This series of articles previously reviewed the integration progress and global capacity layout of Global New Material International in the ten months since its acquisition of SUSONITY. One question has been asked over and over again: The three major production bases are running at full capacity and new products are being developed one after another – what is the underlying force behind all this?

The answer lies in “people”.

The core asset is people, and the team is making steady progress

There is a consensus in the high-end new materials industry that the true core assets of an enterprise are never just the factory and equipment, but also the technical experts, production process technicians and operation teams that have been deeply involved in the industry for decades. SUSONITY has been deeply involved in the field of surface and effect materials since 1959. Over the course of more than six decades, it has accumulated a senior team with mature formulas, exclusive processes and a large number of patents – the hardest part to replicate and the most likely to be lost in turmoil among the acquisition targets.

Global New Material International established clear principles from the very first day of the acquisition: to prioritize talent stability, not to pursue short-term downsize results through extensive staff reduction, but to dissolve cognitive differences through cultural integration and activate team creativity through resource input.

Over the past ten months, SUSONITY has achieved net growth in its global workforce. After experiencing normal personnel adjustments in the early stage of the transfer, the team size is back on track and continues to recruit professional and technical talents globally – with a focus on strengthening the front-line force at the Gernsheim production site and injecting new vitality into the Frankfurt innovation and Applications team.

Behind this choice lies the group’s talent philosophy of “respecting the local, diverse integration, and value co-creation”, and also reflects the advanced direction of China’s new materials enterprises’ globalization moving from “asset acquisition” to “deep integration of talent and culture”.

Innovation and Application Center established: further expansion instead of downsizing

If retaining the core team is the foundation of integration, upgrading the R&D platform and expanding the space for talent development are the key first steps to activate global innovation capabilities.

R&d talent is the foundation of SUSONITY. During the integration, GNMI did not tighten its R&D budget but instead increased it against the trend. In May 2026, German innovation and applications team, which was originally scattered across four buildings in Darmstadt, moved as a whole into the Industriepark Hochst in Frankfurt. This is a key upgrade to SUSONITY’s global innovation network, which is composed of a large number of experts distributed across four regional centers in Germany, the United States, Japan and China, keeping technology and services always close to the markets where customers are located.

This is not an ordinary move. Printing presses, plastic extruders, injection molding machines, professional spray booths and other large precision equipment were all moved, reinstalled, debugged and reset without customer service interruption. During the integration, there was no reduction but rather expansion. Hardware upgrades and job recruitment were carried out simultaneously – R&D investment did not decrease but increase, hardware upgrades and team recruitment were implemented simultaneously. Essentially, it was a clear signal from GNMI to global technical talents: Mergers and acquisitions are not the end of development but the beginning of a larger platform, and global talents will benefit from GNMI‘s long-term global development.

Retain local management and two-way talent exchange: Let the integration proceed steadily and sustainably

In addition to increased investment, GNMI is making simultaneous moves on both governance structure and cultural integration.

In terms of governance, GNMI has retained the original configuration of key positions such as R&D, production and sales at SUSONITY to the greatest extent possible to keep the business running on inertia during the transition and gradually expand the global team size. It conveys the Group’s emphasis on the strategic positioning of SUSONITY and sends a clear signal to the local team overseas that Dr. Su Ertian, Chairman of the Group, will take over as CEO of SUSONITY and lead the executives of the Group’s various business segments to implement the globalization strategy: GNMI respects the professional competence, local culture and operational model of its overseas team and will not simply copy the domestic management system.

Culturally, GNMI has established a regular cross-regional interaction mechanism and has organized multiple rounds of SUSONITY and Chesir CQV team exchange activities covering business areas such as production, research and development, sales, and quality control. The Chinese and foreign teams have in-depth exchanges on corporate culture, operational processes, technical standards and industry experience, enabling them to advance in both directions through mutual communication. There was a heartwarming scene in May: for the first time, employees from Darmstadt, Gernsheim and Frankfurt formed a united team and appeared side by side in a corporate road race in Darmstadt under the name of the group’s joint representative team. The running race vividly exemplifies the cohesion of the team that transcends geographical boundaries and works together under the merger and integration.

Look ahead: Let talents realize their value through collaboration

Ten months of steady growth in talent is persistence , not a full stop.

The value of talent is ultimately realized through synergy. During the synergy integration, SUSONITY and the Chesir under the Group launched phased cross-selling and integrated into the global sales network to provide customers with a more comprehensive material solution – this is the footnote of “value co-creation” moving from concept to order. Looking ahead, the Group will promote the rotation and exchange of technical backbones at home and abroad and joint efforts: let SUSONITY’s R&D experts participate in domestic emerging materials projects, and also bring domestic experts in synthetic mica and intelligent manufacturing to overseas bases; And design appropriate incentives schemes for different regions, taking into account both the mature vocational systems in Europe and the United States and the innovative vitality in China, so that global talents can benefit from it.

For Global New Material International, retaining people means retaining technology, customers and the key to the global high-end market. In an era of accelerated iteration of new materials, a cross-national, cross-cultural, highly professional talent ecosystem is far more resilient to time than temporary capacity expansion. Following this path, talent will eventually bring technological breakthrough and market growth, laying a solid foundation for the Group to build a world-class new materials industry platform.