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DSM comes of age
DSM comes of age Europe’s largest unsaturated polyester resin producer, DSM Composite Resins, is 21 years old. David Westaway visited the company’s headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to talk to president Jan Paul de Vries about the company and its markets.
I
t was in 1983 that DSM Resins was formed through the merger of DSM’s Synres business and Unilever’s Unichema/Scado unsaturated polyester resin and coating resin businesses. During the 1980s and early 1990s, it went through a bullish phase of acquisition, building up a portfolio of unsaturated polyester resin companies which had been leaders in their own markets, such as Freeman
Chemicals in the UK and Savid in Italy. These companies also brought to the group new sheet and bulk moulding compound (SMC/BMC) competencies and production facilities. At the time it was a logical step to further develop this business by downstream investment into compound moulding operations to control the quality loop. But throughout this period,
DSM Resins never lost sight of its core competence in the development, manufacture and sale of unsaturated polyester resins and gel-coats. The acquisition of the Hüls business (Vestopal resins) in 1996 further extended the resin product portfolio. Then the following year came the really big one: the merger of Europe’s number one and two, DSM Resins and BASF’s
DSM is a long-standing supplier to most of Europe’s leading boat builders. (Picture © Bénéteau).
30
REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
0034-3617/04 ©2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DSM comes of age
resins division, at a stroke creating the biggest supplier in Europe, and adding a production foothold in the emerging Chinese market. Ensuing years saw the progressive divestment of the moulding and compound businesses as the renamed DSM Composite Resins (following its split with DSM Coating Resins), consolidated its position as European number one and global number three. The new, fully integrated businesses adopted the principal/plant/agent model, whereby the production sites in the Netherlands, UK, Italy, France and Spain serve the principal European sales organisation which sells via its agents. “You can liken our history to making a resin,” says company president Jan Paul de Vries. “A successful resin recipe calls for ingredients of the right quality that are cooked and blended to form a homogenous end-product. This is how DSM Composite Resins was formed: acquiring the best companies with the best technology and know-how and the most skilled people – together provided an ideal recipe for success.”
Raw material prices Asking what challenges DSM is facing in today’s marketplace brought a predictable response from the company president. “Clearly the relentless raw material price increases represent the single biggest challenge that our industry has faced in decades,” says de Vries. “For the first time in four years we have seen a slight recovery in the European composites market but margins are eroding due to the high raw material costs. Raw materials costs have increased to unprecedented levels and are expected to rise even further.” “The demand for all raw materials is surging, but the capacity of mainly benzene-related derivatives remains critical and limited availability is causing the high feedstock prices,” he continues. “Benzene has risen to record levels, putting pressure on all downstream derivatives such as styrene, which has
Resin production.
increased by about 70% since January 2004.”
Relentless raw material price increases represent the single biggest challenge that our industry has faced in decades. “Unfortunately the market prices for resins have not followed the trend of the raw material increases over the recent years; which puts additional pressure on the resin industry to remain sustainable,” de Vries notes. “Price readjustment is needed and the successive increases we’ve seen this year are only to bring margins back to an acceptable level. Further increases are necessary to restore sustainability.”
Resin prices “We need to ensure that the whole value chain, especially the convertors and end-user segments, understand that this is a crisis situation that affects our complete industry,” says de Vries. “This is not just a temporary blip: prices will
remain at a structurally higher level. We are all too aware of the impact and the burden this is having on our customers, but we have trimmed our internal cost structures to the bone leaving us with no option other than to increase our prices.” Despite the tough trading conditions, DSM remains fully committed to the composites industry. “We have to remember that this raw material crisis is hitting the entire plastics industry as well as steel and aluminium producers, so we’re not being disadvantaged against competitive materials,” de Vries continues. “In fact, over the medium term, GRP volume production is expected to increase by around 2-4% a year, which is slightly higher than competing materials like steel and aluminium.” “We still see a bright future for the global composites industry and the business fits with DSM’s strategical focus on performance materials,” de Vries emphasises. “Composite Resins is an important business within the performance materials cluster and we intend to build on our leadership position. These tough conditions favour the strong companies as they will survive while the weaker ones fall. Consequent consolidation and reduction in the number of players will help the profitability of the business.” “We also face a challenge in terms of styrene classification and legislation [REACH],” he continues. “Our industry is anticipating a favourable European Union (EU) classification for styrene. Recycling is another issue that we are addressing in a proactive way. I serve on the board of the European Composites Recycling and Services Company (ECRC), of which DSM was one of the founding fathers. I am very pleased with the progress we are making and the positive responses and support we are getting from the automotive OEMs.”
