howden winter 2014 life...• nps was developed by fred reichheld, bain & company, and...

HowdenLifeISSUE 4 WINTER 2014

CHAIN REACTION

Supply Chain shifts from provider to partner

BETTER BY DESIGN

A masterclass in product development

DIVE IN

Skydiving at sea with Howden fan technology

Forging enduring customerbonds with expert aftermarket

CONSTANT CARE

Published by Howden in association with White Light Media. www.whitelightmedia.co.uk Editorial: Simon Lyle, Chiara Pannozzo, Christina McPherson Design: Islay Brown, Lauren Lee-Crane, Angela Mckean Print: J. Thomson Colour Printers. www.jtcp.co.uk

With thanks to David Mitchell, Head of Howden Technology, David McMinn, Supply Chain Director, Heavy Fans and Heaters, Carolyn Sneddon, Divisional Supply Chain Project Manager, Heavy Fans and Heaters, John Patterson, Divisional Supply Chain Director, Compressors, David Strain, Operations Director, Heavy Fans and Heaters, Fredrik Albertson, CEO, Howden Axial Fans, John McKnight, Executive Director, Industrial Fans, Roger Rancourt, Managing Director, Howden Covent Fans, Mark Courtney, Sales Director, Howden Covent Fans, Greg Brill, Key Account Manager, Howden Covent, George Junor, Regional Sales Manager, HNA, Andrea Smith, Interim Brand Manager, Nicole Thomas, Integration Project Manager, Industrial Fans, Elaine Gourlay, Organisation Development Manager, the Communications Champions, Nick Wood, Marketing Specialist, Brand and Insight, Martin Zijlmans, Global Aftermarket Director, Heavy Fans and Heaters, Olivier Auguy, Managing Director, Howden Solyvent-Ventec, Blandina Jabbari, HR Manager Howden American Fan, Carsten Teich, CBS Champion/EHS Manager.

From the Editor

I’m delighted to bring you the fourth issue of our magazine, which is dedicated to the person who is at the core of the Howden business:

our customer. Our commitment to our customers goes far beyond our value, Customers Talk, We Listen. It is weaved into everything we do, as the articles in this issue of Howden Life so clearly illustrate.

The customer journey doesn’t stop when our products leave the plant. We invest a great deal in making sure our customers feel valued in the aftermarket process. Our Global Aftermarket Director, Martin Zijlmans explains why this is such a key area of our business and explains how we all have a part to play in retaining our customers. You can read more about this on page 16.

Having customers that are loyal is a key focus for Howden. On page 4, you’ll find Howden Global NPS Lead Nick Wood talking about the merits of the Net Promoter System (NPS) and how through using this effectively, we can get closer to our customers and help to build brand loyalty.

One customer who recognises the virtues of Howden and its service offering is Asghar Khalaj-Zadeh, a Senior Engineer at Hatch Associates and an important Howden customer. Time and time again Asghar has been impressed by Howden’s level of service, which you can read more about on page 22.

Product design and innovation is essential for the Howden business to continue to thrive. The quality of our products has helped us to expand our customer base and in this issue our Head of Technology, David Mitchell, takes us through the intricate process of developing new products.

We always look forward to hearing your thoughts on our magazine, so if you have any feedback please do get in touch by emailing [email protected]

Kind regards

Claire Purves Internal Communications Manager, Howden

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

02 Introduction & Contents

04 Getting it RightHow the Net Promoter System is building

customer loyalty

08 With Howden’s HelpExperience the thrill of skydiving

on a cruise ship

10 Chain ReactionSupply Chain Director David McMinn on

becoming a true business partner

13 Masterclass: Product DesignDeveloping new products with Howden’s

Head of Technology

16 Servicing Strong BondsMaking the most of the aftermarket

delivers more or our customers

20 Focus on Howden Axial Fans

A closer look at how we operate in Sweden and Denmark

21 Getting to Know YouDr Fredrik Albertson,

CEO of Howden Axial Fans

22 Customer FocusHatch Associates

24 Team SpiritHowden Solyvent Ventec brings

a new customer-focused product to market

26 Howden LivesEHS Manager Carsten Teich puts his specialist knowledge to good use as

a Red Cross volunteer

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16

4

0826

24

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Issue 04 HOWDEN LIFE 32

WELCOME TO HOWDEN LIFE

Howden is proud to revolve around its customers and has recently been

focused on becoming a customer-centric organisation: a business that listens to its customers and takes action to meet their needs.

One way that Howden is taking its customers’ views on board is through the use of Net Promoter System (NPS) – a customer loyalty metric that gives customers the opportunity to rate their interactions with Howden and also leave feedback.

Howden’s Value, Customers Talk, We Listen, is at the heart of the NPS process and is all about having an ear to the issue. “Customers Talk, We

Listen is absolutely fundamental to our brand position and we need to continue to develop that in line with what our customers are saying, and that’s why we have NPS in place,” says Nick Wood, Howden Global NPS Lead. “Each and every person in Howden makes an effort to revolve around our customers. One of the ways we can measure how well we do this is through NPS.”

