At ChemUK 2023, AZoM spoke with Dimitris Theodoridis from OMEX Environmental on the show floor. We discussed the goals of the company as it looks toward its next five years of progress.
Please could you introduce yourself to our readers, as well as your role at OMEX?
My name is Dimitris Theodoridis, and I'm the technical director at OMEX Environmental. I’ve been with the company for 12 years; I started as a Technical Sales Executive in 2011, introducing OMEX Environmental and our products to the market at the time. In my current role, I am responsible for supporting the technical side of the business, which includes R&D and the laboratory as well as supporting new and existing sites with technical inquiries.
The OMEX Group is an umbrella for three main companies which are OMEX Environmental, OMEX Agrifluids, and OMEX Agriculture. I work for OMEX Environmental, where our core activities cover energy production from anaerobic digestion as well as wastewater treatment. At the heart of the OMEX Environmental support activities, the product supply and aftersales support is process performance optimization. This means that we have the capability to go on-site, take samples, conduct a series of analyses in our in-house laboratories and gain a better understanding of how to help a site improve its overall plant performance, maximise its output and reduce costs.
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What are some of the main objectives and/or goals within OMEX Environmental?
A very interesting subject from a chemicals’ manufacturer perspective, is to look at sustainability and carbon footprint within the business. In short, we are working towards becoming as green as possible by improving our approach to offsetting and working towards net zero. – It’s all about aligning with government plans and regulations as well as the global climate pledge.
What are some of the ways that you are looking to achieve these goals?
We are looking at our carbon footprint as a business and the parameters that we are directly or indirectly responsible for, e.g. Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. We try and control these as best as we can whilst looking for alternative solutions.
As a company, how does OMEX deal with clients' challenges?
As a company, we are all about new, innovative, technical and scientific solutions to potential problems. For example, a customer may approach us and ask for something that we don't necessarily have a direct solution for, but it makes us think about our approach, and whether we can manufacture something better, even a new product we can formulate from scratch. For this, we have our own labs, and we do our own research and development.
Could you tell us about the R&D activities within OMEX?
As a chemicals manufacturer, we have our own labs where we do quality control for our manufactured products. Obviously, it's not just about having a product or that being the right product, it's about the product being made correctly so that when it is supplied to a site it is effective and fit for application. Alongside my colleague Claire, who you have interviewed previously, we started a discussion and held many meetings around a central idea to take the products that we have already, explore the science behind them and extend their purpose of application, where possible. So, a) What can we do better? b) Are they being used correctly? And c) Is there something new, like a new application area, where we can put the new products to use? This is how the whole discussion started around improving our R&D processes internally as well as around the R&D of product development.
Is it this flexibility and innovation in terms of R&D that sets you apart from your competitors?
Yes, and we also have, for all the products that we manufacture and supply, a customized support service. We will proactively go on-site, we will take samples, and we will run the relevant analysis. If we need to tweak something on a product and process side, we will approach the customer first to inform them about the situation, discuss the ideas to go forward and agree on what the final outcome should look like.
So for us this is about being able to deliver constant communication and customer liaison. Putting the right science behind the ideas and explaining to the sites we work with what are doing, how and what the outcome might be.
Why do you think it's important for OMEX to be engaging in shows like CHEMUK?
There are a number of key reasons, but most importantly, we like meeting new people and expanding our network and shows like CHEMUK grant us such an opportunity. By talking to new people and engaging in discussions, you get to learn more about the markets, trends and potential issues that sites might be dealing with. This helps us come up with new ideas for products, solutions, and services. Many visitors who come to these exhibitions recognize the brand name having been around the UK for so long and also being a global supplier.
How did COVID affect the way that you work?
The main impact of COVID in our line of business was that we couldn't physically go out on-site and see customers, meaning a lot of business had to be done virtually which is just not the same as being face-to-face in a meeting. However, we managed to make a positive experience for both our customer and ourselves, even though online communication over a screen can be riddled with challenges.
In terms of our manufacturing, it didn't stop during this period – we were working 24/7, and the sectors that we work with were also working 24/7. The difficulty was that if there was an emergency at a customer’s site, we had to be able to physically visit the site, but couldn’t or faced restrictions that were in place.
Looking toward the future, how do you imagine the company will grow over the next five years, and even beyond that?
We are lucky as a company to have so many people with creative ideas in the company. Looking at where we are, where we can be, and potentially taking into consideration if there are any new fields to move into. For instance, can we go somewhere new? Can we have an impact in a completely different sector? Creative R&D with a view to diversify is one of the main operating principles at OMEX.
Have you got your eyes set on any sectors in particular in terms of expansion?
At the moment, we are looking at three or four different sectors where we are indirectly active but not directly active. So, we are in the process of trying to gauge where this will take us in the next five years.
You have mentioned the push toward sustainability within the company. How important will this be to OMEX within its next five-year cycle?
It's an ongoing thing and we want to align ourselves with government regulations and obviously meet climate pledges where greenhouse gases are concerned because, we are an environmental organisation. Our mission statement covers exactly that, as a company, we try to create products that are cost-effective, performance effective, and with low to zero environmental impact. Long before certain discussions around the environment came about, we had already built these principles into our mission statement. With the milestone of 2030 only seven years ahead, we all need to be working towards safeguarding a safe and sustainable environment for the future.
About Dimitris Theodoridis
Dimitris Theodoridis is the Technical Director for OMEX Environmental Ltd. A chemical and process engineer in his background with a specialisation in environmental strategies and management, Dimitris has worked in the chemicals manufacturing and waste management business in the UK and Europe for over twenty years having extensive experience in the management of solid waste, waste treatment in aerated processes and waste treatment in anaerobic processes.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited (T/A) AZoNetwork, the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and Conditions of use of this website.