Innovation So what are the critical success factors in this difficult trading environment?
November 2004
REINFORCEDplastics
31
DSM comes of age
“European growth has been disappointing over the last few years, so low cost production and continuous optimization are key success factors in the resin business,” says de Vries. “We could cut back on our R&D and technical services to save costs, but we are in an industry where innovation is the life-blood.” De Vries cites the marine industry as an example. “We have long supplied most of Europe’s leading boat builders,” he says. “The industry is currently enjoying healthy growth but they too have their challenges in terms of maintaining quality while meeting the tougher environmental compliance standards. Consequently we are at the forefront in developing low VOC [volatile organic compound] resins and gel-coats as well as dedicated systems for vacuum infusion and other closed mould processes.” “Boat building is still predominately open moulding but we are seeing a growing trend towards closed mould processes here and in other sectors,” he adds. “Automated closed moulding operations like injection/infusion, RTM [resin transfer moulding] and SMC/BMC will continue to substitute more manual processes with an annual growth of around 7% per year in value.” The automotive industry is another example. “The automotive industry requires innovation, especially in areas like improved Class A, low weighting, cost reduction, emission reduction and, of course, recycling,” says de Vries. “Here our customer competence centre for closed mould SMC/BMC is tackling these issues by working closely with OEMs as well as the rest of the value chain. European composite moulders are having to compete against low cost producers in Asia, so they need to focus on their technical and innovative strengths.”
Feeding the Chinese dragon In contrast to Europe, China is steaming ahead with 9% economic growth recorded last year. It imports one third of the
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REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
world’s oil, steel and cement, as well as a fifth of all copper and nickel. Satisfying the Chinese dragon’s thirst for oil is compounding the difficulties faced by the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) region.
Companies with a strong manufacturing base in China are poised to benefit from a massive building and infrastructure programme, favourable labour conditions, and 1.3 billion potential new consumers. But companies like DSM with a strong manufacturing base in China are poised to benefit from a massive building and infrastructure programme, favourable labour conditions, and 1.3 billion potential new consumers who want to improve their lifestyles. The Chinese government has recently taken steps to cool the economy but growth there (and also in other developing regions like India), will continue to outstrip the 2-4% of Europe and North America. We asked de Vries how DSM Structural Resins Asia positioning itself in the China market. “Very much as we position ourselves in Europe, by focusing on our value proposition in higher-end areas like automotive, chemical resistance, construction and relining,” he says. “Companies looking to manufacture and sell in China are not guaranteed instant success: far from it. It is important that you develop with a strong partner and gradually build up trust and knowledge. You have to understand the cultural differences and the different ways of doing business.” “We are fortunate that in Jinling Petrochemicals we have a strong partner
who shares our commitment to sustainable development and responsible care,” de Vries notes. “We now own the majority share at our plant in China where we will be aiming to set new standards in cost leadership, SHE [safety, health and environment] and operational excellence.”
Sizing matters Within a balanced portfolio, DSM Composite Resins have many wellknown brands such as Neogel gel-coats, Synolite and Palatal unsaturated polyester resins, and Atlac vinyl esters. It also has a brand, Neoxil, that is well established as the global market leader in the glass fibre sizings and bindings market. Jan Paul de Vries is keen that this product is recognized for what it is – a vital link in the composite value chain. “Sizings and binders are essential ingredients in glass fibre production and product performance in the GRP sector,” he explains. “A sizing [emulsion] adds value to the glass fibre giving it protection and making it compatible with the plastic matrix in the application. Binders [powder] are used to bind glass mats. DSM Sizings and Binders serve the glass fibre industry with a range of solutions. We not only supply
Jan Paul de Vries is president of DSM Composite Resins.
