This year, our Ribécourt, France site celebrates 100 years of operation — a century shaped by transformation, resilience, and achievement.
To celebrate, our colleagues from across the site gathered to honour the milestone together. Henri Amber, Site Director, comments: “This celebration strengthened the bonds between teams, illustrating the values of cohesion and collective spirit that have been the site's strength since its creation.”
The site’s story began in the aftermath of World War I, when the land served as a fortified house before becoming a wool farm. In 1925, it was transformed into a chemical factory under Union Chimique Française, an organisation that represents and advocates for the chemical industry in France.
After being partially destroyed during World War II, the Ribécourt site was rebuilt and expanded, adding new capabilities such as polystyrene production in 1952 and liquid latex in 1956.
By 1975, the site had been acquired by Rhône-Poulenc, a French chemical and pharmaceutical company, who transformed the site into a major centre for polymer chemistry in France.
In 1998, the site began developing dispersible latex powders, and in 2006, ownership passed to Hexion, a global chemicals company. Ten years later, Ribécourt entered our history when Hexion sold the site—along with six other plants—to us.
Today, Ribécourt continues to advance our corporate strategy by driving improvements in operational excellence — such as modernising IT systems and processes — and by championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, including initiatives to increase female representation in operations. These efforts reflect our deep commitment to innovation and building a more inclusive workplace.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Synthomer plc
Synthomer plc is a leading supplier of high-performance, highly specialised polymers and ingredients that play vital roles in key sectors such as coatings, construction, adhesives, and health and protection – growing markets for customers who serve billions of end users worldwide. Headquartered in London, UK and listed there since 1971, we employ c.3,900 employees across our five innovation centres of excellence and 29 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia.
Our purpose is creating innovative and sustainable solutions for the benefit of customers and society. Around 20% of our sales volumes are from new and patent protected products. At our innovation centres of excellence in the UK, China, Germany, Malaysia and USA we collaborate closely with our customers to develop new products and enhance existing ones tailored to their needs, with an increasing range of sustainability benefits.
Our 2030 decarbonisation targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as being in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, and since 2021 we have held the London Stock Exchange Green Economy Mark, which recognises green technology businesses making a significant contribution to a more sustainable, low-carbon economy. Find us at www.synthomer.com or search for Synthomer on LinkedIn.