OneWorld magazine was created for all 55,000 employees of AkzoNobel worldwide, as a platform to exchange information, experiences and ideas, share knowledge and pride, and raise important issues. Its aim: creating One AkzoNobel 'family'. The global magazine was part of a broad internal communication approach under the OneWorld umbrella. Produced in english, published in 9 languages.

1. Quarterly internal magazine
Issue 3, August 2012
OneWorld Magazine is published in Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, English, French Canadian, French, German and Swedish
7Page
Ton Büchner
3 questions
to our new CEO
My outfit
What do we wear to work?
8Page
14Page
Magazine Meetcolleaguesfrom acrossthe globe
Making safety work How they do it
in Dammam
Saving big
on energy
CED’s the way
4Page

2. Turkey
Izmit
2
About Hande Yavuzturk
Location Izmit, 100km from Istanbul.
Position Pre-Sales Support Lead, Trade Business
and Trade Marketing Department, Decorative Paints.
Age 31.
Education University degree in Business Administra-
tion and Economics, Masters in Global Marketing. Lives
in Istanbul with her mother, father and sister. Before
AkzoNobel she worked as an import assistant with
the international toy company Toys‘R’Us in Gebze.
Best quality “I’m friendly, energetic and solution-
oriented.”
Worst quality Over-control. “I plan each day of my
holiday before I go - very tiring!”
Loves to travel, and practice Zumba; “I go to three
classes a week.”
About Turkey
Population 74.7 million, around 75% live in towns
and cities.
Capital Ankara. Istanbul is the largest city and
the financial, economic and cultural heart of
the country.
Economy One of the fastest growing economies
in the world. Hit badly by the financial crisis, its
growth rate slowed from 7% in 2002 to 1% in 2008.
In 2010 it was back up to 8%. Turkey ranks 5th in
the top ten tourist destinations in Europe (France ­
is No. 1, Greece No. 10). Applied for full EEC
membership in 1987 and has been in formal
accession negotiations with the EU since 2005.
Culture Its border position between East and West
gives it a diverse culture, blending elements of
Turkic, Anatolian, Ottoman and Western cultures.
AkzoNobel
in Turkey
Number of employees
Approx. 785.
Businesses Decorative
Paints (main operations
located in Gebze), Powder
Coatings (business center in
Izmir) and International Paints
(in Istanbul).
Started operations in 1998 with the acquisition of
Marshall Paints and Varnishes Inc. Marshall is still
the name of Decorative Paints’ local brand, sold in
Turkey, as well as name of the factory where the
paint is produced.
What do you do on a regular working day?
“I start the day preparing reports and presentations
and spend a lot of time with my team brainstorming
– I love it! Our department was set up two years
ago; our focus this year will be Trade Business
and we will be setting up a web-based tool and
a Color Team – the first in Turkey. Our Color Team
will advise customers, from construction firms to
end-users, on color combinations. For instance,
a mother might send us a picture of her child’s
bedroom and we will advise her on the best
colors. We want to be unique in Turkey with
these initiatives. In April I visited a Deco Color
Team in England to learn best practices. They
were really helpful. The hardest part of my job is
combining all the different elements so they fit
together, creating harmony between the internal
departments and external suppliers. I’m a bit like
the conductor of an orchestra!”
What do you like most about your job?
“The fact that I see results – that gives me great
satisfaction. When I joined the Trade Business and
Trade Marketing Team, we were managing the
Wrestler project. Old traditional stores are often
dirty and crowded so you can’t find our colors. We
redesigned them into fresh bright places where it is
easier to find our color cards. Whenever I walk into
the stores it gives me a great feeling to know we
achieved this with a fantastic internal and external
team. And the project has now been passed on to
other colleagues. I have been involved in so many
aspects of the business in my career, including
sales, finance and marketing, so I have opinions
about a lot of different aspects of my job. That’s
energizing! AkzoNobel in Turkey is a dynamic
organization, our figures are growing. Our
colleagues here feel valued by the organization.”
You like to travel. How does Turkey compare
to other countries?
“My favorite country is Italy where everyone is warm
and welcoming – not much different from Turkey in
that respect, where people are hospitable and
generous, they will always share their bread with
you. I love the Mediterranean cuisine in both
countries, but nothing can compare to Turkish
kebabs! Turkey is a great place to live. Another
thing I really like about my country is the difference
between the regions. It’s May now in Istanbul and
the weather is lovely and warm, but travel east and
the mountains will be covered in snow. In the north,
by the Black Sea it will be raining, and in the south
it will very hot. And there are so many different
cultures, which makes traveling around the country
like walking around a fantastic museum.”
“We’re a dynamic
organization here in Turkey”
If AkzoNobel
was a village of 100 people,
1.4 of us would be Turkish.
Meet Hande Yavuzturk.
She’s one of them.
One
Village

