Dow unit builds on customer input to help change marketing direction

By Brad Dawson, Crain Staff

Louisville, Kentucky -- Dow Chemical Co.'s Dow Elastomers unit is changing the way it develops its products and takes them to market by opening a figurative suggestion box to its most important information source -- its customers.

While listening to customers is nothing new, Dow took its Voice of the Customer, or VOC, project to the next level. Early this year, the firm's account managers, marketers, research and development staff, and technical service and development personnel began hitting the road to visit automotive original equipment manufacturers, tier suppliers and compounders to learn of their needs and how Dow can help fill them.

"We wanted to understand what were the drivers, what were their polymer needs and what do they need to do to be better in the industry," said Clint Schmidt, market development manager for transportation thermosets for the Midland, Mich.-based elastomer materials supplier.

Schmidt discussed the program at the ACS Rubber Division Mini-Expo, held Oct. 14-16 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Focusing on three key markets-hose, weatherstrips and belts-Dow developed an open-ended questionnaire and gauged its customers' concerns, Schmidt said. For example, the OEMs talked about weight and mass reduction and aesthetics, while tier companies and compounders want design capabilities to meet their customers' needs.

Schmidt stressed that the field interviews didn't focus on financial factors, but rather on formulations, products and solutions.

"Customers were excited to talk about those things," he said. "When OEMs tell you they're glad you're there and really want to give their input, that's a good thing. They want to see new, better designs happen as vehicles get smaller, hotter and lighter, and they want to work with the polymer provider to get that innovation down in the value chain so they can take advantage of it."

Learning more about the markets Dow serves-and how they differ from each other-was also a key to the VOC program, Schmidt said.

"Looking at it from a marketing perspective, you can speculate about things or you can go out and understand things," he said. "We want to go out and understand the needs of each market segment. Weatherseals are definitely different than hose. They may use the same polymer, but to get to the next level, the need may be substantially different."

Changing direction

Over the years, Dow has shown itself to be very good at technology development, according to Schmidt, but it has made innovations "kind of in our own space." Generally, it has done a product push, gone to the market and seen where its developments will apply.

The VOC project resulted from a desire to challenge the company's R&D, technical service and especially marketing people to go to customers and find out what they need instead of developing first, Schmidt said. "The message we developed was, 'challenge us,' " he said. "It doesn't have to be an EPDM material; it can be anything."

Dow took the voluminous information and data it gathered and set about building better polymers to match customer needs, Schmidt said.

The initial evolution of the program is within the company's Nordel hydrocarbon rubber line, with some upgrades to the materials announced in Louisville and more product enhancements geared for the weatherstrip market to be unveiled by year's end and early in 2009.

The recent Nordel line improvements addressed concerns about gel contamination and carbon black testing. For example, Dow's Nordel products now undergo "rigorous and systematic" gel contamination testing to ensure cleanliness. The company added measuring equipment at plants making Nordel IP and Nordel MG materials for real-time testing and reporting for every product batch.

Tighter specifications for Nordel MG products also promote reduced variability in compounds, allowing the formulators to meet requirements more precisely, with less waste and lower costs. "We're looking at better product consistency, lower carbon black levels and overall better processibility in our products," Schmidt said.

Dow also altered its marketing strategy with the initial VOC-driven platform by designing and releasing a comic book for potential customers featuring an Indiana Jones-type hero, B. First.

In the 14-page book, First and his Dow Elastomers team-on a "quest" to help their customers succeed-use improved Nordel MG to fight off obstacles in the form of competitor Mr. Last, the Cavern of Carbon Black and the Gelling Gully. Of course, they are aided in their journey by the beautiful oracle-like Voice of the Customer.

"We want our marketing department to give us the direction to go forward and steer the technical innovation through the needs of the market," Schmidt said. "Our marketing will drive us with our customers and the industry to find those next areas of opportunity and we'll channel that though our R&D and technical services to provide those solutions."

Culture change

In addition to the processing quality improvements, Dow also has increased the speed of its product evolution, Schmidt said, evidenced by the initial steps taken within its Nordel line. One of the new releases to come took only about six months from customer feedback to solution, and the company is running its first plant trial now.

"Normally these things can take 12 to 24 months," he said. "We're hoping to identify and start development at a much faster pace. I won't say they're all going to move that quickly, but it helps by going to the customer and knowing exactly what they want."

Nordel products were chosen as the initial beneficiaries of the VOC program because there were some unmet needs from the customer side and targeting the line was a good fit, Schmidt said. But he emphasized the process will be done across product lines, not only for thermosets but thermoplastics as well.

"We built this into the organization to say that it is a culture of continuous improvement," Schmidt said. "We don't want to stop. We don't want to de-emphasise the focus on our customers. The intent is to stay entrenched and stay out in front of them."

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)