DSM comes of age
the world’s leading glass fibre producers but we also sell their products via our distribution outlets – especially through our own Pan-European distributor, Euroresins. This gives us a window on the user market, which is useful intelligence for our Sizing & Binders customers.” DSM Composite Resins is also a European leader in polymeric plasticizers. Its Uraplast plasticizers are widely used by producers of soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
System selling With operations in Benelux, the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Scandinavia, the Euroresins group effectively covers most of Western Europe. It provides a complete one-stop shopping service to its customers. “System selling is not only attractive to small customers, but we also find it appeals to larger customers who wish to de-complex their procurement,” says de Vries. “For example, we now supply many large boat builders with a complete package of resins, gel-coats, catalysts, reinforcements, core materials and a full range of ancillaries.” Sophisticated business systems enable Euroresins to efficiently monitor and analyse market trends. It also means it can profile customers’ purchasing patterns and inventories, advising them via telesales when their stock levels are low, thereby facilitating just-in-time ordering.
Demand chain management is a hot topic. DCM Demand chain management (DCM) is a hot topic in DSM. Essentially it covers every stage in the so-called order-to-cash (OTC) process. By fully managing this process the customer gets what he wants when he wants it – no more no less.
DSM Composite Resins – a timeline 2003 DSM Composite Resins purchases Resinous Chemicals Ltd (RCL), a UK structural resin producer, from Akzo Nobel. 2001 DSM Industrial Resins becomes DSM Composite Resins with offices relocated from Zwolle, in the Netherlands, to Schaffhausen, Switzerland. 1999 DSM Resins splits into DSM Industrial Resins (composite resins, gelcoats, bonding pastes, plasticizers and sizings & binders) and DSM Coating Resins (wet coating resins, powder coating resins and state-of-the-art UVcurable resins). 1998 Divestment of the moulding business. Compound and moulding companies are spun off to concentrate on the core business of resin and gelcoat manufacture. 1997 The big bang: the merger of two leaders in Europe, DSM Resins and BASF’s resins division, results in the biggest supplier in Europe, and DSM also sets foot in China. 1996 DSM Resins forms a joint venture with Sinopec in China, thus forming Jinling-DSM Resins (JDR). 1995 The acquisition of the Hüls business (Vestopal resins) provides the basis for offering a complete product portfolio. 1992 RE Brain, a UK composites distributor, and Vitroplast, Spain, a producer of moulding compounds, are added to the business.
“DCM is the coordination of all business functions via a central Sales & Operational Planning structure,” explains de Vries. “This means that our
1991 DSM Resins continues to build up its compounds business by acquiring a 50% stake in MD Composites, Japan, and by acquiring BWR, a German compounder and moulder. 1990 Acquisition of Autopress Composites, a UK compound moulding company. 1989 Bayer’s SMC/BMC resin business is acquired, as well as Fiberpachs, Spain, a compound moulding company. 1988 Acquisition of Freeman Chemicals, a UK UP resin and gel-coat producer that also includes distribution and SMC/BMC businesses. 1987 DSM Resins acquires Savid, Italy, an unsaturated polyester resin producer which adds sizings, binders, gel-coats and SMC/BMC to the product range. 1983 DSM Resins is formed through the merger of the Synres business and Unilever’s Unichema/Scado unsaturated polyester resin and coating resin businesses. The new company is headquartered in Zwolle, the Netherlands, and has production sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. DSM also acquires distributor Frencken de Bruyn (later to become Euroresins Benelux). 1971 DSM acquires Synres, a producer of UP resins and coating resins with plants in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Mexico and France. Synres was founded in 1947 near Rotterdam.
sales team here in Schaffhausen coordinates with the sales agent or distributor and master production scheduling, to give the customer the required level of
November 2004
REINFORCEDplastics
33
DSM comes of age
service. The start point is segmenting and differentiating our customer base and giving customers the level of service consistent with the value chain in that particular sector.”
flexibility. Communication is transparent across the process so we know where the order is at any stage.” “At the moment we are focusing on collaborative planning with our customers to get an insight into future needs,” he adds. “For example, with gelcoats we can optimise forecasts, stock targets, lead times and capacity allocation. We’re looking at benchmarking best practices and finding synergies in the process which can improve service while saving costs.”
