Taiwan: Ex-CPC Chief Confirmed to Head Up Rival

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (FPC) of Taiwan will appoint a former top executive from its major competitor, the CPC Corp. Taiwan to head its board of directors as it seeks to reform the management.

Chen Pao-liang, ex-president of CPC, has been confirmed as chairman of the FPC board. Chen said he accepted the FPC post because he did not want the FPC's problems at its sixth naphtha cracker plant in Mailiao, Yunlin County to widen and undermine Taiwan's petrochemical industry. He said his very mission is to shift the company's top priority to ensuring work safety from making profits.

Investments will be made in improving related equipment and facilities, building up the human resources and technology for work safety, and instilling in employees the correct concepts of safe working, Chen said. The company has been eager to improve its image after its sixth naphta cracker plant experienced a series of fires over the past several months.

Chen said he initially rejected the offer, because he would not want to come out of retirement to take up a mission that would require lengthy efforts to change a company's culture underlying all its problems. He said that neither did he want his former CPC colleagues to see him as a “defector.”   But he said he eventually accepted he challenge after receiving understanding from his former CPC colleagues and encouragement from economics minister Shih Yen-hsiang, who asked him to help the fellow company.

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