Traditionally, engineering companies tend to employ customer satisfaction surveys, but as Nick explains, the information you get from that sort of feedback isn’t as valuable as the information gathered from NPS: “Customer satisfaction surveys only really go so far. Of course, you will find out whether or not your

Howden’s quest to build customer loyalty is given a helping hand with the Net Promoter System

Getting it right


NPS

customer is happy, but at Howden, we’re interested in more than that. We have geared our approach towards customer loyalty, as loyal customers present a greater opportunity in terms of building the Howden business further. This can only really happen if we build upon our NPS feedback. Customer loyalty is something you have to earn,” Nick says.

NPS is carried out monthly by 21 of Howden’s business units. The survey asks customers whether or not they would recommend Howden, asks them to rate their experience and provides customers the opportunity to give written feedback.

customers’ concerns are root cause counter measure (RCCM) and Kaizen.

“We start by establishing the root cause of the problem,” Nick explains. “This is followed by a Kaizen, which brings all of the relevant people together to come up with a solution as to how we are going to solve the problem for the customer and make any necessary changes to our business so that the same thing doesn’t happen again in the future.”

How all of these components come together to achieve success is demonstrated by Howden Axial Fans (HAX). As one of the six pilot business units to use NPS, HAX had a survey returned by one of its customers with a score of 0, the lowest NPS score. Through following a series of steps, the team was able to completely turn the situation around for the customer.

As Nick explains, this is a great example of how the team closed the loop for the customer: “Closing the loop is a five-step NPS process. In the first two steps, we survey the customer and then we use the workflow tool to bring all of the results together and start acting on them. When we reach the third step, we work with senior management to review what our customers are saying about us and how we can best use their feedback. Once we have decided on an action plan, we utilise the CBS toolbox in step 4, where we use RCCM and Kaizen to resolve the problem. Step 5 is the most important one. There is little point in us doing all of this if we don’t feed back to the customer. And so letting

As we grow and acquire more businesses, we will use NPS to understand how we can better

serve the customers who come to Howden with the acquired company.

Net Promoter System (NPS) is clearly a valuable tool for gathering feedback from customers, but where does it come from? We find out more about the tool that has helped many organisations turn around their relationships with their customers:

“Allowing our customers to give written feedback means that we can get to the root cause of the problem at lot more quickly than if we were using standard customer satisfaction surveys. By asking specific questions about a particular project, we find out first hand what we did well and where we can improve in the future,” Nick says.

Another important factor of NPS is that it measures the delivery of Howden’s brand promise. “The brand is everything to us,” says Nick. “It encompasses what our business is, from our logo and strapline right down to how we treat our customers, and the products and services we offer.

“NPS gives our associates the chance to measure whether they are delivering on our brand promise, as evidence of this comes through in the results,” Nick says. “Since it also looks at customer loyalty rather than just satisfaction, NPS aligns with our strategic direction and helps us in moving towards being a customer-centric organisation.”

When addressing customers’ feedback, the CBS toolbox comes into play. In response to NPS results, the two components that are most commonly used to help remedy

What is Net Promoter System?

the customer know what we’ve done, explaining what things have changed and how we have made things better, allows us to close the loop with them.”

In the case of HAX, this process was so successful that the team managed to change the customer’s score from 0 to 10, which is the highest possible NPS anyone can be awarded. “This shows the possibility of what can be achieved when we use close the loop with the customer. It can be so effective in meeting our customer’s needs,” Nick says.

“Our Value is Customers Talk, We Listen. We don’t want to say anything, all we want to do is listen to our customers so that they can tell us how we can improve. As we grow and acquire more businesses, our customer-centric focus will continue to become more important. We will need to learn to understand the customers who have come with the acquired company and the perfect way to do that is through the use of NPS,” he adds.

A key strategic measure of the Howden brand is to become more customer-centric, and as Nick says, this all comes down to listening to what they say: “We want to constantly revolve around our customers and there is no better way to revolve around them than to listen to what our customers are saying and then develop your processes and business model based on their feedback. It’s this approach that will make both the business and the brand as strong as it can be for the long term.” n

• NPS was developed by Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company, and Satmetrix, and was introduced by Reichheld in 2013.

• It measures loyalty between a provider and a consumer and asks directly whether the consumer would recommend the provider. This is followed by a rating system from 0–10, with customers who award 9–10 being considered as promoters. Those who award low scores are called detractors.

• NPS uses ‘closing the loop’, a process whereby the company engages with the customers to make changes that will turn them from detractors into promoters.

• Organisations that have adopted NPS to great success include eBay, American Express and Philips.


NPS

WITH HOWDEN’S HELP

Dive inHowden’s fan technology is helping people to experience the thrill of skydiving – on a cruise ship

Imagine being able to skydive without the risks. Now, what about doing this while sailing the high seas? It might sound strange, but this will soon become a reality through a joint venture between Royal Caribbean, SkyVenture and Howden American Fan Company, which shows what can be accomplished when our fan technology is applied in ingenious ways.

