| | Resources
Johnson Matthey has significant resources to support its core businesses. These have been built up over many years and support the group’s competitive position in the key markets which the group serves. Johnson Matthey continues to invest in all the areas listed below to maintain its leading market positions.
Employees
Johnson Matthey’s most important resource is its people. We have a highly qualified workforce with many of our employees having trained in science and technology. We employ a high proportion of PhDs not only in our research centres but also in many different management positions throughout the company. Johnson Matthey has a low staff turnover (see CSR section), with many employees staying with the company for their whole careers. We place great emphasis on recruitment and training and our policies in these areas are set out in the CSR section.
Research & Development
One of the group’s strategies is to differentiate ourselves by using our world class technology. We invest significantly in research and development to develop new products and manufacturing processes. We have a group technology centre located at Sonning Common in the UK which is focused on longer term research and has a worldwide reputation for excellence in catalysis and precious metals technology. In addition we have major research centres at Royston, Billingham and Stockton-on-Tees in the UK located close to some of our major businesses. Worldwide we have technical centres in many countries including the US, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands.
 Johnson Matthey’s R&D activities are described in more detail in the R&D section.
Patents and Know-how
Many of the inventions and intellectual property developed as a result of our investment in R&D are patented, and we maintain a large number of families of patents to support our businesses. Equally important is know-how where the group has an extensive knowledge base, particularly in the areas of catalysis and precious metals, which can be used to develop new products and services to meet customer needs.
Commercial Relationships
Many of our businesses provide products and services to other companies and we have developed close working relationships with many of our customers and work in collaboration with them to develop new products. We also have a long standing relationship with Anglo Platinum, the world’s largest platinum miner, which has lasted for many decades. Through this relationship Johnson Matthey and Anglo Platinum have developed new markets for platinum group metals which have supported the expansion of the platinum industry over many years.
Manufacturing Technology
Over the last decade the group has invested heavily in new manufacturing capacity and technology. Capital expenditure has run at a high multiple of depreciation (see Financial Review section). As a result of this investment the group has developed an infrastructure of modern facilities located close to our major markets around the world.
Market Position and Reputation
Johnson Matthey is generally ranked number one or two in the major markets in which it operates. The group is a world leader in catalysis and precious metals which provides a strong basis for future development. The company started in 1817 and has a worldwide reputation in the precious metals industry for technical expertise and integrity. Our semi-annual publication ‘Platinum’ is acknowledged to be the most comprehensive source of information on the platinum industry. We also publish the ‘Platinum Metals Review’, a leading journal of scientific research on the platinum group metals.
[ back to top ] | |