There’s no point in selling a customer a Rolls Royce if a Mini will meet his needs. The automotive value chain sets high Customer expectations requirements on delivery Much of the DCM function is about speed and quality, managing customer expectations. Here culture and language also comes into whereas at the play. For example, to a UK customer, distribution end of the delivery in the morning is understood as any time up until noon, whereas a market the emphasis is German customer will take this as meanmore on price and ing before 9 am. Fortunately the DSM Composite Resins telesales team are delivery flexibility. multi-lingual so such misunderstandings “There’s no point in selling a customer a Rolls Royce if a Mini will meet his needs, and vice versa”, de Vries explains. “For example, the automotive value chain sets high requirements on delivery speed and quality, whereas at the distribution end of the market the emphasis is more on price and delivery
34
REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
rarely occur. Not that de Vries is negative about complaints. “We view every complaint as an opportunity to improve service levels, whether it be a technical complaint or a complaint about late deliveries, it’s something we can learn from,” he says. “Regular communication with the customer is essential to anticipate
potential service issues and reduce complaints.” E-business is a vital link in the DCM process. And as larger customers start to hook up their ERP systems with DSM greater alignment of business processes become possible – like Vendor Managed Inventory, whereby DSM can effectively monitor and manage its customers’ resin needs. Jan Paul de Vries notes that Demand Chain Management can best be summarised by the DCM mission, which could equally be the mission for DSM Composite Resins as a whole: ‘To become the service leader in the composite resin industry by giving excellent customer service in terms of customer management, logistics services and reliability according to the generic supply conditions and agreed customer service levels.’ In other words: ‘Do what we say we do and deliver what we promise.’ ■
For more information please visit DSM Composite Resins’ website: www.dsmcompositeresins.com.
I
t was in 1983 that DSM Resins was formed through the merger of DSM’s Synres business and Unilever’s Unichema/Scado unsaturated polyester resin and coating resin businesses. During the 1980s and early 1990s, it went through a bullish phase of acquisition, building up a portfolio of unsaturated polyester resin companies which had been leaders in their own markets, such as Freeman
Chemicals in the UK and Savid in Italy. These companies also brought to the group new sheet and bulk moulding compound (SMC/BMC) competencies and production facilities. At the time it was a logical step to further develop this business by downstream investment into compound moulding operations to control the quality loop. But throughout this period,
DSM Resins never lost sight of its core competence in the development, manufacture and sale of unsaturated polyester resins and gel-coats. The acquisition of the Hüls business (Vestopal resins) in 1996 further extended the resin product portfolio. Then the following year came the really big one: the merger of Europe’s number one and two, DSM Resins and BASF’s
DSM is a long-standing supplier to most of Europe’s leading boat builders. (Picture © Bénéteau).
30
REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
0034-3617/04 ©2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DSM comes of age
resins division, at a stroke creating the biggest supplier in Europe, and adding a production foothold in the emerging Chinese market. Ensuing years saw the progressive divestment of the moulding and compound businesses as the renamed DSM Composite Resins (following its split with DSM Coating Resins), consolidated its position as European number one and global number three. The new, fully integrated businesses adopted the principal/plant/agent model, whereby the production sites in the Netherlands, UK, Italy, France and Spain serve the principal European sales organisation which sells via its agents. “You can liken our history to making a resin,” says company president Jan Paul de Vries. “A successful resin recipe calls for ingredients of the right quality that are cooked and blended to form a homogenous end-product. This is how DSM Composite Resins was formed: acquiring the best companies with the best technology and know-how and the most skilled people – together provided an ideal recipe for success.”