SkyVenture creates vertical wind tunnels that simulate skydiving and their latest attraction will feature on Royal Caribbean’s new cruise ship,

Quantum of the Seas, which is currently under construction. Using a 23-foot glass flight chamber, Ripcord by iFly (a trademark of SkyVenture) allows passengers to experience the thrill of skydiving in a safe and controlled environment.

Howden American Fan Company has supplied high-quality and highly efficient Aerofoil fans for the design. The fan units were originally engineered through a partnership with FlaktWoods of Colchester. n

120mphThe nominal wind speed generated

2.8 metresThe diameter of the fan

2 fan unitsper wind tunnel design

400 hp (300 kW) The fan motor nameplate

900 rpm

The nominal speed the fan operates at

Chainreaction

As Howden’s Supply Chain organisation continues its journey from being a service provider to becoming a true business partner, David McMinn, Supply Chain Director, Heavy Fans and Heaters, explains the importance of Supply Chain to our success

2,500 active suppliers of direct products in HFH and a wide variety of processes and procedures. This introduces costs and limits our opportunity to leverage economies of scale.

Going forward, our fundamental responsibility of supplying components, materials and services to meet the demands of the business does not change, but there are huge opportunities for us to improve how we go about it. One such opportunity is to develop our sourcing strategies to determine the best approach to sourcing a particular item or group of items for the whole Division/Platform/Corporation. By analysing our consolidated spend, our business needs and the global marketplace, we can tailor a strategy that gives us the optimum cost, delivery and quality. Initially a key aspect of these strategies will be to reduce the overall number of suppliers and target our spend with a select number of ‘preferred suppliers’. By doing this we can ensure that we work closely with fewer suppliers to reduce costs, develop performance and generate product and process improvements.

Category Management is the agreed approach to doing this across Colfax. Each major area of spend such as Raw Materials and Motors will have a Category Manager who owns the sourcing strategy for that spend. Category Managers will work with cross-functional teams to ensure the sourcing strategies are aligned with stakeholders’ needs. The Division/Platform with the biggest spend will lead the Global Category Management for that particular category. So for example, HF & H buys more ‘Motors’ than any other platform/division in Colfax so it will take the lead on optimising the sourcing strategy in terms of cost quality and lead-time for ‘Motors’.

It is recognised that best-practice organisations separate their strategic sourcing processes from their procurement

ur Supply Chain can have an enormous impact across our whole business – not least on the bottom line. The Supply Chain organisation within the Heavy Fans

and Heaters (HF & H) Division manages the supply of components, materials and services from our suppliers, and ensures that price, quality and delivery are optimised and aligned to business requirements. Typically the value of materials and services purchased can make up around 40% of our cost of sales: a significant portion. Last year in HF & H we spent approximately $400m across 11 Business Units and so a 3% reduction on this spend would result in a $12m saving on the bottom line.

During 2013, the acquisitions of GII Fläkt Woods and TLT-Babcock had an impact on the overall spend profile of the Howden business as a whole. It would be fair to say that with a few exceptions in areas such as subcontract fabrication, each business has operated independently when it comes to the Supply Chain – each developing different supplier bases and processes. As a result we now have over

O

1110

SUPPLY CHAIN

processes to allow them to balance their long-term vision and planning with short-term agility. To that end, the Category Management team will sit alongside the existing Operational Procurement teams. The procurement teams are focused on the process of ordering components, materials and services from defined and approved/preferred supplier networks.

To help develop category strategies, Colfax has introduced a CBS tool called Category Profiling and Strategy (CPAS), which we have adopted for areas of spend such as sub-contract fabrication and bearings. CPAS events were held earlier this year for each of these and the outcome has been a clear strategy of how we want to source these, along with an implementation plan and targeted savings.

In both cases, the level of savings targeted was 4.5% of the spend. The strategies being developed include consolidating suppliers, evaluating best price, expanding geographical supplier base, improving supplier efficiency and improving design specification. The strategy for each category or sub-category is focused on the business needs and not just cost. The CPAS event is only the start of the process, then the hard work begins – trying to ensure that we translate our good ideas and intentions into reality.

Although we are at the early stage of the journey to move Supply Chain towards being an integral business partner, there are sure signs that a shift is already taking place. Even within the Supply Chain organisation itself, connections are being

made at CPAS events that are leading to sharing of experience about suppliers or products; these are resulting in spin-off improvements across businesses. As the Category Managers come on board, and strategic sourcing gathers pace, the links across the Supply Chain organisation will strengthen even more. Taking that further, our ambition is to be an integral part of how we do business across Heavy Fans & Heaters – if we are looking to enter or grow sales in a market, introducing or improving our product offerings or are

seeking to improve how we do business as usual, then we want to partner with other areas to develop the best solutions to serve our customers.