3. 3
40 years
is the life span of most companies,
who can’t survive the conflict
between keeping their identity and
evolving in the face of change.
We’ve been going for centuries.
32,500
That’s how many
soccer pitches Powder
Coatings could fill each
year with their
architectural powder.
Facts
What do we care?
We talk a lot about sustainability, but
do we always come up with the right
answers? Last year’s sustainability report
showed us where we’re doing well and
where we can still improve. Here’s a spot
check: some achievements we can be
proud of and some challenges to inspire.
Number2That’s what we are on the prestigious global
Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the
chemicals sector. Not bad. And we’ve been
in the top three for the last five years. SAM,
the renowned international company for
sustainable investments, even ranks us
‘gold class’.
11%downbetween 2010 and 2011. That’s the
reduction in total waste per ton of product
we booked; from 13.1 kg to 11.6 kg.
First global partner
An agreement between the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) and AkzoNobel
makes us their first global partner (outside
FSC-certified products). The FSC certifies
wood and paper from well-managed forests.
A demonstration of our commitment to
preserving natural resources.
30%of our energy comes from renewable sources,
such as wind, water and biomass. But we’ve
still got a long way to go – 70% to be precise!
8,000 of youfrom 50 countries have worked as volunteers
on over 1,600 projects in our Community
Program since it started in 2005. That
represents approximately €11 million in
investment!
€3.5 blnwas the total revenue generated by our
eco-premium solutions in 2011. That is 22%
of our total revenue. Some of our BUs’ figures:
Specialty Chemicals 24%, Performance
Coatings 15% and Decorative Paints 27%.
That’s great, but there’s room for growth!
Freshwater74% of our manufacturing sites now have
sustainable freshwater management.
Customers are key, we all know that. Powder
Coatings’ customers have just been given a
new, fun way to research their products. And if
they own a smart device, they can do it
anywhere. (And you can too.)
Global
Canada
Building
site
Anew website, interponbuildings.com, features
an interactive world map and just a couple
of clicks can take you to any one of over 300
architectural projects protected with our powder
coatings. Zooming in will give you all the product
details and new projects are added each week.
Many of them link to Google’s Street View so
architects (the target visitors) can study a building
from all angles and really see what our coatings
look like at street level. These beautiful buildings
range from the Divan Hotel in Istanbul to Petrona
Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Barry Tomlinson, Powder
Coatings’ Global Marketing Director says he’s
“delighted to be the first coatings company to
feature our projects on Google Maps.”
The site has been designed to complement the
new-look Interpon Powder Coatings website that
recently went live. In its first week it had over
3,600 hits and many posts on Facebook and
tweets on Twitter.
Check it out at interpon.com
Sico – on film
O
n May 18 Decorative Paints North
America launched a video
celebrating 75 years of one of
Canada’s favorite paints: Sico. The brand
was bought by AkzoNobel in 2006 and the
film, almost 15 minutes long, traces a
history of innovative marketing techniques,
enterprising individuals (it includes an
interview with its 95-year-old founder) and
surprising facts. Everyone says, for example,
that Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot
on the moon, but it was actually the legs
of his lunar module – painted using Sico
products. And did we think Let’s Color was
a recent invention? Sico was doing exactly
the same (old-style) back in the ’50s.
Check out the film on YouTube: Sico the
movie: 75th anniversary. Or scan this code:
A wall
3.7m high, stretching from
Los Angeles to New York,
could be built with the office
paper US citizens throw
away each year.
Art direction & design
GOOD Inc. — Luis Mendo
DTP
Def. Amsterdam
Prepress
Plusworks
Photographers
Tony Burns, Hideaki Hamada, Carlos Magno,
Inga Mendelyte, Abduljalil Al-Nasser,
Elsbeth Thijssen, Yilan Yuen
Illustrators
Luis Mendo, Laszlito Kovacs
Additonal imagery
The Noun Project
Publisher
Akzo Nobel N.V.
Contact
oneworldmagazine@akzonobel.com
Editorial address
AkzoNobel Corporate Communication,
PO Box 75730, 1070 AS Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Editorial Board
Peter de Haan, John de Munnik, Dieuwertje ten Feld
Editorial Team
Julia Hart (Editor-in-chief), Fiona Meenaghan
(Project manager), Linda Osnabrug (Project
consultant), Hanneke Savenije (Editorial consultant),
Linda Cook (Editor) and Florence Tonk (Contributor)
OneWorld Magazine
Issue 3, August 2012