Raw material prices Asking what challenges DSM is facing in today’s marketplace brought a predictable response from the company president. “Clearly the relentless raw material price increases represent the single biggest challenge that our industry has faced in decades,” says de Vries. “For the first time in four years we have seen a slight recovery in the European composites market but margins are eroding due to the high raw material costs. Raw materials costs have increased to unprecedented levels and are expected to rise even further.” “The demand for all raw materials is surging, but the capacity of mainly benzene-related derivatives remains critical and limited availability is causing the high feedstock prices,” he continues. “Benzene has risen to record levels, putting pressure on all downstream derivatives such as styrene, which has
Resin production.
increased by about 70% since January 2004.”
Relentless raw material price increases represent the single biggest challenge that our industry has faced in decades. “Unfortunately the market prices for resins have not followed the trend of the raw material increases over the recent years; which puts additional pressure on the resin industry to remain sustainable,” de Vries notes. “Price readjustment is needed and the successive increases we’ve seen this year are only to bring margins back to an acceptable level. Further increases are necessary to restore sustainability.”
Resin prices “We need to ensure that the whole value chain, especially the convertors and end-user segments, understand that this is a crisis situation that affects our complete industry,” says de Vries. “This is not just a temporary blip: prices will
remain at a structurally higher level. We are all too aware of the impact and the burden this is having on our customers, but we have trimmed our internal cost structures to the bone leaving us with no option other than to increase our prices.” Despite the tough trading conditions, DSM remains fully committed to the composites industry. “We have to remember that this raw material crisis is hitting the entire plastics industry as well as steel and aluminium producers, so we’re not being disadvantaged against competitive materials,” de Vries continues. “In fact, over the medium term, GRP volume production is expected to increase by around 2-4% a year, which is slightly higher than competing materials like steel and aluminium.” “We still see a bright future for the global composites industry and the business fits with DSM’s strategical focus on performance materials,” de Vries emphasises. “Composite Resins is an important business within the performance materials cluster and we intend to build on our leadership position. These tough conditions favour the strong companies as they will survive while the weaker ones fall. Consequent consolidation and reduction in the number of players will help the profitability of the business.” “We also face a challenge in terms of styrene classification and legislation [REACH],” he continues. “Our industry is anticipating a favourable European Union (EU) classification for styrene. Recycling is another issue that we are addressing in a proactive way. I serve on the board of the European Composites Recycling and Services Company (ECRC), of which DSM was one of the founding fathers. I am very pleased with the progress we are making and the positive responses and support we are getting from the automotive OEMs.”
Innovation So what are the critical success factors in this difficult trading environment?
November 2004
REINFORCEDplastics
31
DSM comes of age
“European growth has been disappointing over the last few years, so low cost production and continuous optimization are key success factors in the resin business,” says de Vries. “We could cut back on our R&D and technical services to save costs, but we are in an industry where innovation is the life-blood.” De Vries cites the marine industry as an example. “We have long supplied most of Europe’s leading boat builders,” he says. “The industry is currently enjoying healthy growth but they too have their challenges in terms of maintaining quality while meeting the tougher environmental compliance standards. Consequently we are at the forefront in developing low VOC [volatile organic compound] resins and gel-coats as well as dedicated systems for vacuum infusion and other closed mould processes.” “Boat building is still predominately open moulding but we are seeing a growing trend towards closed mould processes here and in other sectors,” he adds. “Automated closed moulding operations like injection/infusion, RTM [resin transfer moulding] and SMC/BMC will continue to substitute more manual processes with an annual growth of around 7% per year in value.” The automotive industry is another example. “The automotive industry requires innovation, especially in areas like improved Class A, low weighting, cost reduction, emission reduction and, of course, recycling,” says de Vries. “Here our customer competence centre for closed mould SMC/BMC is tackling these issues by working closely with OEMs as well as the rest of the value chain. European composite moulders are having to compete against low cost producers in Asia, so they need to focus on their technical and innovative strengths.”
Feeding the Chinese dragon In contrast to Europe, China is steaming ahead with 9% economic growth recorded last year. It imports one third of the
32
REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
world’s oil, steel and cement, as well as a fifth of all copper and nickel. Satisfying the Chinese dragon’s thirst for oil is compounding the difficulties faced by the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) region.