Aside from developing our strategic sourcing organisation and processes there are opportunities for us to take waste out of our existing processes. For example, there are instances where we currently have multiple business units talking to the same supplier, putting them through separate approval processes and managing supplier performance in

different ways. We want to look at what each business unit is doing, seek out best practice and implement it as standard across the Division. By standardising our Supply Chain processes we can eliminate duplication of effort and ensure we work together to continuously improve one way of working instead of multiple ways.

Obviously, the introduction of Category Management and the subsequent sourcing strategies, along with the development and standardisation of Supply Chain processes adds up to a lot of change. This is why I am so keen to bond our Supply Chain organisation together as a team – the success of us achieving an effective linkage between our suppliers and our customers is down to all of us working together. The recognition of the importance of Supply Chain within the business and the benefits it will bring creates an exciting opportunity for Supply Chain associates at all levels to shape and develop our organisation by delivering cost reduction combined with improved supplier performance, resulting in improved profitability for the business. n

Going forward, our fundamental responsibility of supplying components, materials and services to meet the demands of the business does not change, but there are huge opportunities for us to improve how we go about it.

Masterclass: Product DesignHead of Howden Technology, David Mitchell, explains the process of developing new products


SUPPLY CHAIN

roduct design is intrinsically linked to the growth of our business. Colfax is focused on growing the business not only through acquisitions, but also through organic growth. We achieve

this through innovation in product design and development, as well as in finding new applications for our products.

Customer led innovation has always been one of our strengths and in Howden our products are very much designed with our first Value in mind. Our customers may come to us with a unique problem or issue for which there is no current solution. By closely listening to the customer’s desired outcomes, we will be able to develop a bespoke product for them that may then become a standard offering within our product portfolio. We work in partnership with our customers when developing a new product as it is vital to understand their circumstances and requirements to make sure that our new products are what they need.

We’ve recently been involved in some fantastic projects including the design of circulators for a new concept in nuclear power, ventilation projects for mining, an array of fans to simulate a hurricane, and a rotary adsorption machine that is used to separate gases.

Much of our long-term success comes from core products, many of which were originally developed more than 30 years ago and so an effective and rapid product development process is key to achieving our growth ambitions.

Creating concepts togetherOne new area we are focusing on is using our information and knowledge to deliver a Data Driven Advantage (DDA) over our competitors. For Howden this fundamentally concerns ‘big data’ and smart systems. This is deployed very successfully in the retail industry, where shops use big data to understand their customers’ buying habits in order to tailor and promote products and services much more effectively.

To begin to leverage the concept of DDA, we recently brought together executive directors, commercial directors and senior engineers from around the world and asked them to brainstorm new concepts around big data. This resulted in the generation of more than 80 ideas. These included valuable

ideas that can be implemented now and revolutionary ideas that potentially offer high return. The range and scope of concepts was incredibly diverse, and we would never have achieved that if we had only engaged with a small group of people. The process itself was a great way to motivate people and enable them to contribute significantly to the future success of our business.

From this work we now have four key areas to progress: commercialising the products we already have, implementing incremental ideas, developing new and revolutionary products, and development for our Aftermarket business. We are currently working on each of these themes and we expect to make substantial progress in the next year.

Collaboration is keyStretch goals are very helpful when |we think about product design. When we were developing a new inlet box for our L3N fan, having stretch goals encouraged us to challenge ourselves to think more creatively and deliver something more radical, rather than only making small incremental improvements.

Creativity and technical expertise are vital in terms of our fourth Value and our parent company, Colfax, recognises and rewards associates who come up with new ideas that are granted patents in the certain knowledge that innovation defines our future success.

With that in mind, our process for product development is aligned with the stage gate process adopted by Colfax. We are also collaborating with the University of Strathclyde through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. Through this collaborative project an associate from the University is working with Howden for two years to help us establish the optimum product development process for our business.

On the subject of collaboration and with a view to leveraging our Value ‘the best team wins’, earlier this year we completed a skills analysis and identified around 160 specialists in our business who each have very specific technical competencies. Greater global collaboration across this network of specialists will make greater use of their talent and expertise and will enable us to coordinate our efforts across the business more effectively, achieving faster and more customer-focused product development.

In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to develop the product design

Product design at Howden is under constant evolution. It is not simply the case that once a product is launched on the market, it is finished. Our products are live objects, and there is now a second layer of product development.

for customers. A computer model is not usually sufficient for validation as it can only ever predict how a product is likely to work, however it is very costly to build a product to test. As a result, we usually build a small machine and the product can then undergo rigorous testing to validate the design prior to release.

As mentioned, Howden recently launched a new inlet box for a centrifugal fan to the market. Over the past two years, we looked at how to optimise the shape of the air inlet. We utilised tools like computational fluid dynamics and validation testing to prove a concept around the dimensions of the box. The inlet box underwent 60 groups of tests, which gave us knowledge of how it worked with the fan in reality. Consequently, we were able to fine-tune the design before releasing this newly developed product to the business.

