Supply Chain Digital Magazine May 2023 | Page 31

HENKEL

BJOERN NEAL KIRCHNER GLOBAL HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN FOR ADHESIVE TECHNOLOGIES ,

HENKEL

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

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