THE IFEAT MEDAL LECTURE: RAMON BORDAS (II) - A ...

Paper presented at the IFEAT International Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, October 2004.
Pages 101–107 in the printed Conference Proceedings.
THE IFEAT MEDAL LECTURE:
RAMON BORDAS (II)
- A CELEBRATION OF HIS LIFE AND CAREER (1922-2002)
Ramon Bordas (III)
Destilaciones Bordas Chinchurreta S.A.
Acueducto 4-6, Sevelle 47100, Spain
[ ramon.bordas@bordas-sa.com ]
When I received the invitation from the IFEAT Executive Committee to speak
about my father, I experienced a mixture of emotions and responsibility.
Emotions, because it meant talking about the memory of my father, with all
that this means for a son, and responsibility because it did not only mean
talking about my father’s life and career, but also talking about him in front of
a group of his close friends who had created IFEAT.
On Monday, you heard lectures from my compatriots on the current status of
the industry in Spain. My father’s career in the industry commenced at a much Ramon Bordas (II)
earlier stage and spanned many years up to the recent period in which many
changes occurred. I shall, therefore, make an overview of his life and try to identify his particular
innovations and achievements in parallel with the trends in the overall development of the industry in
Spain.
Early life and family background
Ramón Bordas (II) was born in 1922, the same year that Destilaciones Bordas
Chinchurreta, S.A. (DBCH) was founded. He was the eldest of four brothers,
all of whom became involved in the essential oils industry.
Ramon Bordas (I), my grandfather, was an entrepreneur, born in the Basque
country and who travelled to Germany where he worked at BASF. It was here
that he studied in depth organic chemistry and essential oils in particular. The
First World War forced him to return from Germany to Spain where he
continued with the study of Spanish essential oils.
During this period, the 1930s, the essential oils industry in Spain consisted of
a group of individual distillers, who produced small quantities and sold
directly to the market. Within this context, Ramón Bordas (I), was one of the
pioneers, along with Adrian & Klein, Carbonell, Muñoz Gálvez and García de
la Fuente, in establishing companies to fully commercialize Spanish essential
oils.
My grandfather developed the business from a warehouse that was situated at
the back end of his house, the same house where my father and his brothers
were born. From their early years, the brothers smelt and experienced the
business of essential oils, including helping with the preparation and
packaging for sale. My father, who was a poor student, was an expert drum
roller, the common method then used for mixing the essential oils.
The young Ramon
(right) with two
of his brothers
Ramon Bordas (I),
founder of DBCH
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The first products that the Bordas Company produced and sold during this period were the classic
Spanish essential oils:
• Spike lavender • Rosemary • Sage
• Fennel • Eucalyptus • Pennyroyal
The first diversification of the product range was made by production of terpeneless oils and of esters
for nitrocellulosic paints (ethyl acetate, butyl acetate and amyl acetate).
Ramón did not get involved formally in the industry until the mid-1940s. Although these were difficult
times, following on from the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, the essential oils business
in Spain was flourishing. During these years, when Ramón was around 22 years old, he travelled
throughout Spain, becoming acquainted with each and every one of the locations where oils were
produced - from the spike lavender area in Guadalajara to the traditional rosemary, thyme and
origanum areas on the Mediterranean coast.
During his years in Germany, my grandfather met people in the essential oils trade who, later, moved
to the United States. He insisted upon Ramón travelling to the United States to visit these friends and
to try to sell oil. These were the times of Fritzsche Dodge Olcott, Lever Bross, J. Manheimer, Furth
and Morris J. Golonbeck. Ramon arrived in the USA with a consignment of stock that had been built
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up over more than two years and sold it all in four months. This was Bordas’ first important business,
and Ramon´s particular one, and the profit funded investment in a new factory at Carretera de
Carmona, which operated from 1950 until 2002.
Progression to a Captain of Industry
The essential oils industry continued growing, to such an extent that Ramon had to look for
alternatives for the production in other Mediterranean countries, such as Morocco, where there was a
growing production of essential oils. A Bordas company was established in Morocco and Ramon spent
long summers along the coast between Tangiers to Larache. He distilled there up to up to 150 tonnes
of pennyroyal and 75 tonnes of Moroccan rosemary.
During this period my father met and travelled
throughout Morocco and Spain with the
renowned Ernst Günther, a close friend of my
grandfather. They visited all of the distillation
locations in both countries. In his industry
‘Bible’, The Essential Oils, Ernst makes
continuous references to Ramón and to my
grandfather when describing the Spanish essential
oils. We can see him in this photo taken by my
father in Brazil.
Guenther, photographed
in Brazil by Ramon
At the new installations, DBCH began making
essential oil derivatives, including anethol,
menthol, citronellol and its esters, geraniol and its
esters and those of clove. Laevo-menthol as a
derivative of essential oils deserves special
comment because DBCH was a pioneer in the
isomerization of l-menthol from the iso-pulegone
in pennyroyal oil. The company distilled up to
300 tonnes of pennyroyal oil in its Moroccan and
Spanish plants as a feedstock for the production
of up to 150 tonnes of l-menthol. This tradition of
the production of l-Menthol is still maintained
today
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At the beginning of the 1960s, DBCH began one
of the activities which most has characterized the
company: the development of bitter orange
derivatives and, in particular, the concentrates for
marmalades and juices that are so favoured by the
British market. This led to a close and long
lasting friendship with the major British and
European manufactures of marmalades, a
business relation that continues today. This
activity began simply as the commercialization of
the orange fruit harvested in the Seville area and
exported directly to the United Kingdom. However, it progressively evolved to the point of making the
bitter orange marmalades and concentrates with the brands of third parties and, today, approximately
15 million kilograms of oranges are transformed into derivatives by DBCH.