4. 4
This needs less external support (two
single visits by an OEE team), takes less
time (three to five days) and still delivers
considerable savings (€10,000 to €100,000
per year). It focuses on awareness,
measuring and knowledge-sharing.
Saving big
on energy
Our sites consume a huge amount of energy, but they don’t have to – or at least,
not as much as they do now. One of the most effective ways we are shrinking our
environmental footprint is by carrying out a CED. Want to know what it is and how
you can make huge energy savings at your own plant? Read on!
Are there other ways to reduce
our energy consumption?
Of course! Depending on a site’s limitations and strengths in terms
of people, costs and complexity, there are different tools available.
A CED can book big savings (up to €2 mln a year) but is intensive
and relatively complex to execute. It needs external support from
OEE specialists, aswell as a lot of time from our own people, and it
can take up to four weeks to complete. Other methods include:
A “quick-scan” method that
takes just a few hours. The site
itself identifies energy-saving
opportunities and puts together
an action plan. OEE shares
knowledge and best practices.
SEM ESA
What?
A methodology to help our sites
identify potential energy savings, carry
out improvements and deliver great
results.
Who?
CEDs are carried out by site
engineers, supervisors, operators and
mechanics together with AkzoNobel’s
OEE (Operational Eco-Efficiency)
specialists. Colleagues from other
sites who have already carried out
a CED may join them to share
knowledge and experience.
How?
The site creates a Fact Pack,
containing information on, for
example, how the site is operated,
what its current energy consumption
is and how much energy it needs.
Once this is ready, three workstreams
are set up:
• PMMB (Performance Management
and Mindset and Behavior),
addressing the human aspect – the
role colleagues play in a site’s
energy consumption
• CON (Consumption), concerned
with the details of energy
consumption in the production
process
• PMT (Purchase, Make up and
Transport), focusing on how energy
is bought, produced and distributed.
These teams take on the challenge of:
• identifying where savings can be
made
• developing ideas and plans
• prioritizing these planned
improvements
• converting the plans into projects.
The OEE specialists are there to help
them with a range of supportive tools
such as training courses, and software
tools to measure a site’s performance.
What are
the pluses?
Alongside the tangible benefits of
a cleaner environment and cost
reduction, a CED raises awareness
about energy efficiency and helps
create a sustainable energy-conscious
culture. It provides a framework for
continuous improvement, and helps
us make conventional energy as
green as possible. And, of course,
it is an excellent platform to see
One AkzoNobel in action, bringing
together colleagues from different
sites and improving knowledge-
sharing within our company.
Comprehensive
Energy Diagnostics
CED
CED
Sustainable
Energy
Management
Energy
Self
Assessment

5. 5
“We’re now
helping other
sites carry out
a CED”
Catherine Chau
Technical Support Engineer and team leader
of the Consumption (CON) workstream
“Our workstream looked at how we consume
energy at the site during production. How we
utilize steam or nitrogen or electricity while
making our products. The intention was to
spend 50% of my time on the CED but I ended
up giving nearly 100%. Because I felt it was
worth it, with all the savings we could make
and all the new opportunities we identified.
We worked together with other sites, holding
brainstorming sessions where everyone brought
in their own knowledge and best practices. We
prioritized the ideas and narrowed them down
to the most feasible projects, the ones that
generated the most savings and lowest payback
time. The OEE specialists’ input was invaluable.
They brought the fresh perspective we needed
to identify the opportunities. Now we are helping
other sites that are just starting out with a CED.”
“Listen
to the
operators”
Scott Drummond
Production Manager and team leader
Performance Management and Mindset
and Behavior (PMMB) workstream
“People know we have to save energy. But
they don’t always know how. Our workstream
addresses that gap. For example, we train
operators to understand how they impact
energy consumption; they can really make a
difference and we should listen to their insights
into what is needed and what can be improved.
Visualization is also important, so people can
see on their monitors for example how much
it actually costs to keep a big motor running.
They are confronted with what the current costs
are and what can be achieved. We’re only just
realizing how important this visualization tool
is and will incorporate it into our distribution
and control processes. I really see a different
mindset amongst colleagues since we carried
out the CED. We’re saving in other areas as well,
because we learned to do things smarter.”
“It was definitely
worth the logistical
headaches!”
Sarah Carriger
Site Coordinator and member of the
Purchase, Make up and Transport (PMT)
workstream
“The nature of our site means that
big savings can be made on
natural gas, electricity and
nitrogen, and this translates into
significant cost savings. We
already had an energy team in
place that had identified some
potential energy saving projects,
but a CED really looks in detail at the
whole site. We did our CED in 2010, so we
know the results – we are still uncovering
savings that exceed everyone’s expectations.
But a CED is very intense and fast-paced and
the colleagues in the teams must be able to set
aside a significant portion of their time to spend
on it. As a member of the PMT team I studied
the site utilities, looking at how best we could
make our steam-producing boilers more
efficient. As Site Coordinator I looked after
our visitors, making sure everyone had the
right information. Sometimes it was a bit of
a logistical headache! But it was worth it.
Our teams go into the site and talk to
colleagues; we interview them, hold
brainstorming sessions and let everyone
know that we’re doing a CED. We brought
the operators in who actually run the units and
utilities and asked them what we could do
better. A lot of the ideas for saving energy that
were implemented came from the shop floor,
not from the engineers. Actually, most of them!”
CED in practice
Surface Chemistry is the first BU to carry out a CED at all its sites. At least
six of them have now completed the process and have seen huge savings:
Chattanooga, Houston, Fort Worth, Morris and Salisbury, all in the US, and
the Itupeva site in Brazil. Here are three colleagues from Houston who have
been closely involved with the CED process.
Target
In 2009 we set ourselves the goal of a 30%
reduction in our environmental footprint by
2015.
20152009
A worthwhile
investment?
You bet!
INVESTED
SAVINGS per
year
Houston €365,000 €308,000
Chattanooga €415,000 €244,000
Morris €2.6 mln €1.1 mln
Savings
The six Surface Chemistry sites that have completed
a CED are making savings on their total energy bills
of between
Houston and Chattanooga were the first Surface
Chemistry sites to perform a CED, and their
savings are becoming apparent. Morris is still
investing, and expects huge savings.
17%and
38%
Larger projects at Houston are still being
implemented. They include: replacing faulty steam
taps and installing energy-saving valves to reduce
steam leaks and installing variable speed drives
so the plant can run the larger motors at reduced
speed when possible.
Projects like these are expected to cut the
cost of electricity consumption by almost
€318,000 a year and cut our CO2
emissions
by over 2,000 tons.
Things
they did at
Houston
(that worked)
Insulated three
reactors, saving
almost €28,000
a year in natural
gas costs.
Moved a boiler’s
combustion air
source indoors.
Improvements
(including the simple
one of a warmer
air supply) saved
€13,500 a year in
natural gas costs.
Recycled rainwater
from an overflow
pond back to firewater
ponds (water reserved
for use in case of
fire). It didn’t save
a lot of dollars but
it did save on water.
1 2 3

