Service in your DNA
When, back in 2006, Kemira Kemi split off its FM services and located them in individual subsidiaries, this marked the first step towards a more professional working method—a way of bringing some commercial drive to its FM services, and instead being able to focus on core business. The next step was to find a collaboration partner that didn’t just take over services, but also developed them.
"We wanted to place our services somewhere were there was a strong service culture. Coor's core business is to develop services and service staff. This means that the people and the services should strengthen professionally," says Lennart Albertsson, CEO of Kemira Kemi.
Kemira Kemi manufactures chemical products for the paper and pulp industries, and for water treatment. In 2006, it opened the Industry Park of Sweden in Helsingborg, in the south of the country.
"We've got a lot of infrastructure and other resources which other people can use. For example, our energy surplus is used as district heating for a third of Helsingborg's population. There are a lot of benefits with a business park, but mainly sharing resources, ideas and synergies," continues Lennart.
Kemira Kemi wanted to act as host of the Park, but not take on the FM and industrial services. In July 2010, Coor took over the FM company with its 130 employees after a competitive tender, then signed a three-year agreement with Kemira to deliver FM services to Kemira in the business park.
"Coor will keep offering and delivering soft FM and industrial services to enterprises located in the Park. In the slightly longer term, our objective is to develop and extend our service operation," says Bengt Håkansson, EVP of Coor Sweden.
What's important for Lennart Albertsson is to get procedures for everything in place that work in day-to-day commercial life. For the service-oriented approach Coor has in its DNA to rub off on his organization. It's also important that the agreement has enough breadth to achieve critical mass, otherwise Coor's developmental opportunities would be limited.
"First and foremost, Coor has to create new and more business locally to achieve an even greater critical mass, which in the longer term, can benefit all of us. It's also exciting to see how a 100 year-old industrial culture can be fertilized by the way a service company with a shorter track record operates. Coor has a different culture and has to be faster-footed and more adaptable to economic conditions, for example, than what manufacturing is traditionally used to.
Bengt Håkansson notices how many manufacturers are seeing the benefits of concentrating on their production and developing and streamlining everything outside their core business in close partnership with experts.
"For a manufacturer, who can experience a lot of changes, it's important to have a supplier who you can develop alongside and who can adapt to upturns and downturns. The larger the agreement, the greater the potential to really work on a value-adding, cost-effective footing."
Lennart Albertsson thinks that a supplier of integrated services must demonstrate its competence in all segments. That it's got the breadth and resources right across the customer's business and that its expertise is at the leading edge.
"Coor's very much at home with facilities management, which they've then topped off with industrial services competence. This means that they've got the possibility of delivering broad-based and intelligent solutions to us, the customer, based on experience from other partnerships. Moreover, their insight into many aspects of our business gives them an opportunity to do a lot of work on improvements and savings."
At Kemira, they think that a lot of what's happening in their structural commercial work has turned out as they wanted. The challenge now is to get it working on all levels. One former employee is now on external supplier. How do you get rid of old routines and show respect for each other?
"A lot of this is on the human level, and here, Coor can really offer guidance on how to operate professionally," continues Lennart.
And the next step?
"To keep making the improvements we intended to. To really get the commercial part in place. To make sure Coor is delivering the right services at the right time and has the right competence. A lot of people are involved and it's a big challenge. We've given Coor three years to demonstrate that they've got the right players for this business," concludes Lennart.
Read previous articles published on integrated complete solutions
Mature customers seeing the big picture
And don't miss our article on integrated complete solutions in the public sector, which will be in the next issue of Nova.
Interested in finding out about the benefit, new, integrated services can bring to you?
Please contact Sofia Johansson +48 (0) 9 553 950 00, sofia.johansson@coor.com.