The future in 3DOur product development must take advantage of and leverage new technologies available to us and we are currently looking at how we can utilise 3D printing when developing our product designs. It is much more effective for us to see a product in 3D as opposed to a 2D sketch or a simulated design on a 3D CAD platform. We can use real 3D models to look at the practical arrangement of components and how they will fit and work together. In the future, 3D printing may even allow us to make moulds and print new components in addition to scale models. This is something that could become very important for us, especially in relation to our aftermarket and spares business. We’re not there yet, but it is something we are excited about.

The evolution of our productsAfter any new product is tested, we then need to finalise and record its definition and carry out a technical risk assessment before it is sent to our application engineers. However, this is not the end of the development process. Product design at Howden is a constant evolution. The nature of what we sell means that we must continue the product development process after a product is launched to the market. The product can be adjusted and adapted to our customers requirement for different, often unique, first time applications. Small incremental changes are needed to bring the product in line with our customers’ needs. Over time, we collate these changes and they can affect the scope or the definition of the product. Our applications engineers are working every day to make small yet significant improvements to our designs for our customers. n

P

and development processes that we use to innovate and conceive new products and going forward, we will increase the level of involvement of our technical experts and customer facing associates to ensure our product development initiatives continue to meet the needs of our customers.

Assessing a product’s viabilityProduct development is all-encompassing. Our work is just beginning when we come up with a new product concept. The product must then be developed, validated and commercialised to ensure it is a viable option


MASTERCLASS

Making the most of the aftermarket delivers more for our customers and shareholders

Servicing strong bonds

Through his eyesAs an aftermarket customer, Ted Holm from Southern Company Generation knows that Howden won’t let him down

“As Principal Engineer of Fans and Draft Systems for Southern Company Generation, it’s my role to purchase new or replacement fans, and make sure they are the right fans for the business. I also provide operations and maintenance support for existing products, which is how our relationship with Howden has developed. “Howden is our premier supplier of fans. We have an alliance agreement with them for parts and services for the 38 Howden products that we have. As a result we work closely with them, on a more or less daily basis.

“Since Howden is the original supplier of our fans, they have a really deep technical knowledge of the equipment. This means that when things go wrong they usually have the solution. And if it takes a little longer to establish what the problem is, they keep going until they find it. Some vendors will walk away if they can’t work out what the problem is, but not Howden. They stick with it, and their communication throughout the process is always very thorough.

“Howden’s commitment to Southern Company Generation is essential. If there is a fan outage in one of our power plants, it could result in company losses of anywhere between $1 and $2 million each day. So having the sort of aftermarket support we get from Howden is paramount to our business’s success. “Over and above their technical knowledge, the best thing about working with Howden is its people. They all care about what they do, they are very passionate, and they understand our business and how important it is to act when things go wrong.”

Since Howden is the original supplier of our fans, they have a really deep technical knowledge of the equipment. This means that when things go wrong they usually have the solution.

egular maintenance and periodic inspection and service are key to the longevity of any product. Take your car for example. Its performance and lifetime will

be drastically reduced without regular servicing, which is why we employ professionals to MOT and service our vehicles to make sure they last the test of time and are ready for use when we need them. This is very much the approach that Howden takes in aftermarket, not only to make sure our products will last the test of time and do the things they are supposed to do, day in day out, but also to nourish the relationships it has with those customers that operate and maintain these products on a daily basis.

This is where aftermarket comes into play, and going forward it offers great revenue generation opportunities for Howden. To take advantage of these opportunities there is a need for organisation change, and that’s why Martin Zijlmans has stepped into the new role of Global Aftermarket Director, to lead this area of our business, as it becomes more important than ever for the organisation. “Aftermarket is all about making sure our products perform to an optimum level during their life cycle and creating a great customer experience, where our customers are supported right the way through the process,” says Martin.

Aftermarket gives Howden a unique opportunity to work directly with the user of our products, get a full understanding of the customer needs and develop long-lasting relationships. A customer that is happy with our aftermarket support will most likely want to use Howden products in its next new project.

Howden products underpin key industrial processes and power generation in virtually every part of the world. Our equipment provides the robust, reliable performance that people depend on when the application is critical. No other company matches our combined expertise in aerodynamics, acoustics, rotor dynamics, and stress and vibration analysis. “If any of our clients do have operational issues, our experts are on hand to provide diagnostic advice,” Martin explains. “And in the case of new developments in our products, we make these available to our customers. You can imagine if a product has a lifespan of 40 years, there’s a good chance that there will be developments within that time frame. We offer our clients the opportunity

to have these retrofitted to optimise operations – it’s all part of the service we provide to our customers.”

We are rolling out a new CBS tool called Value-Selling to everyone in the Colfax Corporation whose role impacts on our customers. Value-Selling is about demonstrating to our customers the benefits of our products and services to them. We express this in a monetary value to the customer, for example in savings from reduced energy use and reduced downtime or from extra revenue when we are able to increase the customer’s production output.

Howden strives to offer the best possible customer service, but this is a highly demanding area, as Martin explains: “Customer service in general

Ris getting better and better, and at the same time, is delivered faster and faster,” says Martin. “Today, in our daily life we all expect a great customer experience and this high level is expected by our customers from Howden too. Response time and therefore First Time Right is essential in the aftermarket business,” Martin says. This requires lean standard processes and close team work. “At the pace in aftermarket business there is no time to make up for errors. That’s something we have to keep in mind and make sure we perform all the time every time to earn our customer’s repeat business,” Martin says.

