Annual Report 2010 - Outokumpu

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Expansion of our service centre network
Outokumpu's service centre network plays a central role in serving end-user and project customers. In 2010, some 400
000 tonnes of deliveries to customers passed through the Group's service centres. A greenfield service centre in
Kunshan near Shanghai in China which processes mainly special grades began operation in early 2010. Annual
processing capacity at this facility will eventually total 30 000 tonnes.
New products and solutions
Outokumpu made two major product launches during the year: Ferritic 2BB and Outokumpu LDX2404®.
Ferritic 2BB is a bright-surface, grade EN 1.4016 product targeted at the catering & appliances and white goods
segments as an alternative to traditional bright-annealed products. It has already been certified by some major white
goods manufacturers for use in washing machine drums and interior components in dishwashers. Invitations to a series
of events organised for catering & appliances customers during 2010 were engraved on shiny ferritic 2BB stainless steel
sheet.
Outokumpu LDX2404® is a new member of the Group's lean-duplex family. The high-strength and low nickel content
LDX2404® offers better corrosion resistance than the Outokumpu LDX2101®. This new lean-duplex product was
launched at two major stainless events: Stainless Steel World America in Houston, Texas, and at the Duplex World
Conference & Exhibition in Beaune, France.
Read more about Outokumpu's duplex grades.
Taking our customers' pulse
Outokumpu is in the process of harmonising its customer satisfaction surveys. In the past, separate surveys have been
conducted by Group production units and Group sales companies and while these provided valuable information, the
difference in approach meant that assessment of the overall situation was difficult. To overcome this drawback, a single
Group-wide survey will be conducted in the future.
The system selected for this purpose is based on the ‘net promoter' approach, and it does not involve completing lengthy
questionnaires or engaging in extended interviews, it is ‘respondent friendly'. In essence, it turns around a single
question posed during normal Outokumpu/customer contacts, i.e. ‘Would you recommend Outokumpu to your
colleagues?'. Individual scores are then combined into a customer satisfaction score which is continuously updated. The
survey will be an on-going process and will be piloted during the first half of 2011 in selected markets, with global roll-out
in the second half of the year. Starting in the second half of 2011, the customer satisfaction score will be one of the
Group's key performance indicators.
A final one-off customer survey was done in September 2010. Some 250 customers from France, Germany, Italy,
Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK participated in the survey. The three most important factors that customers use when
selecting a stainless supplier were product quality, accurate delivery performance and competitive prices.
Compliance to ethical code in the heart of business
E-training in competition compliance continued during 2010, and some 500 Outokumpu sales personnel had either
started or completed the three training modules by the end of the year. To supplement the English-language version,
German, French and Italian versions were introduced in January 2011.
Compliance with UN, EU and US embargo lists was further enforced during 2010. An aggregated up-to-date list is
available to Group sales personnel at all times. Using this, Outokumpu is able to ensure that the Group does not sell any
of its products to totally-embargoed countries, or sell embargoed products to partially-embargoed countries.
Outokumpu Annual Report 2010 – Business – Group Sales and Marketing