Gaining service levels with Customer collaboration – Dow 

 Overview

Company Description

This is for Dow in the Consumer Solutions Business.

Dow Inc.’s ambition is to become the most innovative, customer-centric, inclusive and sustainable materials science company. Our goal is to deliver value growth and best-in-class performance. The Company’s portfolio comprised of six global business units, organized into three operating segments: Performance Materials & Coatings, Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure and Packaging & Specialty Plastics.

Project Description

Dow has more than one instance where collaborating with the customer has created a supply network that has more connections and as a result has increase customer’s uptime across a network. Current performance is anecdotical, and Dow wants to better understand the elements of such collaborations with customers that make it successful.  

Goals of the Project

Develop a (simulation?) model to evaluate the service level gain when customers with multiple raw material stocking points optimize jointly with their Dows single inventory stocking point. Battling together supply and demand variability

Deliverables:

• A model to describe the situation based on at least 2 successful examples with customers. Derive an understanding what drives the success.
• Propose the elements needed to look for in more collaboration
• Theoretical framework to advice this type of collaboration in the supply chain
• Ultimately advice Dow on what conditions are needed to expand and leverage out

Essential student knowledge:

• Modeling & good soft skills as information will need to be derived from actual customer collaboration, that is captured in events, not just in hard data.

More information: escf@tue.nl