Another approach that Howden uses to deliver the best possible aftercare service lies in localisation of our service

operations and supply chain. “Aftermarket is, by nature, a local business,” explains Martin. “Not only do we need to respond quickly in the event that issues arise, but also supply lines of parts need to be lean and short to meet the changing demands and to remain competitive. This localised structure allows us to look at the requirements of each region closely

and apply best practice. For example, recently Howden China has been very successful in retrofitting centrifugal fans in cement plants, whereas Howden Spain has had great success with heater retrofit projects for EDF in France and for CFE in Mexico, and Howden North America has made significant progress in reducing its quotation response time. We can learn from each of these successes and implement it across the Howden aftermarket business worldwide. And this is where the Best Team Wins comes into its own. It isn’t limited to each region – it spreads across the aftermarket business and right through the whole organisation.”

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is key to how Howden runs its business. “CRM is a process that

involves everyone in Howden that is in contact with the customer. It is support by software and it enables us to execute our vision of ‘One Howden’ to our customers,” Martin explains. “One Howden” means that customers receive a consistent level of service. Whether they are dealing with Howden in Europe, in South America or in Australia, whether they are primarily a compressor or a fan customer, they should receive the same high-quality service from Howden’s people.

CRM builds up a profile of Howden’s customers, so no matter who is on hand to help, they will be able to build a clear picture of that customer’s history. “Historically, the use of CRM has been business unit based,” Martin says. “We held a major Kaizen earlier

this year and decided that CRM needs to filter right the way through the business and become more of a global sales tool. As part of this, we are currently focusing to improve the quality of the data we have on our customers, so that we can utilise it to create further aftermarket business opportunities. In return it will result in greater value for our shareholders,” says Martin.

Martin is optimistic about the future of the aftermarket side of the business and the benefits that it will bring to the organisation as a whole: “We are facing challenges in further growing the aftermarket business, but the continuation of this growth is important, and key to continuing Howden’s overall success of the past years. n

Aftermarket is, by nature, a local business. Not only do we need to respond quickly in the event that issues arise, but also supply lines of parts need to be lean and short

to meet the changing demands and to remain competitive.


AFTERMARKET

INSTALLED FANS ACROSS COUNTRIES

95% EXPORT

I was the Managing Director of Solyvent Fläkt AB and retained the position when the company was acquired by Howden last year. I was the Chief Operating Officer of Howden Axial Fans for around nine months before becoming CEO in September. My background lies in project management but years before that, I also did a PhD in technical acoustics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

My role involves leading a team of around 160 people across our three sites in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. The integration of the two businesses has shown that each has very different strengths. This has given us a lot of tools to create something even stronger and has led to a full re-implementation of our business processes. I truly enjoy the challenge that comes with attempting to change things for the better. I certainly utilise our Value of Continuous Improvement every day but also live by The Best Team Wins. For me, it’s crucial to be part of a successful team in order to improve things so I always try to surround myself with people that will challenge me. I’m more of a coach in the sense that I try to help my team see things from a different angle.

I take pleasure in being able to put changes into place to ultimately serve our customers more effectively. As a result, we can stand up to our promise and not only deliver on time but also deliver the quality that our customers expect. At home, I’m a true family man and I try to spend as much time with my two daughters as possible. I also enjoy doing triathlons – being able to focus on something completely different to your everyday work is very relaxing.

Dr Fredrik Albertson

CEO of Howden Axial Fans Sweden, Denmark and Howden Ventilatoren Germany

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

FOCUS ON HOWDEN AXIAL FANSIn each issue we turn the spotlight on one area of the business and its people. This time it’s the turn of Howden Axial Fans Sweden and Denmark

160 EMPLOYEES

USD 70m from three Middle East projects 2011–2014

Rabigh 24 fansShuqaiq 30 fansJeddah South 24 fans

1918

Established in Svenska Fläktfabriken Söderberg & Co established

First PF fan delivered

Howden Axial Fans

Nordisk Ventilator Co. established

First VARIAX fan delivered

17Forecast sales 2014

DKK 755m

1952 1947 1951 2014

Number of model tests in aerodynamic labs

HAX-DXHAX-SE

2011 2012

2013 2014

DANISHSWEDISHGERMANSCOTTISH BRITISH

AMERICANPAKISTANITURKISH

MOROCCANRUSSIAN

VIETNAMESEICELANDICCHINESESPANISHIRANIANCHILEANBOSNIAN

Installed base across

countries

VARIAX PF

624

3,100Nationalitiesin the Hax

team

Other 371 Saudi Arabia 34 Poland 46 Portugal 46 Canada 52 Taiwan 58 France 60 Netherlands 72 Italy 77 Belgium 81 South Korea 94 India 122 Japan 135 Germany 152 Australia 163 Sweden 222 Denmark 235 Finland 293 United States 420 China 969

I truly enjoy the challenge that comes with attempting to

change things for the better.