6. 6
S
tandardization and simplification are two
important elements of Dynamo since they
can lead to more efficient, cost-
effective operations. At Pulp and
Performance Chemicals they have
been applied to manage and process
operational data at all their sites.
Their Dynamo GMT project (GMT
stands for Global Manufacturing
Execution System Template) defines
a single set of rules that are used to
operate all of their manufacturing
sites, making manufacturing processes
more transparent and efficient. “It’s simply not
cost-efficient to have 50 different solutions,”
explains Industrial IT Manager Stefan Malmsten,
“because we don’t want to produce things
in 50 different ways.” Standardization is not
just cost-efficient but has other benefits
too. “Openness and transparency foster
greater collaboration and cooperation
between plants,” says Stefan. “What’s
more, it will make it easier to spot best
practices.” The GMT project is currently
in its design phase. Rollout is expected to
start in 2013.
Digital nation
South Korea is super-savvy when it comes to
the internet; it boasts more than 100% fixed
broadband penetration in homes. In rural India by
contrast, less than 0.5% of homes have internet.
Women in overalls
– they’re a common sight now, but in 1965 the first female
trainee in Eka’s electric workshop made it into the staff
magazine. “It all went well,” she explained, “my colleagues
were all gentlemen.”
China
I
t seems that our coatings are so ‘green’
they can be used as body paint! This
model showcased our newest coatings
at the 2012 Green Building China conference
in Shanghai. ExCo member Marjan Oudeman
(left) was one of the 40,000 visitors to the
event and was clearly enjoying the show. The
event’s main sponsor? You guessed it,
AkzoNobel.
Painting
Shanghai green
W
hen Wood Finishes and Adhesives
at Guarulhos, Brazil decided to
replace the cabling infrastructure
of a Local Area Network, they didn’t just stop
there. They also:
• recycled 628 kilos of cable
• reduced the extraction of copper ore,
a finite resource, by almost 60 tons
• saved the same amount of electricity
that it would take to power 41 homes
for a month
• stopped 314 kilos of contaminated
material from being deposited in
industrial landfills.
And their colleagues at Packaging Coatings
at Santo André were so impressed, they’re
following suit with their own Green IT project.
Earth-friendly IT
Dynamo in action
Brazil United Kingdom
Global
G
reek scholars may get their good ideas in the bath. Yacht Engineering
Manager Andrew McNally got his in... the toilet. Or at least, that’s
where it was put into practice.
By installing water-saving devices in the toilets at the Marine and Protective
Coatings site in Felling, UK, he saved some 6.2 million liters of water a year. That’s
enough to fill 2.5 Olympic swimming pools, or 10% of Felling’s total water
consumption. By adding ‘save a flush’ devices to old cisterns,
installing intelligent flush controllers in urinals and fitting
pan urinals with waterless cartridges and maintenance
flush timers, Andrew might just inspire other sites that
want to cut costs and save water.
Andrew’s ‘Eureka!’ moment

