competencies in specialized problem solving to bring real and consistent value to customers. Together as one global team, Ashland will build an organization focused on innovation, commercial excellence, world-class operations and disciplined capital deployment.
The most public-facing element of the evolution of Ashland is its new corporate identity – Always Solving – which reflects the company’s positioning and people across diverse industries, from pharmaceuticals to automotive, personal care to paints, adhesives to biofunctionals, and more.
“Now is the time for Ashland to strongly communicate the nature of who we are and what sets our employees apart. We’re a company of passionate, tenacious solvers who thrive on developing practical, innovative and elegant solutions to complex problems in applied chemistry, always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and advancing the competitiveness of our customers across diverse industries,” said Carolmarie Brown, Ashland Director Global Marketing and Business Communications.
The positioning illustrates how Ashland partners with customers to provide customized solutions that bring value to their business. In particular, the company is focused on innovations for growing strong market positions in segments such as pharmaceuticals, personal care, and paints and coatings.
Ashland is distinguished by employees’ ability to apply specialized chemistry with a disciplined approach that amplifies the efficacy, refines the usability, adds to the allure, ensures the integrity, and improves the profitability of their customers’ products and applications.
“In Ashland we bring together different backgrounds, different disciplines, different points of view, and we operate as one team with a clear and collective sense of purpose,” said Luis Fernandez-Moreno, Senior Vice President of Ashland and President of the Chemicals Group.
Along with its strategy and identity is the articulation and implementation of a collective Ashland Way, its corporate culture, which is “to respect, protect, and advance the people we work with, companies we serve, shareholders who invest in our future, communities we’re a part of, and the planet we share.”
The Ashland Way will drive business growth and shape an organization of which every employee – and future employees – will want to be a part. Values of safety, integrity, partnership and passion will inspire and guide behavior each day.
“We have a common understanding of how we operate, think, manage, encourage and act in order to build a stronger organization and make a better world through creative solutions based on the application of specialty ingredients and materials,” Wulfsohn said.