A parallel development was the distillation of neroli blossom and petitgrain leaves for the traditional
perfumery markets; a business that was very important in Ramon’s life. He was a key player in the
commercialization of bitter orange, and he always gave it a very distinguishing character within the
UK market.
For Spain, the 1970s were a period of great development and consolidation in the market of essential
oils and their derivatives. Traditional essential oil distillers, such as Muñoz Galvez, Daksa and García
de la Fuente, consolidated their position on the
European market. Acedesa, exclusive producer of
essential oils derivatives and of aroma chemicals,
joined this family.
In the particular case of Bordas, this meant the
expansion in the production of turpentine
derivatives: terpineol, terpenyl acetate,
dihydroterpineol and terpinolene.
These years, also, saw the greatest historical
volume of essential oil production by Spain.
I remember going with my father when I was around four or five years old to the fields of Guadalajara,
Granada, Murcia, Almeria and Cádiz during the summer and visiting each and every one of our field
distillers. We came to have up to 120 boilers dispersed throughout Spain. The dominance that Bordas
had in the commercialization of Spanish essential oils arose from my father’s unquestionable charisma
with the farmers and to his warm, sincere and easy relationships towards all of our field distillers. A
simple handshake at the end of the summer was good enough to do business. Today, old distillers still
retell stories of the summers they passed with my father. The Spanish essential oils business has
always been based on the trust between people. In this sense, the influence Ramon had amongst our
field distillers, due to his honest and straightforward character was fundamental.
This period of consolidation of the production of oils was paralleled by the adoption of new
technologies. Sulzer a Swiss company specialized in column packing, brought out the filling BX,
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which was revolutionary in the world. These
packings, due to their high efficiency and high
production capacity, gave the possibility to
separate aroma chemicals that up to that time had
been difficult.
This new technology made it possible for DBCH
to commercialize more turpentine derivatives,
such as bornyl acetate, fenchyl acetate and
camphene in their pure qualities; and also methyl
cedryl ketone from cedarwood and heliotropine
from sassafras.
The late seventies through to the nineties under Ramon’s leadership were years of great expansion and
prestige for the Bordas Company, when the position as one of the main suppliers of aroma chemicals
and essential oils was consolidated.
The 1980s also included a big expansion on the international canvas as a producer:
• A subsidiary, Socidestilda, was opened in Portugal in order to maintain our leadership in
the production and commercialization of eucalyptus oil and its derivatives. In this plant,
up to 500 tonnes of oil was produced each year.
• Evesa, in the south of Spain and close to Gibraltar, was opened to produce paprika
oleoresin, labdanum and oakmoss derivatives by solvent extraction. Today, more than 20
years later, this company is the leading producer of paprika oleoresin in the world and
holds more than the 30% of the global market share.
• In Brazil, another subsidiary, Geroma do Brasil, started to manufacture heliotropine. The
annual output is up to 300 tonnes and this plant we has supplied every single company in
this industry over the years. Also, the plant has been expanded to produce the same
turpentine derivatives, such as pinene and myrcene, as is in done Seville and, today, it is
our main logistic arm to supply the growing South American market.
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Ramon and IFEAT
No discussion of my father’s life and career is complete if it excludes his association with IFEAT. He
was not only one of the first members of IFEAT on its creation in 1977 but also the first President of
the Federation and he continued as an active member of the IFEAT Executive Committee thereafter.
For my father, his relationship with many other members of IFEAT was of personal and profound
friendship, rather than mere business. His enthusiasm and enjoyment of participating in IFEAT
activities may be seen in the photographs below of work and play in IFEAT.
The entire family were drawn by my father into the IFEAT
experience and it became a part of our lives. This is especially true
of my mother, Maria, because she lived through and participated in
the early period of IFEAT’s evolution.
This family experience culminated with the IFEAT Conference of
1997 in Seville, for which my father was Chairman of the
Conference Organizing Committee.
All of the family were involved in one way or another with this
event but none of us matched the inputs of Arantxa and without
whom the conference would not have been such a great success.
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Ramón passed away on January 4 th , 2002 leaving behind almost 60 years dedicated to the industry, a
whole lifetime. At that time, Destilaciones Bordas Chinchurreta had just completed the great challenge
of the last years, the move of our installations from Carretera de Carmona to outside of the city. This
challenge was lived by my father with his usual dynamism, going every single day to see the evolution
of the construction of one of the most modern and innovative plants of this industry worldwide.
Ramon’s professional legacy was a company that employs over 300 people, has three international
production centres and exports to over 600 customers in 70 countries. However, we must not forget his
wider commitment and enthusiasm to life and to people, he was always generous in helping anyone in
need.
In this age of technology and computers, I make a plea to maintain the spirit my father, Ramon, had in
the business world, a spirit he shared with many of those who are here today. It is the spirit of trust
amongst people, the spirit of cordiality, the spirit of respect and the spirit of loyalty in business. All of
these young people, like Fernando and myself, who are entering into this marvellous industry must be
reminded that many of those who are here today have done and will continue doing business with this
spirit.
Ramon Bordas (III) was born in 1967. His tertiary education was spent at the
Valencia Polytechnic University, where he graduated as a chemical engineer.
In 1992, he became a third generation member of the family company. Today,
Ramon is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Manager of
Destilaciones Bordas Chinchurreta SA.
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