“No matter how complex a project is, or how many

revisions something goes through,

Howden always take the time to

understand where we are coming from

and support us.”

or Howden, revolving around its customers is very serious business. So much so, it has built this approach into one of the five

Values that it runs its business by. As a Howden customer, it should be

clear that Customers Talk, We Listen is core to Howden’s business. One customer who certainly feels this forms the backbone of his relationship with Howden is Asghar Khalaj-Zadeh, a Senior Engineer at Hatch Associates.

Based in Canada, Hatch Associates supplies engineering, project and construction management and consultancy to the mining, metallurgical, energy and infrastructure industries. Three years ago it approached Howden to engage in a prototype project to be on the leading edge of a new Oil and Gas Production Application. Specifically, Howden fans would become the heart of the furnaces used to process high-grade oil from shale, a new extraction process. The first prototype system installation is expected to be complete in autumn 2015. This installation will prove

the new technology and is scalable for future, larger installations currently in the planning stages, pending the results from this project.

Hatch Associates has an incredibly positive relationship with Howden, which is down to Howden’s understanding of Hatch Associates’ needs. “We have worked with Howden for a long time, and in that time, I have always found them to be very knowledgeable, helpful and supportive in their approach to working with myself and Hatch Associates,” Asghar says. “Nothing is ever too much trouble.”

Asghar works with Howden across a range of projects and has always been impressed by our people’s tenacity. Recently, Howden was of great help to Asghar regarding vital information he needed from Novenco, a company that Howden had acquired: “We really needed to get hold of some paperwork and drawings that Novenco would have had for equipment that we purchased in 1987. Even though Howden didn’t own Novenco at the time we had dealt with them, the team in Cambridge, Ontario, pulled out all the original drawings and forwarded them to us. In the end Howden found them and sent us the

originals. It’s this kind of support that makes our relationship with Howden really valuable,” says Asghar.

Working with a breadth of clients means that Asghar knows what makes certain organisations stand out. “At times, I deal with other companies that just aren’t as committed as Howden is,” Asghar explains. “They often get tired of looking for solutions, which is disappointing. I have never experienced that with Howden. Their knowledge is invaluable when it comes to providing us with options that we might not have considered.”

Above all of this, Asghar feels listened to by Howden. “Howden always listens to what we have to say. No matter how complex a project is, or how many revisions something goes through, they always take the time to understand where we are coming from and support us.

“I really appreciate the way that Howden works with us, and I imagine if this is how they work with all of their clients, they must all be as happy as I am. Their input is really valuable and I appreciate the level of support they give us. I am looking forward to working with them more in the future.” n

F

Asghar Khalaj-Zadeh from Hatch Associates reallysees the value in his relationship with Howden

An aerial view of shale in Utah, USA

Issue 04 HOWDEN LIFE 2322 2322

CUSTOMER FOCUS

olysmart is an intuitive continuous monitoring system which saves our customers time and money by preventing the unscheduled stoppage of fans. Taking Solysmart from

concept through to design and then launching it is something that Howden Solyvent-Ventec has been working on for some time. In fact, the concept was designed five years ago, but then marketing it was another challenge that has involved numerous associates effectively working together from the technical, application, marketing and sales departments within Howden Solyvent- Ventec.

The innovation in this situation is not only with the product but also in how to interact with our customers in a more meaningful way. Monitoring the fans in a service agreement moves us from purely selling a product to a servicing element, which then makes us more of a trusted partner with our customers.

To raise awareness of the product amongst our customers, the team organised a customer-facing road show to demonstrate the benefits of the system. The so-called ‘Iceberg Tour’ travelled to Lille, Lyon and Marseille in France and Liège in Belgium to meet the end-users and present them with our product as it was running live. “Our customers were able to ask questions and find out more information,” says Julien Michard, Project Manager. “We had never done a tour before to promote a product. We held workshops with our customers, which was a great way to engage them.

“The goal of the project was to increase our service business so we decided to focus on the aftermarket and end-users. We wanted to meet our customers face to face and present a solution to decrease the total cost of ownership of their fans,” continues Julien. “The system tackles the non-running costs of

fans, including the lost productivity from events such as blade erosion, roller failure or oil leakage. It reduces the cost for our customers by helping to avoid unexpected failures.”

TEAM SPIRITWhen Howden acquired Solyvent-

Ventec, the new integrated team realised Solysmart’s benefits as they looked to grow the aftermarket side of the business. They decided to revive the system and this time, the customer was very much at the front of their minds. “Our new marketing techniques have enabled us to listen to our customers and then present our product to them in a live environment; this innovation in product presentation proves that our product can be adapted to their needs,” says Julien. “A lot of our French customers had met huge problems with their fans breaking down, which cost a lot of money due to loss of production. The Solysmart system can monitor up to four fans simultaneously and it can provide early warnings of any potential problems. We also created new customer-friendly tools, such as software, which helped to improve the accessibility of Solysmart for our customers.”

