COLAS is celebrating its 15th anniversary in Australia of its acquisition of SAMI Bitumen Technologies. CEO Oceania Thierry Madelon reflects on the values and principles which have guided the enterprises’ success.
In 2008, COLAS acquired SAMI Bitumen Technologies, adding to the company’s position as one of the leading providers of bitumen internationally.
This led to the creation of the COLAS Australia Group. The company has continued its expansion domestically, through the acquisition of numerous asphalt, spray sealing and quarry businesses across Australia and now has over 500 workers across 15 sites in five states.
In total the COLAS Group now spans a total of 50 countries and five continents.
As COLAS CEO Oceania Thierry Madelon recalls, one of the key steps was to establish a meaningful culture and values in the Australian business to support further growth.
“We have a training program called ‘COLAS University’, which is used to develop the leadership and management qualities of employees, while also identifying potential senior managers,” Madelon says.
“Most managers started at the bottom as a foreman or supervisor and worked their way up, so they know the company and their people.”
“As part of the program, a group was looking at what are the values that define the COLAS Group. It was a look into our foundation and who we are.”
The result was the development of the company’s values: caring, sharing and daring.
Nurturing employees and clients
The value of caring incorporates a variety of aspects for the COLAS Group. The first and one of the most important to the sustained success of a business – Madelon says – is respect.
“For me, caring means first and foremost respecting our frontline employees, who get the work done, and the communities who are the people we work for,” he says.
“You have to remember to find ways to give back, beyond just doing what we do, which is connecting communities for a living.”
Madelon says COLAS Australia supports a variety of charitable organisations and initiatives as part of this ethos, giving employees the opportunity to support causes close to them.
One example is the Western Australian division of COLAS contributing to the Christmas Child program in Perth.
COLAS has also empowered Sunandha Rajaram, Group Human Resources Administrator, to assist the homeless in Sydney with food and clothing, even during COVID-19.
“When we found out we decided to support Sunandha’s initiative. I found it admirable because she was out there, with a mask on putting herself at risk to follow her calling,” Madelon says.
“We support a number of other charities, including the Red Cross and the SES during the floods and fires.”
The COLAS Group is also a keen supporter of SARAH (Safer Australian Roads and Highways), which was founded by Peter Frazier following the tragic death of his 23-year-old daughter Sarah in 2012. The cause aims to improve road safety measures, increase awareness of the impact of traffic injuries and also create greater protections for emergency services attending road hazards.
Madelon says the caring ethos also extends to providing services and support for employees’ mental health.
“In our industry I think we’re doing a lot better than we used to on physical safety,” he says.
“I’ve recently read a stat that a construction worker is six times more likely to die from suicide than from an accident on site. So we’ve got work to do in this space.”
As a result, COLAS also supports Beyond Blue.
“In our industry, our crews operate autonomously, and play a critical role in their own safety, production and quality. So the companies that do well, are the companies looking after their people. Everyone matters.”
“That’s what initially attracted me to this industry.”
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- SAMI: Up to the challenge
- SAMI: Against all odds
Aiming for the future
Research and development and sustainability have long been a key focus for COLAS where DARING through innovation and experimentation is expected.
Products such as EME2 (high modulus asphalt which provides greater performance attributes) and ECO5 (high performance recycled content asphalt produced at lower temperatures) are the result of the COLAS Group’s international expertise and facilities.
“We’ve been recognised as an innovator for more than 90 years, bringing a number of products to the market,” Madelon says.
“SAMI has been instrumental in developing EME2 in Australia. This design is widely used to help reduce pavement thicknesses and lower the carbon footprint for delivering heavy duty pavements. SAMI also worked on the I-Brid binder which is specially designed for the Australian market, with a good resistance to hot weather and heavy workloads.”
The production of these products has also been boosted by further expansions in COLAS’s manufacturing infrastructure. COLAS has established a new asphalt plant in Yatala, Queensland, during the COVID pandemic, a sign of the Company’s belief in the long-term potential of the Australian infrastructure market.
COLAS has also worked to commission a new CRB (Crumb Rubber Bitumen) plant to service remote and regional projects in Western Australia.
“Technical innovation is in our DNA. Being a company that’s capable of innovating, those are the things that define us,” Madelon says.
Madelon says the SHARING of technical information between COLAS Group subsidiaries and with Industry partners also supports further research and development. He adds that innovation can also lead to greater quality, improved performance and sustainability.
“When people purchase our products, we want them to have peace of mind. Sometimes we may have issues, but we don’t flinch away from problems, we fix them,” he says.
Madelon says the COLAS Group will continue to closely adhere to the values of caring, sharing and daring in the future, as the company eyes further expansion.
“I sometimes get asked ‘why are these values important?’ Our company is an old one, having been in business for over 90 years. We’ve been through a lot of recessions and problems relying on these strong values,” he says.
“For us, doing business ethically and having these values as our foundation is critical. We don’t go for the short-term gains, where we may put the future of the company at risk. That’s why it’s so important to us and what we are most proud of.”
This article was originally published in the June edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.