7. 7
3questions
to our
new CEO
Age 46.
Nationality Dutch. Has worked outside the
­Netherlands for more than 20 years.
Is married.
Before AkzoNobel he was CEO of Sulzer Ltd.,
a publicly-quoted Swiss engineering company
with global operations.
What drives him? “Grabbing complex challenges
and solving them with a diverse team of people.
It’s my passion.”
What should we know? “I’m a practical person.
I don’t have a ‘hidden persona’. What you see is
pretty much what you get.”
Loves snowboarding. “I’ll probably be going back
to Switzerland for that. It’s a bit too flat in Holland!”
Dislikes discussions driven mainly by history as
opposed to active forward thinking.
Spends his leisure time with his family and ­running
around with an Alaskan Malamute dog.
Personal dream “Together with all of you, I would
love to make AkzoNobel the even greater company
it has the potential to be.”
On April 23 Ton Büchner succeeded Hans Wijers as Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of AkzoNobel. Before he took over,
he spent the first few months of this year getting to know
the organization. He has talked to hundreds of employees
all over the world to find out about our products, our
processes and our people. And he’s also been meeting our
customers to discover what they think of us.
1What are your impressions of
AkzoNobel so far?
“Let me first say how proud I am to be CEO of AkzoNobel.
On my travels, I have met a lot of inspiring and enthusiastic
people. Customers are happy that we work so closely with
them, but they are also clear about improvements we can
make – in on-time delivery and quality, for example. Colleagues
in some of the high-growth markets – China, India and Brazil
– have underlined my impression that we have strong strategic
positions in different businesses, giving us enormous potential.
And many people talk about sustainability; they are clearly
working together in their commitment to move forward.
What’s clear is our history of acquisitions and culture of local
accountability. Some businesses and locations still operate
as independent entities and, while this can be good for
accountability, it comes at a cost – and it’s not so good
for creating a global company.”
2What will your
priorities be?
“I’m now working on a strategy update that
I will communicate in October. I won’t be
reinventing the wheel but will build on what
is already working well. For example, we’re
doing a good job when it comes to our focus
on safety, which is extraordinarily important
for this organization. But as I travelled around
the company and visited many of our sites
I saw things we can do even better. And,
while Dynamo is very important for this
company and will continue, I may adapt some
elements to reflect the current 2012 situation.
Last but not least, I will be working on cash
generation and improvements needed in our
company’s operational performance.”
3What is your message
to colleagues?
“There are three things I’d like you to do: the
first is to keep serving customers as well as
you can. After all, it is our customers who
drive our organization. The second is to stay
agile. The world’s economies are changing
continuously and we need to move with
them. Finally, be open and transparent about
everything you do, so that we can work
together to take this company forward. I too
will strive to be open and transparent in my
communications, letting you know what is
expected of you. Once we have the right
structures in place, I am confident that, on
the basis of what I have seen so far, we can
drive this company to the next level.”
Who’s Ton
Büchner?

8. 8
Stylish
eco-friendly and ethical. If only
our favorite brands were ‘all that’.
At fashioningchange.com you’ll
discover alternatives that are.
Our
World
71%
of managers consider flip-
flops to be the worst ‘faux
pas’ in a summer work
wardrobe.
My
outfi
The clothes we wear
to work are as different
as the jobs we do.
Some of us dress for
safety, others go for
glam. Some just want
to be comfortable.
But one thing is clear:
our outfits are as
diverse (and as colorful)
as our company itself.
256.6
gallons of
water are used
to make one
cotton T-shirt.
Bangkok, Thailand.
Chitthummawong
Charankorn swears
by her ‘one-stop’
outfit: the dress. “It
makes life so easy!”
Amsterdam,
the Netherlands.
Jeroen Sleutelberg
likes the Italian
‘cut-to-the bone’
style. “You won’t
see me wearing a
tie unless I’m
meeting our CEO!”
Dormelletto, Italy. ‘Elegant’
and ‘professional’ are key
words for Luca Ceccherini.
Chicago, US. Owen
Faloona likes fashion
because, “it is an excuse
to acknowledge co-
workers individuality and
build a bond with them”.
Malmö,
Sweden.
Petra Rapp
loves colorful
clothes.
“They make
me happy!”

9. xxx xxxxx
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9
For Dad
A necktie is still the
most popular gift on
Father’s Day, all over
the world.
1 in 10
Americans admit they once
bought an outfit with the
intention of wearing it one
time and then returning it
to the shop.
fit
Do we agree
with Coco Chanel, who
claimed: “Not one man
I have spoken to likes a
woman in mini skirts”?
Bitterfeld, Germany.
Victor Salet and his
colleagues in
production,
engineering and
logistics all wear
protective workwear.
Balashikha, Russia.
Elena Yatsenko prefers
quiet shades. “But we
have a tradition of
‘Bright Fridays’ when
we all wear colorful
clothes to work.”
Montataire, France.
Fifteen years a fireman,
Bruno Ferron is known
as safety protector and
‘guardian angel’.
Chicago, US.
Yvette Williger
loves jewelry
and shoes.
“They make
an outfit
complete.”
Gurgaon, India.
Loose ‘kurtis’ help
Kavitha Sriram
and her colleagues
beat the heat in
summer.
Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. Ibrahim
Shahbhai chooses Saudi
traditional outfit as his
“absolute favorite”.
Balashikha, Russia. Yulia
Alenina prefers a casual
style and likes to remember
she’s part of AkzoNobel’s
‘color people’.

