AMAZING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

customercentric Supply Chain (SC)

It all began with a vision. Henkel, the German multinational chemical and consumer goods company, many of whose goods you surely consume and have done since your childhood, saw that the world was changing. Henkel recognised that they needed to transform, and to be able to do this, they completely reimagined the supply chain.

Unravelling this vision, is Bjoern Neal Kirchner, the Global Head of Supply Chain for adhesive technologies. The goal was to create an amazing customer experience as a competitive edge.

Kirchner explains: “The vision behind the customer-centric Supply Chain (SC) transformation programme emphasised the potential for supply chains to contribute to the top line, in addition to the traditional bottom line.”

“While most supply chains focus on improving cost positions, inventory and working capital – in other words, KPIs established on traditionally internal data –Henkel believes that supply chains can also improve how customers engage with the company itself,” says Kirchner.

“By optimising the many touchpoints that customers have with Henkel throughout the entire supply chain interaction, such as ordering, logistics and planning, Henkel aims to provide a unique customer experience that can set it apart from its competitors.” This is a creative and visionary approach.

Bjoern Kirchner

TITLE: GLOBAL HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN FOR ADHESIVE TECHNOLOGIES

COMPANY: HENKEL

Bjoern Neal Kirchner is the Global head of supply chain for adhesive technologies at Henkel.

He is an experienced economist who has studied in both Munich and London. After completing his studies, he opted to travel to China where he was awarded a scholarship to study the Chinese language and immerse himself in the country’s culture. It was during this time that he began his career in logistics, as he sought to better understand China’s supply chain landscape. He secured a position at a logistics company, where he became captivated by the real-world challenges faced by businesses and their employees. From there, he continued to grow within the supply chain industry, holding various positions in different locations, including China, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Germany.

When asked how Henkel approaches establishing an amazing customer experience as a competitive edge, Kirchner explains that the company had to effectively relearn its perspective on customers.

The North Star

Instead of building on its own perception of what is good or effective and then executing on them, Kirchner says that Henkel engaged with customers on an entirely different level.

“So, we identified the values that were important to them in their engagement with us,” he says. “And through this process of value mapping, we identified areas where we may have not been delivering up to our customers’ expectations – in areas such as reliability, speed and innovation. Then, based on these findings, we implemented new programmes to improve the customer experience in all of these areas.”

So what is the guiding light in Henkel’s reimagining of the supply chain – or even more correctly – the value chain? Kirchner says: “We knew that we needed a North Star, and we needed it to guide the transformation and ensure that we were getting better at creating amazing experiences for our customers. This North Star was forged out of our customers’ values.”

As an execution-driven operational team, Kirchner says that Henkel are accustomed to having numbers guide them – making it difficult for something like the customer experience to be effectively measured.

“However, we needed an indicator,” he says, “an indicator that shows us whether we are making progress for our customers, and this is where the North Star shines.

“It is also crucial that, as an indicator, the North Star be connected to the overall