April 4, 2007 - On 21 March 2007, Ahlstrom celebrated its third Supplier Award Ceremony at the Radisson hotel of Roissy, France. Clariant, as supplier for chemicals, was one of the three winners of the 2006 evaluation.
Every year, Ahlstrom plants evaluate their preferred suppliers through 14 parameters, covering diverse criteria from “value for money” to “innovation” or “global reach”. The 2006 supply categories were raw materials, chemicals and indirect goods and services.
The award comes after several years of custom-made services delivered by Clariant.
In the years 2000, Clariant decided to re-centre its management on its key accounts, leading Clariant’s Paper Business to establish a three-dimension customer relation, with focus on: service, knowledge and products.
Ahlstrom challenged the company to implement its new key account management globally,
leading to strong relationships at all levels: corporate, divisions, countries and research centres.
In 2006, both companies witnessed the result of the new approach, with a development of non-woven and paper. In the United States, Clariant has invested in human resources and production facilities for emulsions, in order to be able to develop new products together with Ahlstrom.
Clariant’s CEO Jan Secher summarized the benefits of Clariant’s focus on its customer needs, by declaring at the award ceremony that: “Demanding companies are what push us further”.
Well-understood mutual benefits are quite well illustrated in that single sentence. |  |  |