10. 10
Walk
to work – it’s good for you! That’s
why the US has a National Walk
to Work Day in April, Australia in
October, and the UK has a whole
week – in May.
Rembrandt
painted The Night Watch in 1642. Now,
in 2012, our Sikkens products are being
used to help restore the original
ornamental frieze above it. The painting
hangs in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.
Sharing solutions
The Netherlands and United States
R
ecognizing this, a group of Dutch
colleagues set up the Plant Integrity
Network to exchange knowledge,
solutions and experiences in the fields of
engineering, building and installation
maintenance. Members come from different
BUs’ manufacturing plants. At regular Network
meetings, facilitated by EOS (Engineering and
Operational Solutions), colleagues might
discuss the different maintenance philosophies
in BUs or how sites deal with document
management to fulfill regulatory demands.
In a response to the network’s aim to expand
globally, the US has joined the online Plant
Integrity SharePoint site and the network
has also linked up with the Maintenance
and Materials Network Meeting in the US.
The network is especially keen to attract
colleagues where AkzoNobel has a large
manufacturing base, such as in China,
Germany, Sweden and Brazil. Just send an
e-mail to michael.turner@akzonobel.com
A well-maintained plant is a safe plant. Or at least a safer plant.
And regular maintenance makes it more cost-effective and boosts
productivity too.
Global
➔ “Great talk by Tex Gunning, AkzoNobel.
We definitely need different business models
to achieve sustainability. #wwfnext”
➔ “Tex Gunning, #akzonobel: ‘environmental
problems don’t need environmental solutions,
but a change in leadership culture’. #wwfnext”
➔ “AkzoNobel’s Tex Gunning: look at the next
generation instead of the next quarter!
So true! #wwfnext”
These were just some of the tweets sent out during
Tex Gunning’s speech at the WWFNext Conference
organized by the World Wildlife Fund in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands on May 8. Tex, ExCo member
responsible for Decorative Paints, is known for his
inspirational speeches, as well as for promoting
sustainable business.
Hot on Twitter
TAT Award
crosses borders
T
he theme of this year’s competition was cross-
boundary cooperation. The CPCP not only reached
out to other parts of the company to fill what it called
a ‘knowledge gap’ in corrosion and corrosion protection
processes, but also to top universities in corrosion science,
developing a five-year program with the UK’s University of
Manchester. The CPCP consists of representatives from
BUs and function teams all over the world and its work
now means that all BUs working to develop and improve
corrosion protection products can draw on knowledge from
both inside and outside the organization. According to the
jury this was “an exciting example of the broad cooperation
that stretches across AkzoNobel. It demonstrates how
having Fewer, Bigger, Better projects that deliver solutions
Faster will help us develop Tomorrow’s Answers Today.”
The Corrosion Protection Community
of Practice (CPCP) may be a bit of a
mouthful, but that didn’t stop them from
walking away with the 2012 Tomorrow’s
Answers Today (TAT) Award.
Woof!
Post-war families in Britain looking
for a pet were often influenced by the
‘Dulux Dog’. This popular advertising
campaign triggered a huge surge of
interest in the Old English Sheepdog.
Our protective coatings were used for many
buildings at Shanghai’s World Expo 2010,
including its distinctive Cultural Centre.
Nicknamed the UFO, the building is now a
multifunctional indoor arena.

