Unichema

 

Unichema

At the end of the 70’s I began to wonder about my future. I had spent 15 years with Unilever Research and suspected I was in danger of outstaying my welcome. There was an unofficial policy of “get on or get out”. There were a couple of long term folk in my division that the divisional manage referred to half jokingly as his “old lags”. Predominantly however URLPS was staffed by young people, certainly at below section manager level..

A job was advertised at Unichema, a sister Unilever company, and I applied. The selection procedure was thorough and extremely long drawn out. Unichema at Bromborough had  another wing at Emmerich in Germany and my final interview was there. I felt as though it was as much an initiative test as interview. To reach Emmerich one flew to Schipol airport in Amsterdam, transfer to Amsterdam station,  train to Emmerich, taxi to the hotel arriving late evening . Interview the following day then repeat in reverse. Fortunately by this time I had decent rapport with the Bromborough team and I was given a lot of tips on managing the journey.

Unichema was a chemicals manufacturing company. It had originally been Prices Candles based in the London East End in the mid 19^th century. The owner was a Victorian philanthropist who decided to move to Merseyside and establish a model village way before the more famous Port Sunlight. Much had been demolished but rows of terraced houses remained. I was to find many, including my immediate boss, had been brought up there.

Unichema suited me. Instead of my previous 5 minute walk I was now looking at 20 minutes but we had no need to move. Although my grading and salary increased a little the responsibility was much greater with a group of 6 to manage. However I had hardly arrived before intimations of change began. In addition to the two Unichema sites Unilever also part owned a joint venture at Gouda in Holland, Unilever-Emery. This did  similar things to Unichema and so when Unilever took over the whole of the joint venture it made clear sense to merge the two.

Unichema had been forced to make big changes in the years before I arrived. Essentially their business took tallow ( all fats, although rendered cattle were a big part ) and split it into fatty acid and glycerol. This was essentially a low margin commodity business which was supplemented by making speciality products for the Unilever detergents business and also by making esters. Esters are made when fatty acid reacts with various alcohols. The ester business had been bought from BP some years earlier. One special ester blend was a whale oil substitute. In essence the objective of my job was to develop high value products for the ester business.

Ironically I was distracted away by some low margin but surprising business in animal nutrition. Residues from tallow cracking were found to have some value in cattle feed. This market was a highly technical one and I found myself attending nutrition meetings where I was out of my depth.

The big intimation of change came late one Friday afternoon. I was called into the site managers office to be told that all my staff were sacked( well made redundant ) although I was assured about my future. Because of the fears of Merseyside Militancy all those leaving were told to collect their personal belongings and leave immediately with all formalities completed later.

I was left high and dry by this. A few weeks later I was told to go to Emmerich, telling no-one, to spend a day. This I did to meet a German manager who openly said that although he had vacancies he preferred a German national who spoke the language. This talk was cut short when I was summoned to leave immediately a to join a senior manager going by car to Schipol.

I was angered by this and among other things composed a long fax of protest  to my own senior managers at Emmerich. What I didn’t realise was that this was automatically copied to the site manager at Bromborough. He was upset at what he chose to see as a severe breach of protocol. To this former military man I was apparently supposed to just salute and keep quiet.

It became very obvious that I was persona non grata and I reacted by cutting myself off from the rest of the Bromborough site except my immediate boss who was supportive but ineffectual. I felt I had been treated very badly and as a long serving Unilever employee I deserved better. I now spent much of my time job hunting.. When I found a job I rather childishly insisted on serving out  full notice. The final months I spent largely preparing for my new job with a very small company on Teeside.

There was one particularly bizarre episode when long service awards were given at a celebratory lunch. By virtue of my previous service in Unilever Research I qualified for a gold watch. As the only manager getting an award I sat with the top brass from Bromborough site. Annette managed a few barbed remarks in the course of the meal.

Although it caused a lot of heartache at the time eventually it turned out very well for me opening doors I probably would otherwise never have entered.

Its been some time since I added a joke or limerick to a post. This was one of my mother’s favourites

A wonderful bird is the pelican
Its beak can hold more than its bellycan
It can hold in its beak
Enough for a week
I don’t know how the hellican