Chemicals

Involvation supports Univar during integral improvement program

Univar Solutions is a global distributor of chemicals and food ingredients and represents premium-line products of leading manufacturers. In order to further develop its service offering, Univar has embarked on an integral improvement program and has asked Involvation to provide support.

The core of the program relates to ‘Pulse’, a supply chain digitalization project. The company’s facility in the Dutch town of Zwijndrecht has been selected as the pilot plant and we have been asked to support Univar with the test strategy. Besides that, we will be helping Univar to further professionalize its service strategy and planning model, both by providing advice and supporting the realization.

Univar Solutions realizes savings on transport and transport management

Univar Solutions is a leading global distributor of chemicals and ingredients and a supplier of value-added services to customers in a wide range of industries. Univar Solutions has an extensive network of locations from which customers are served. As a distributor, transportation is an important part of the company’s cost base.

Exploiting economies of scale is an important pillar for Univar Solutions to continuously improve competitiveness. In order to give an extra impulse to improving transport efficiencies, a program consisting of a number of projects has been defined to drive substantial cost savings.

Univar Solutions has called on the help of an interim professional from Involvation to oversee the implementation of the program, to ensure that the intended savings are realized.

SI Group moves towards a more mature S&OP process

SI Group is a leading global developer and manufacturer of chemical intermediates, specialty resins and solutions that are critical to the quality and performance of countless industrial and consumer goods.

About four years ago, SI Group designed a global sales & operations planning (S&OP) process which was subsequently implemented in all the regions worldwide. Since the S&OP process has now been operational for a few years, SI Group asked Involvation to carry out an audit to assess the quality of the various regional and global S&OP processes.

The purpose was to deliver a report of the current maturity status in the individual regions and to identify opportunities for improvement. The audit program focused on:

  1. Commitment to and understanding of S&OP
  2. Quality of the process and adherence to the design
  3. Outcome and effectiveness of decision-making

By following a standardized approach and performing a calibrated assessment, Involvation identified lessons that regions can learn from one another. Furthermore, by bringing in external expertise and considering best practices, Involvation helped SI Group to identify additional opportunities for improvement.

The final report included a roadmap with clear steps for taking the individual processes to the next maturity level.

Sabic needs expert support to optimize their Supply Planning process

Sabic is a global leader in various products, especially petrochemicals. In one of its business units, Sabic faces a very complex planning situation involving a large amount of products and intermediates.

In order to stay in control of not only promises made to customers but also capacity utilization, it is necessary to fully integrate all the planning stages, from the short-term scheduled production through to the 18-month tactical planning horizon.

In this highly automated planning environment Sabic is dealing with the introduction of a new platform for ERP and basic planning, which has serious implications for Sabic’s deployment of its advanced planning tools. In order to get the required planning functionality up and running with the new platform, Sabic has asked Involvation to provide a Supply Planning expert with knowledge of specific planning tools.

Sekisui Alveo improves service level

Sekisui Alveo develops, produces and sells high quality polyolefin foams, primarily in Europe and South America. Sekisui Alveo AG is based in Switzerland and the company has production sites in Roermond, Bad Sobernheim (Germany) and Merthyr Tydfil (Wales).
Sekisui Alveo pursues a successful strategy in which the customer comes first. A large part of the products is customer specific and more than 50% encompasses “value added services”. As a result of this higher product complexity and increased volumes, service reliability (particularly lead times) had come under pressure.
Reliability is important for Sekisui’s customers and its own growth ambitions. The company therefore asked Involvation to analyse and optimise the integral planning process, in order to enable the company to bring and keep service reliability at a high and sustainable level. The initiative includes subprojects in S&OP, demand planning, service strategy and production planning.

Integration of BASF Industrial Coatings into AkzoNobel

In late 2015/early 2016, AkzoNobel announced its intention to acquire BASF Industrial Coatings. This BASF business unit comprises five segments: Coil Coatings, Foil Coatings, Wind (Energy) Coatings, General Industries and Commercial Transport. The takeover related to the (largely) worldwide distribution of the BASF Industrial Coatings products as well as to two manufacturing facilities plus a contract manufacturing agreement for the production of the range of BASF industrial coatings in plants in Germany, Argentina, Spain and Japan for a three-year period.

Involvation was asked to manage the supply chain-related activities in this process by providing a workstream lead and any additional resources as necessary.

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Development Supply Chain Campus

Raising the Supply Chain knowledge of the entire organization. That was the question Henkel Adhesives asked Involvation. Involvation developed a modular Supply Chain Campus for the Henkel organization.
After successful pilots the roll-out in Western Europe started. After that, training courses were given in Argentina, Brazil, China, Chili, Dubai, Mexico, Russia and Turkey.

SI Group is professionalizing their global Demand Planning process

SI Group is a leading global developer and manufacturer of chemical intermediates, specialty resins and solutions that are critical to the quality and performance of countless industrial and consumer goods.

After design and implementation of a standard global S&OP process, SI Group has asked Involvation to help them bring the Demand Planning process to the next level. The group of 10 Demand Planners and Analyst from all the regions, is taken through a learning program covering all aspects of Demand Planning. The learning program is a blend of eLearning, exercises, classroom training and on-the-job coaching. Based on the training and facilitated by Involvation, the group reviewed the existing processes and defined an improved way of working. Following this approach we ensured that real improvements were made by putting the “theoretical” learnings into practice.

Demand Planners and Analysts from all regions not only shared the same way of working now, but also feel empowered to improve the quality of the Demand Plan. And as a spin off, The Demand Planners together with experienced Consultants from Involvation will train the Sales Managers in their region on the new way of working with Demand Planning. This unique approach will bring Demand Planning in the whole organization to a higher level.

Low & Bonar professionalizes production planning

Bonar, part of Low and Bonar, is a leading manufacturer and supplier of quality non-woven fabrics, woven, knitted fabrics, three-dimensional polymeric mats, construction and fiber composites that are used in civil engineering, home furnishings, transportation, construction, agriculture and industry. Bonar has production facilities in eight countries and employs over 12,000 people.
Bonar has asked Involvation to support one of the plants for woven fabrics in professionalizing the production planning. In this factory synthetic polymer is extruded into films that are split into tapes. These are then woven into a fabric which is used as a ground cover in a variety of agricultural applications or as a geo-textile fabric for civil engineering purposes.
Due to several developments it has become necessary to improve delivery reliability and to strengthen control of the finished product stock to reduce the risk of obsolescence. Involvation helps to find the right method for planning the production and, together with Bonar, takes care of implementation.

Growth creates complexity, which requires simplicity
Andy Stanley