Supply Chain Mgmt
Executive Summary
Unichema was a subsidiary of Unilever. It produced over half a million tons of oleochemicals yearly for customers worldwide. The oleochemical products produced by Unichema had a large application area-in polymers, cosmetics, rubber, textiles, leather, paper and lubricants.
Customer demands and market pressures were forcing Unichema to become more competitive and more responsive to customer requirement such as lower prices, shorter lead times on deliveries, precise timing for deliveries better quality, and increased reliability over time. Moreover, the concept of just-in-time was being adopted by more and more manufacturers to enhance efficiencies in their manufacturing environments. All of these forces led Unichema to a fundamental improvement. Having determined that achieving efficiencies depended on the plant becoming more customer driven and less production driven, Unichema tried to support changes that drove a customer orientation within the company. The biggest change affected the areas of production, logistics, sales, and customer service. In the new system, the logistics department assumed a coordinating role between the customer and production. Logistics assumed the role of providing customer service on a day-to-day basis, interacting directly with customers to determine their specific needs and the exact timing of these needs
In addition, Unichema applies the Activity Based Costing analysis to segment its customer in order to gain the benefit of efficient information about customer. By using this approach, Unichema can take market advantage by better understanding various customers and providing respective products and services of each segment.
All things considered, Unichema wanted to utilize its equipment as efficiently as possible in order to not only ensure but maximixe the return on assets. One of the necessarily competencies that would make Unichema to achieve this desired goal is having strong partnerships along with its
Unichema was a subsidiary of Unilever. It produced over half a million tons of oleochemicals yearly for customers worldwide. The oleochemical products produced by Unichema had a large application area-in polymers, cosmetics, rubber, textiles, leather, paper and lubricants.
Customer demands and market pressures were forcing Unichema to become more competitive and more responsive to customer requirement such as lower prices, shorter lead times on deliveries, precise timing for deliveries better quality, and increased reliability over time. Moreover, the concept of just-in-time was being adopted by more and more manufacturers to enhance efficiencies in their manufacturing environments. All of these forces led Unichema to a fundamental improvement. Having determined that achieving efficiencies depended on the plant becoming more customer driven and less production driven, Unichema tried to support changes that drove a customer orientation within the company. The biggest change affected the areas of production, logistics, sales, and customer service. In the new system, the logistics department assumed a coordinating role between the customer and production. Logistics assumed the role of providing customer service on a day-to-day basis, interacting directly with customers to determine their specific needs and the exact timing of these needs
In addition, Unichema applies the Activity Based Costing analysis to segment its customer in order to gain the benefit of efficient information about customer. By using this approach, Unichema can take market advantage by better understanding various customers and providing respective products and services of each segment.
All things considered, Unichema wanted to utilize its equipment as efficiently as possible in order to not only ensure but maximixe the return on assets. One of the necessarily competencies that would make Unichema to achieve this desired goal is having strong partnerships along with its