Today we visited the Deventer location for the speciality chemicals manufacturer Nouryon. My group and I had researched this company for our presentation during our pre-departure meetings, and I was very excited to see what they had to offer. We woke up bright and early and headed out at 8:30 for our 10:30 site visit.
We were signed into the facility and quickly met up with a Pitt alumni, Christina Pampena. Though Christina was a Chemistry major when she attended Pitt, she now works on the business end of things as a Vice President at Nouryon. Christina gave us an incredibly educational presentation where we were able to ask a lot of questions.
One of the most interesting things that I actually ended up asking a question about was why the sustainability approach that the company has taken (and done very successfully) did not include any form of nuclear energy generation. Considering nuclear is highly regarded as a clean source of energy, I wondered why they had not been enlisting the use of nuclear reactors to reach their 2050 goal of being a netzero organization. The response I received was one I should have expected. The EU has been having a very long discussion regarding the usage of nuclear energy in their plan to make Europe a more environmentally sustainable region, and it is still ongoing. Because the result cannot yet be determined, Nouryon is waiting to see if investment in nuclear energy will be permissible under new EU rules.
After the presentation, we were provided with a delicious lunch of sandwiches and salads. We toured the facility, where we were able to see a few of the many different processes used at the research and development facility. That was another feature that was especially interesting, over the last 10 years or so the Deventer site has removed almost the entirety of their production facilities, leaving the only remaining facilities as the research and development buildings, and only 2 remaining production facilities.
After our tour wrapped up, we headed back to the hotel for a quick break before heading out to Pacific Amsterdam to meet with some Pitt alumni that work in the Netherlands. These alumni were some of the most interesting Americans we have met thus far in our time in the Netherlands. One alumni is the owner of a private equity investment firm, while another works with a Dutch company named ASML. ASML is one of the leading producers of machines that produce semiconductors (microchips). This is super relevant to the current moment, as there has been a mass shortage of semiconductors and this Dutch company that has been around for 40 years is spearheading manufacturing machines to end this shortage and compete with China. I thought his position was especially interesting, as a material planner where he essentially plans out interactions between the various different departments of the company.
Overall, today was such an educational day and I absolutely loved all of our activities. Our trip to Nouryon left me with a feeling of faith, that if a company that literally produces chemicals can be so environmentally sensitive and responsible, then the future will be brighter than what we have been told. Our meeting with the alumni was also such a great experience. Networking is one of my favorite activities, and being able to meet people that were able to bring their passion for business, engineering, and everything else to this beautiful country was absolutely amazing. It really got me thinking about the possibility of living in Amsterdam, and how beautiful of an experience that could be.