11. Speak up!
What’s going
on in ?
11
“However well we are doing,
we can always do better.
There is potential throughout
the organization, but we must
be committed to realizing it.”
Sung Huh
Project Director Complexity Optimization
Complexity Optimization has two main aims:
to simplify our raw materials portfolio and to
develop projects across all BUs that deliver
complexity optimization.
D
espite the fact that women often occupy high positions in India, they can still be subject to a variety of
social issues. That’s why International Women’s Day was such a huge event at AkzoNobel in India.
Women from all levels and business units got together on the big day, March 8, not just to celebrate
women’s achievements in India and around the world (and have some fun with it!), but to educate women in local
communities about health and hygiene. In all, some 80 female colleagues took part in the health program, part
of a broader spectrum of year-round activities organized by AkzoNobel Bangalore’s Women’s Welfare Association.
W
e’re on top of the game, literally,
when it comes to coating sports
stadiums.
In May, AkzoNobel won the contract to
supply coatings for three projects in Brazil:
the roof of Maracanã Stadium which will
host matches in the 2014 World Cup soccer
championships, the mezzanine of the
Grêmio Arena in Porto Alegre and a third
stadium in the northeast of the country
(achieved through cooperation with Powder
Coatings in Spain). All contracts were
secured thanks to a local team, supported
by Global Solutions, which is committed to
providing One AkzoNobel solutions for large
infrastructure projects.
E
missions at the site make up
some 20% of our company’s
total discharge of sulfur
oxide, something that Oscar Badella,
Operation Director Business
Support, was determined to change.
“But to succeed, we had to meet
two challenges,” he explains. Not
only did they have to find a way to
reduce these sulfur oxide emissions
but they also had to find a business
partner that could use sodium
bisulfate, produced by the chemical
process involved in reducing them.
Thanks to teamwork between
Manufacturing and Sales
Marketing, they found that customer,
and that makes everyone a winner,
including the environment.
India
Celebrating women
Winners
all round
H
ave you ever been the victim of sexual harassment at
work? Or suspected a manager of ‘cooking the books’?
However unlikely it may seem, these things can happen. And we need
to tell someone if they do. But who?
Did you know that our company has a toll-free helpline you can ring? You can talk
to the Speak Up! helpline in your own language. There’s also a Speak Up! website
akzonobel.ethicspoint.com where you can find information on how to report unethical
behavior, criminal offences or other breaches in our code of conduct. And if you
don’t know what our code of conduct is, you can read it online, in 27 languages at:
akzonobel.com/coc So there’s no need to stay silent if you have a problem at work.
Global
BrazilArgentina
World Cup
coatings
The energy
saved by recycling one glass
bottle will power a computer
for 25 minutes.
Achoo!
Next time you reach for a
tissue, its bulk and softness
might be down to our very
own Eka Soft T series.
Bless you!
Hair conditioner
was first created for men. In 1900
‘Brilliantine’ was exhibited at the
1900 Universal Exposition in Paris.
More than a century later our
products make hair even shinier!
Cutting our environmental
impact? Saving money?
Forming a multi-year
partnership with a
key customer? It’s all
in a day’s work for
Functional Chemicals
in San Lorenzo.

12. 1
2
3
4
12
All in a day’s work
1 This team has one
coordinator and six
merchandising assistants;
here, one of them checks
everything’s in place before
hanging a promotional ball.
2 Rio’s Trade Marketing Team.
Standing (left to right):
Leandro Aquino, Marcos
Freitas, Fábio Barbosa,
Klingher Souza. Sitting (left
to right): Givanildo Ferreira,
Wilson Baptista, Anderson
Santos.
3 Campaigns are recorded
digitally. Here the team
checks out the day’s
guidelines before it gets
to work.
4 Leandro paints the storefront
a bright, sunshine yellow. The
team negotiated exclusive
rights to paint the front of this
store with its products – a
great win for Rio!
5 During 2012 Decorative
Paints is rolling out the same
‘flourish’ logo, clearly visible
on these flags, across all its
brands worldwide. Brand
names remain unchanged.
6 Negotiations between store
owners, the AkzoNobel sales
team and the Trade Marketing
Team in which they will agree
on issues like product mix,
price and merchandising
activities.
7 A customer looks on while
Givanildo demonstrates how
our paint repels any liquids
that come into contact with
it – a definite bonus! The
team will train the store’s
sales staff to carry out these
demonstrations themselves.
8 It’s important that our
products have the greatest
visibility in the store – the
essence of a Trade Marketing
Team’s work.
9 Before they go into a store,
the coordinator explains
what goals have been set and
how to make sure they are
achieved. That way, everyone
is on the same page.
This Decorative Paints Trade Marketing Team in
Rio de Janeiro is one of many around the world;
12 of them are in Brazil. Functioning as a bridge
between sales and marketing, each team is
responsible for promoting the local brand in retail
outlets across a particular region. After negotiations
with a store owner, the team will equip an outlet
with our products and promotional items. Here you
can see how prominent the local brand is in this
small Rio store. And that’s all down to these guys.
The
shop
fitters

13. 8
6
7
5
9
13

14. 14
Safety
We can always improve on safety, but how?
In recent audits, colleagues at the Marine and
Protective Coatings (MPC) site in Dammam,
Saudi Arabia scored significantly higher on safety-
related issues than AkzoNobel’s required minimum.
Six colleagues from the site tell us what they have
learned from working in a culture where safety is
part of the DNA. What are the everyday things that
make the difference?
Making
safety
work
Hussein’s tip
Make sure everyone
on the site is aware
of the risks and hazards in
their workplace
and receives safety
training.
Hassan’s tip
Always work as
a team, because
everyone then takes
responsibility.
2Hazardous materials
are classified 0,
1 or 2, indicating the
protective clothing
that must be worn
to handle them.
Hassan Al-Amer works in the
warehouse, offloading raw
materials and is not afraid to
tell suppliers if their goods are
not packaged correctly. He is
responsible for labeling raw
materials according to this
classification system.
1We introduced
air hoists so
operators don’t need
to shift so many
heavy bags of raw
materials by hand.
Hussein Hulaili, the site’s Health
and Safety Advisor, started
work at the site 15 years ago,
operators were handling a lot
of heavy bags and boxes
manually. Now, they don’t.