Companies with a strong manufacturing base in China are poised to benefit from a massive building and infrastructure programme, favourable labour conditions, and 1.3 billion potential new consumers. But companies like DSM with a strong manufacturing base in China are poised to benefit from a massive building and infrastructure programme, favourable labour conditions, and 1.3 billion potential new consumers who want to improve their lifestyles. The Chinese government has recently taken steps to cool the economy but growth there (and also in other developing regions like India), will continue to outstrip the 2-4% of Europe and North America. We asked de Vries how DSM Structural Resins Asia positioning itself in the China market. “Very much as we position ourselves in Europe, by focusing on our value proposition in higher-end areas like automotive, chemical resistance, construction and relining,” he says. “Companies looking to manufacture and sell in China are not guaranteed instant success: far from it. It is important that you develop with a strong partner and gradually build up trust and knowledge. You have to understand the cultural differences and the different ways of doing business.” “We are fortunate that in Jinling Petrochemicals we have a strong partner
who shares our commitment to sustainable development and responsible care,” de Vries notes. “We now own the majority share at our plant in China where we will be aiming to set new standards in cost leadership, SHE [safety, health and environment] and operational excellence.”
Sizing matters Within a balanced portfolio, DSM Composite Resins have many wellknown brands such as Neogel gel-coats, Synolite and Palatal unsaturated polyester resins, and Atlac vinyl esters. It also has a brand, Neoxil, that is well established as the global market leader in the glass fibre sizings and bindings market. Jan Paul de Vries is keen that this product is recognized for what it is – a vital link in the composite value chain. “Sizings and binders are essential ingredients in glass fibre production and product performance in the GRP sector,” he explains. “A sizing [emulsion] adds value to the glass fibre giving it protection and making it compatible with the plastic matrix in the application. Binders [powder] are used to bind glass mats. DSM Sizings and Binders serve the glass fibre industry with a range of solutions. We not only supply
Jan Paul de Vries is president of DSM Composite Resins.
DSM comes of age
the world’s leading glass fibre producers but we also sell their products via our distribution outlets – especially through our own Pan-European distributor, Euroresins. This gives us a window on the user market, which is useful intelligence for our Sizing & Binders customers.” DSM Composite Resins is also a European leader in polymeric plasticizers. Its Uraplast plasticizers are widely used by producers of soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
System selling With operations in Benelux, the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Scandinavia, the Euroresins group effectively covers most of Western Europe. It provides a complete one-stop shopping service to its customers. “System selling is not only attractive to small customers, but we also find it appeals to larger customers who wish to de-complex their procurement,” says de Vries. “For example, we now supply many large boat builders with a complete package of resins, gel-coats, catalysts, reinforcements, core materials and a full range of ancillaries.” Sophisticated business systems enable Euroresins to efficiently monitor and analyse market trends. It also means it can profile customers’ purchasing patterns and inventories, advising them via telesales when their stock levels are low, thereby facilitating just-in-time ordering.
Demand chain management is a hot topic. DCM Demand chain management (DCM) is a hot topic in DSM. Essentially it covers every stage in the so-called order-to-cash (OTC) process. By fully managing this process the customer gets what he wants when he wants it – no more no less.
DSM Composite Resins – a timeline 2003 DSM Composite Resins purchases Resinous Chemicals Ltd (RCL), a UK structural resin producer, from Akzo Nobel. 2001 DSM Industrial Resins becomes DSM Composite Resins with offices relocated from Zwolle, in the Netherlands, to Schaffhausen, Switzerland. 1999 DSM Resins splits into DSM Industrial Resins (composite resins, gelcoats, bonding pastes, plasticizers and sizings & binders) and DSM Coating Resins (wet coating resins, powder coating resins and state-of-the-art UVcurable resins). 1998 Divestment of the moulding business. Compound and moulding companies are spun off to concentrate on the core business of resin and gelcoat manufacture. 1997 The big bang: the merger of two leaders in Europe, DSM Resins and BASF’s resins division, results in the biggest supplier in Europe, and DSM also sets foot in China. 1996 DSM Resins forms a joint venture with Sinopec in China, thus forming Jinling-DSM Resins (JDR). 1995 The acquisition of the Hüls business (Vestopal resins) provides the basis for offering a complete product portfolio. 1992 RE Brain, a UK composites distributor, and Vitroplast, Spain, a producer of moulding compounds, are added to the business.
