During his visit to Sika headquarters in Feb, 2020, Zhao Qinghua, Chinese Consul General in Zurich and for the Principality of Liechtenstein highly praised Sika's business achievement in China. With more than 6 Bio. RMB sales volume and over 2,000 employees, China is one of the most important and fastest growing markets for Sika. The Suzhou Technology Center and the R&D facilities in Shanghai and Guangzhou continuously develop tailor made products for the Chinese market and 19 production sites ensure short lead time from production to delivery to every corner of the country.

Sika has a local presence in over 100 countries and thus its products are always accessible worldwide. As a fast-growing company, Sika firmly believes that the success of a company depends on committed employees with required expertise putting effort in the same direction. In 2019, Sika spent a total of CHF 12.3 million (previous year: CHF 11.5 million) on employee development. The aim is to ensure at least ten hours of training per year for each employee. Since the start of COVID-19 outbreak, Sika has implemented several initiatives to protect the health of its employees, customers, and suppliers. These include the following three targets which will continue to be adhered to:

- Protect employees

- Help to limit the spread of the virus

- Business continuity wherever possible

Fortunately, operations in China are resuming progressively per instructions of local management and Chinese authorities. Sika China initiated the emergency response mechanism at the very beginning of the epidemic. The epidemic prevention and control team was set up to make key decisions and deployment of resources for the company during this period. Following official resumption of work on Feb 10, local factories and branches have taken a series of measures to protect the health of its staff, and to ensure production resumed in an orderly manner. These measures include: disseminating health and safety information, daily health record of all staff, availability of anti-virus supplies, flexitime system, offering special care to staff located in Hubei area, and purchasing COVID-19 medical insurance for all staff and outsourcing personnel.

Building trust in COVID-19 outbreak

Currently, all factories and branches of Sika China have resumed to their normal operation and initiated their business recovery in an orderly manner. Taken staff health and safety as the priority, local team are accelerating new technology and new product launches to pursue new business opportunities. Sika China has rolled out a business recovery plan and will work in unison to achieve success through motivated and unremitting efforts.

In fulfilling social responsibilities, it is worth mentioning that five Sika organizations in China also jointly donated self-heating instant meals worth 700,000 RMB to the medical staff in Wuhan and Shanghai. Sika has also started producing hand sanitizers to tackle the worldwide shortage of disinfectant products, and has distributed more than 10 tons of hand sanitizers to employees and donated to local institutions and organizations in need.

When Sika China President Zhang Yejiong reviewed the work in past 3 months, he said, "The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed a hard time for everyone, while Sika has proven itself as a renowned global company through its people-oriented culture of trust and empathy. Meanwhile Sika employees have made their due contribution to society and nation through solid work."

Great challenges can bring out the best in people and can always create opportunities! It's no doubt that the Sika Family will succeed together as a strong team.

About Sika

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in over 100 countries/regions around the world and manufactures in over 300 factories. Sika employs more than 25,000 people and generated sales of CHF 8.1 billion in fiscal 2019.