15. 15
Andrew Lear, Operations Manager, explains, “Raising understanding of why
accidents happen in the first place is key. We’re a small site, with around
100 people and there is a family feeling amongst the staff. This makes it easier.
And, as in any close-knit family, there is honest and open communication
between us all, ‘shop floor’ and management alike. If we see a colleague
walking where they shouldn’t be walking, or not wearing the appropriate
clothing, we will approach that person directly. And, once approached, there
will be a strict follow-up. An agreement is made with the individual, on paper,
to correct their behavior, and that is then monitored.”
It is investigated thoroughly and action is taken immediately. A Safety Alert is
filled in, showing a photograph of where the incident took place and the answers
to three standard questions: ‘What happened?’ ‘What did we learn?’ and ‘How
do we prevent it?’ When the Alert has been filled in, it is put on a display board
at the site, goes on the intranet to be shared with MPC colleagues at other
sites and, for those without access to the internet, a manager will convey the
information verbally. The site also publishes its initiatives in a BBS newsletter
that is sent to its sister sites in Felling and Angered.
How come everyone
at the site is so involved?
What happens when
an incident does occur?
4A colleague was caught
driving one of our forklift
trucks when he knew he
shouldn’t. He’d already
had one warning, so he
lost his job.
The action taken here, ten years ago, is
rare at the site, but does demonstrate
the site’s commitment to safety.
Operations Manager Andrew Lear says
that managers must be prepared to
makes hard decisions. Andrew believes
in action. If a colleague suggests an
improvement that is acted on, it is
extremely motivating for the whole team
6We changed the position
of a manager’s screen,
keyboard and chair to reduce
the risk of injury.
This was a result of one of Abdullah Al-Humailly’s
observations. Like Hassan he works in the
warehouse, and is also a member of the BBS
Observation Team. Dialog between himself and
an ‘observee’ brought about another change:
labeling shelves in the warehouse to indicate the
maximum weight they can hold.
Abdullah’s tip
Make sure your observations sheets
can be read by everybody. Ours are in
Arabic and English.
Andrew’s tip
It’s important to remove safety
barriers, both physical and in people’s
understanding.
5Levers that are difficult
to reach are moved closer.
When Peter Isaacson, Assistant Operations
Manager, moved to the site two years ago,
he was struck by how everyone appeared to
have safety in their DNA. Over the last years
he’s seen big improvements in how quickly
action is taken, either after an incident or as
the result of a suggestion. Examples include
altering the position of levers and giving
operators more tools and better equipment
so they can do their job more easily.
Peter’s tip
Don’t accept it if you see wrong behavior.
Always correct it!
3We make sure all
colleagues hold the
handrails when they take
the stairs.
Ali Khizeri works in paint production and
is a member of the site’s BBS Observation
Team. He monitors workplaces for
potential hazards and asks colleagues
for their suggestions too. On one visit he
noticed that operators were not always
holding the handrails on staircases.
Thanks to a routine follow-up, he says it
is now “second nature for everyone”.
Ali’s tip
Carry out a minor risk assessment
of your workplace every day.

16. Stuff we make
The holiday’s drawing to a close, but some of us
are determined to make the most of the long,
hot days. Like these two little brothers in Japan.
They’ve survived the summer without sunburn
and are enjoying free-flowing water from the
shower. And who can we thank for that? Our
BUs of course!
Holiday
fun
Swimwear
One size fits all! Well, maybe
not quite, but thanks to
stretchy Spandex this little
boy can be sure his trunks
won’t fall down in the water.
Spandex contains Functional
Chemical’s ethylene diamine.
Sunscreen
Bet their mom (or dad) made sure the
boys were covered in sunscreen before
they went out to play. And let’s hope
it contained Surface Chemistry’s
Dermacryl 79 or Dermacryl AQF.
These film-forming polymers help
keep sunscreen on the skin even
in wet conditions.
Water nozzles
No ugly white scale on these
shower nozzles! And no stray
streams of water shooting out
at odd angles either. Surface
Chemistry’s Aquatreat polymers
put an end to all that.
Flip-flops
Clean flip-flops! His mom’ll be
pleased. One of the reasons
they’re so comfortable could be
because they contain Functional
Chemicals’ Perkadox that
improves the performance
of rubber.
Concrete floor
You don’t want them tripping up,
especially not with all that bare
skin to graze! And they won’t,
thanks to Decorative Paints’
floor leveling compounds.
Water
Even if they do swallow a mouthful
or two of water, they won’t get sick.
Industrial Chemicals produces
metal salts such as iron chloride
to purify water, and sodium
hypochlorite to disinfect it.
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