“DCM is the coordination of all business functions via a central Sales & Operational Planning structure,” explains de Vries. “This means that our
1991 DSM Resins continues to build up its compounds business by acquiring a 50% stake in MD Composites, Japan, and by acquiring BWR, a German compounder and moulder. 1990 Acquisition of Autopress Composites, a UK compound moulding company. 1989 Bayer’s SMC/BMC resin business is acquired, as well as Fiberpachs, Spain, a compound moulding company. 1988 Acquisition of Freeman Chemicals, a UK UP resin and gel-coat producer that also includes distribution and SMC/BMC businesses. 1987 DSM Resins acquires Savid, Italy, an unsaturated polyester resin producer which adds sizings, binders, gel-coats and SMC/BMC to the product range. 1983 DSM Resins is formed through the merger of the Synres business and Unilever’s Unichema/Scado unsaturated polyester resin and coating resin businesses. The new company is headquartered in Zwolle, the Netherlands, and has production sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. DSM also acquires distributor Frencken de Bruyn (later to become Euroresins Benelux). 1971 DSM acquires Synres, a producer of UP resins and coating resins with plants in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Mexico and France. Synres was founded in 1947 near Rotterdam.
sales team here in Schaffhausen coordinates with the sales agent or distributor and master production scheduling, to give the customer the required level of
November 2004
REINFORCEDplastics
33
DSM comes of age
service. The start point is segmenting and differentiating our customer base and giving customers the level of service consistent with the value chain in that particular sector.”
flexibility. Communication is transparent across the process so we know where the order is at any stage.” “At the moment we are focusing on collaborative planning with our customers to get an insight into future needs,” he adds. “For example, with gelcoats we can optimise forecasts, stock targets, lead times and capacity allocation. We’re looking at benchmarking best practices and finding synergies in the process which can improve service while saving costs.”
There’s no point in selling a customer a Rolls Royce if a Mini will meet his needs. The automotive value chain sets high Customer expectations requirements on delivery Much of the DCM function is about speed and quality, managing customer expectations. Here culture and language also comes into whereas at the play. For example, to a UK customer, distribution end of the delivery in the morning is understood as any time up until noon, whereas a market the emphasis is German customer will take this as meanmore on price and ing before 9 am. Fortunately the DSM Composite Resins telesales team are delivery flexibility. multi-lingual so such misunderstandings “There’s no point in selling a customer a Rolls Royce if a Mini will meet his needs, and vice versa”, de Vries explains. “For example, the automotive value chain sets high requirements on delivery speed and quality, whereas at the distribution end of the market the emphasis is more on price and delivery
34
REINFORCEDplastics
November 2004
rarely occur. Not that de Vries is negative about complaints. “We view every complaint as an opportunity to improve service levels, whether it be a technical complaint or a complaint about late deliveries, it’s something we can learn from,” he says. “Regular communication with the customer is essential to anticipate
potential service issues and reduce complaints.” E-business is a vital link in the DCM process. And as larger customers start to hook up their ERP systems with DSM greater alignment of business processes become possible – like Vendor Managed Inventory, whereby DSM can effectively monitor and manage its customers’ resin needs. Jan Paul de Vries notes that Demand Chain Management can best be summarised by the DCM mission, which could equally be the mission for DSM Composite Resins as a whole: ‘To become the service leader in the composite resin industry by giving excellent customer service in terms of customer management, logistics services and reliability according to the generic supply conditions and agreed customer service levels.’ In other words: ‘Do what we say we do and deliver what we promise.’ ■
For more information please visit DSM Composite Resins’ website: www.dsmcompositeresins.com.