Customer centricity

The Centre of Our Business – Our Customers

Customers are at the center of what we do, from design to delivery. Our cables are created on the drawing board with the customer in mind, and we often collaborate with our customers on new products. For custom-made projects, we welcome customers into our factories to help supervise the manufacturing process. We monitor customer satisfaction by conducting web surveys and one-on-one interviews.  We apply flexibility across the entire supply chain to accelerate time to market and adapt to the needs of customers in different industries.

Flexible customer satisfaction

The Group’s global footprint makes it well-placed to respond to different customer needs. The Group is able to serve very different segments and markets thanks to a matrix organizational structure. In local markets, we can offer business and development structures in individual countries. For global customers, our business units can cooperate across countries.

 

Prysmian Group started to carry out specific one-on-one interviews since 2015. These interviews are conducted with strategic customers on an annual basis and managed directly by the Group's Customer Centricity E&I manager, in close collaboration with the sales functions of the countries and regions. The questions covered are about sale conditions, product offering, logistic and service, marketing and branding, and overall business strategy. 
During 2019, 25 Major Key Customers were interviewed in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and the USA. As a result, specific actions were identified for implementation in 2019 to manage important priorities expressed by customers in different geographical regions. Specific follow up actions will continue also in 2020.
In 2019 this activity has been particularly relevant since we covered Group’s three main Brands -- Prysmian, Draka and General Cable -- for the first time after the merger with General Cable
 

Customer Satisfaction Web-Survey

Prysmian conducts Web Surveys to measure the level of customer satisfaction and enhance the level of problem-solving.  These surveys are carried out through a platform connected with the Prysmian Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Sales Force, thus allowing countries that already use CRM to obtain the Survey results in their portals. The Surveys look at business conditions, products and services offered, customer support, brand awareness, and range of products, identifying a minimum of 28 Main Drivers by Category of relevance.
In 2019, Web Surveys were run in the North Europe Region (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland) and in Spain. 
In North Europe Region, on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum), customers reported the following scores on 30 main Drivers:


Denmark 3.5 average scored with an average importance of 3.7
Finland 3.8 average scored with an average importance of 4.0
Norway 3.6 average scored with an average importance of 4.2
Sweden 3.7 average scored with an average importance of 4.0

Spain scored an average of 3.5 in a scale of 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) with an average importance score of 4.1. 

In 2019 we started to roll the Web Survey Group approach out across other countries, starting from South Europe (namely France and Italy). The aim is to allow other Business Units and Countries and/or Region to leverage a common Group methodology and platform and at the same time, to be independent to run them during the year according to business or service requirements.

Creating Fast, Targeted, and Efficient Responses

Factory Reliability

This process improves the reliability of planning, the execution of output (including response times), and strict control over inventory for every type of component.
 

Supply Chain Integration

We run Supply chain integration projects with some of our most important global customers to improve processes throughout the entire supply chain – from the producers of raw materials through to the end user.

Fast Order Entry

We have halved the time taken to enter and process orders, vastly improving our lead-time flexibility, timeliness and efficiency across our logistics operations.
 

Customer centricity underpins many of our sustainability targets, particularly those involving the development of “green” products, because achieving those targets involves meeting customers’ needs. 
Prysmian’s customer-centricity is a key part of its mission, making it a good choice as an investment because its business choices will be grounded in the market.

The Group constantly strengthens relations with strategic suppliers, seeking to build together a common organizational process focused on sustainability throughout the entire production chain.
Prysmian Group’s commitment towards a sustainable supply chain led to several improvement projects, particularly focused on increasing awareness and attention to details starting with raw material sourcing, up to the final delivery to the customer.
When it comes to transport, the Group implemented a series of actions aimed at monitoring – and whenever possible reducing – CO2 emissions deriving from the distribution of products, including:
 
 
  • giving preference to local suppliers
  • optimizing the transport mode of goods, fostering the use of sea-freight
  • selecting road haulers that seek to implement sustainable policies and actions
  • maximizing direct deliveries to customers, avoiding any intracompany flow with no added value.
The Group is heavily committed to minimizing useless manufacturing and movement of products and drums. Several actions have been undertaken in this direction, among which:
  • measuring and improving the re-utilization of drums
  • launching Alesea, a GPS-based system capable of tracking and providing data related to drums spread worldwide, such as geo-localization and remote monitoring of residual cable length stored
  • implementing the VMI (Vendor Management Inventory) with one of our main corporate customers, to enhance the visibility and transparency of the cable stock availability both on customer’s and manufacturer’s side and quickly align the supply planning accordingly at the minimum level of resources.

Cable App

The main purpose of this App is to calculate the most suitable cable and cross section given electrical installation parameters, and to offer videos and technical contents to the Installers.
The tool is accessible in Spain, in the Netherlands, UK, Italy, Turkey and Norway for both Customer and Installers. A dealer locator feature is now available on the App. It will be rolled out across the regions. 
Expected benefits:

  • Strengthen the link to Installers and Professionals
  • Reduce the TCO
  • Help Prysmian become a player in the Digital Market

 

Countries' Customer Portals

Following the Customer Centricity strategy launched across the Regions, this program will improve Customer Satisfaction combined with an automated Customer Service.
Benefits for the customer include:
•    Fewer calls to Prysmian’s back office 
•    One digital infopoint
•    24/7 info availability
•    Procurement cycle optimization