Howden Solyvent-Ventec is continuing to drive growth in our aftermarket business, and following the Iceberg Tour, two of our main customers have already placed an order for the system. “We now plan to extend our offering to customers internationally – we want it to be a big commercial success,” says Julien. “As an example of what we have done so far, we organised a live linked-up demonstration where our sales manager was in a meeting with customers in Saudi Arabia, connected via the internet to our French laboratory. While Howden presented Solysmart running live on model fans, the customer was able to modify the parameter of the fan that was running in France from his seat in Saudi Arabia.”

The team was recently awarded a Howden High-5 Award for all their hard work. The Awards strive to recognise our associates who are living our Values. “Overall, the project has covered each of our Values,” says Julien. “Through teamwork, we have designed and marketed a customer-focused system, which has taken an existing product and improved it. It is also innovative as there is nothing similar on the market.” n

Howden Life meets some of the team members behind the product

Laurent Vandenbulcke, Office Sales Manager, based in Lille“The role of my team and I is to promote Solysmart to our customers. We also participated in two dates of the Iceberg tour – Liège and Lille. For me, Solysmart is not just a product but an overall concept, and we had to change our commercial practice to sell it.”

Stanislas Rabeau, Regional Sales Manager, Northern and Central Region“When the Iceberg Tour was in Liège and Lille, I lead the workshop ‘Voice of Customers’. I also collected information about the current practices of our customers in relation to their expectations around innovative monitoring solutions. As Regional Sales Manager, Northern and Central Region, I oversee the business activities to promote Solysmart to our customers through the concept, Total Cost of Ownership.”

Franck Biolchini, Regional Sales Manager, Southern Region“In the sales department, my role was to support my team during the first presentations to end-users and to manage the commercial offers for Solysmart in the Southern Region. The Iceberg Tour was very interesting and during this privileged time with our customers, I got a better understanding of the interest and the need for the Solymart Solution. This operation confirmed to me that often the financial risk of a technical breakdown is much greater than the ‘Solysmart Investment’.”

Our associates in Howden Solyvent-Ventec have introduced

a customer-focused product to the market in an innovative new way

S

Design Engineer, Michel Sivo, checks data on the Solysmart Monitoring System


BEST TEAM WINS

at Howden. “As an EHS manager you know a lot about risks and disaster management in order to both help and protect people,” says Carsten. “The operations director at the Red Cross knows that I am a health and safety specialist, so I support them in helping to identify and eliminate the risks. To do this you need to think on your feet – decisions need to be made quickly, especially if there are people who are potentially at risk, and you need to analyse the situation and decide what is best for everyone. These are skills that you have to have to be an EHS manager and a Red Cross volunteer.”

Aside from the rewarding nature of his involvement with the Red Cross, Carsten finds that his volunteering positively affects the way in which he lives the Howden Values. “In the Red Cross we always work as a team and if we are taking care of an injured person, there will be a minimum of

Being responsible for the health and safety of a team of employees is an admirable task. As EHS manager, Carsten Teich not only ensures that a safe

and healthy environment is provided for all employees in the German office, but he also supports his management team and their employees to live the Howden Values in all that they do. Through his role, Carsten demonstrates the Values every day by guaranteeing a team-orientated approach and by placing emphasis on the voice of the customer. “We listen to our customers and build strong and lasting relationships around their needs,” Carsten says.

Outside of the office, health and safety is just as important to Carsten in his role as Medical Assistant for the Red Cross, where he has developed skills in disaster management and rapid response. “I wanted to do something worthwhile with my spare time,” Carsten says. “A friend of mine was already volunteering at the Red Cross and told a lot of interesting and exciting stories about how he had developed a range of skills that could help people that are often in life-threatening situations. It sounded like a great thing to be involved in.”

Carsten’s interest in the work of the Red Cross has been aided enormously by his pre-existing knowledge of risk and disaster management through his position

For EHS manager Carsten Teich, looking out for the wellbeing of others doesn’t

stop when he clocks off

Doing well by doing good

two medical assistants there to help, so we develop a real trust for each other. It’s no different in Howden. In both scenarios, the best team wins.”

But for Carsten, this positive influence on his work with Howden isn’t the only result of his extra-curricular efforts. Above all, he truly takes pleasure in volunteering with the Red Cross. “I love it. It not only develops my skills, but I get to help people in such a vast range of situations. Last year, I helped to evacuate people from their homes

during the Dresden floods. And although I haven’t had to do this yet, we are trained in the process of evacuating people if there was ever a bomb scare – there were some bombs buried in Dresden following World War II. If this happens, there is a strict process in place for us to follow.

“Whether it’s at work or in my role with the Red Cross, safety is my number one priority and it’s good to know that armed with my skills, I can protect people from so many different situations,” says Carsten. n

If there are people who are potentiallyat risk, and you need to analyse the situation and decide what is best for

everyone. These are skills that you have to have to be an EHS manager and

a Red Cross volunteer.


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