Total aligns its customer service in segmentation project with Solventure

The Polymers business unit of the division Refining &Chemicals, part of the Total Group, has 6 Europeanproduction sites. With a production of over 2 million tonsa year, Total is distributing to the whole Europeanmarket and beyond.

Faced with severe pressure on prices and workingcapital, the Polymers business unit was looking for abreakthrough in delivering the right service to the rightcustomer segment. A general feeling was that somecustomers were over-serviced where others wereunderserviced. By aligning the service to the customerneeds and requirements, value for both Total and itscustomers could be maximized while costs and workingcapital could be better controlled. For this reason, Totaldecided to conduct a segmentation analysis in order todefine appropriate customer segments and thecorresponding optimal service offering.

Solventure was primarily selected as a facilitator inchanging the existing culture, due to its profoundexpertise in process management and analytics.Together with Total, Solventure created a robust andrelatively easy model for all customers and products,which would be used by all sales and account peoplewithin Total.

NA (USA): +1 302 738 9215EU (Belgium): +32 3 232 2391AP (India): +91 824 298 2813www.arkieva.com

EU (Belgium): +32 (0)3 685 70 03www.solventure.eu

Initially brainstorm sessions took place in order toidentify a broad set of segmentation criteria, as well asa set of differentiating factors for the offered services.

A large audience of commercial people were thensurveyed in order to limit the initial set ofsegmentation criteria to the most important ones, aswell as define thresholds. The importance and therelative competitive advantage of Total in all servicedifferentiating factors were also identified.

Further on, products and customers were evaluatedagainst the short listed criteria, resulting in a final scoreaccording to which they were classified in segments.The results were then validated by account managers,going to several iterations during which the initialthresholds were reviewed.

Throughout the project, all requirements weretranslated in actionable results, reflected in the modelin a clear and simple way. At the final stage, Solventureprovided training to an expert user, in order to enableTotal reiterate the model independently in the future.Solventure also facilitated discussions and delivered aprocess map illustrating the actions that stakeholdersinvolved should take, in order to efficiently reiteratethe model.

Industry

Challenges

Solutions

Results

Petrochemicals

Define optimal customer segments and corresponding service offering to improve volumes and prices and better control of costs and working capital

Arkieva with an Excel front end

- A robust customer and product segmentation model. - An established process to review and update segmentation results independently, ensuring project continuation.

Solventure’s analytical expertise facilitated therapid generation of alternative scenarios thatutterly secured the fast execution of the project.Once a consensus was reached, a differentiatedservice strategy was proposed, in order toefficiently allocate resources over the differentcustomer and product segments. Based on thisstrategy a new range of service packages werecreated, with all very strict rules connected to it.The use of these new service packages had also asignificant positive impact on Total’s lead times,inventory levels, operational and transportationcosts.

With this segmentation project, Total changed theexisting culture with respect to provided services.That was achieved taking into account opinions ofpeople from several functions, a fact that was acatalyst towards the adoption of the segmentationresults. Solventure managed to use 20% of theinitial set of criteria in order to classify more than90% of products and customers in a rationalsegment. Together with Solventure, Total createdan efficient and simple “living” solution i.e., astandardized process to evaluate their customerand product portfolio. This process is beingfollowed by all sales representatives at thebeginning of each year up until today.

NA (USA): +1 302 738 9215EU (Belgium): +32 3 232 2391AP (India): +91 824 298 2813www.arkieva.com

EU (Belgium): +32 (0)3 685 70 03www.solventure.eu

About Total

The Polymers business unit of the division Refining &

Chemicals, part of the Total Group, has 6 European production

sites. With a production of over 2 million tons a year, Total is

distributing to the whole European market and beyond.

About Solventure Supply Chain Solutions

Solventure is turning their client’s supply chain into a

competitive advantage and engages in long-term improvement

projects with them. Solventure adds value by providing

actionable insights through a unique combination of tools and

expert resources. The Arkieva software selected and

distributed by Solventure is user friendly, scalable, and proven

in optimization and quantitative techniques. For more

information please visit www.solventure.eu.

About Arkieva Supply Chain Software

Arkieva, founded in 1993, is the developer of Arkieva software

solutions for global manufacturing supply chains. With

headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, and offices in

Antwerp, Belgium, and Mangalore, India, Arkieva is positioned

to support organizations across the globe. Arkieva products

enhance productivity and reduce operating costs in the supply

chain, providing the full range of features necessary for

effective Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). Such major

corporations as Momentive, INVISTA, Sunsweet Growers, CF

Industries, ANADIGICS, and INEOS use Arkieva solutions. For

more information please visit www.arkieva.com.