Annual Report 2014
This is the 2014 annual report of Etex Group
This is the 2014 annual report of Etex Group
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Etex <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2014</strong><br />
About Etex<br />
Our strategy<br />
in the construction industry.<br />
For each of our business activities in all<br />
our target markets, we aim to position<br />
ourselves as a market leader. That is why<br />
we offer products of the highest quality<br />
and build strong brands — Eternit, Promat,<br />
Equitone, Kalsi, Marley, Creaton, Durlock, to<br />
name just a few.<br />
We continuously expand our presence by<br />
growing our product range and by carefully<br />
broadening our geographical reach at<br />
the same time. Etex also actively pursues<br />
emerging market opportunities.<br />
We therefore invest heavily in regular<br />
upgrades of our production facilities. In<br />
<strong>2014</strong> — shortly after the acquisition of<br />
Siniat — we invested 198 million euro in<br />
the expansion and modernisation of our<br />
existing sites and the construction of new<br />
production lines and plants in Indonesia,<br />
Brazil, Peru and, Romania.<br />
What’s more, we are always striving for<br />
the most efficient market approach. A<br />
challenge we will focus on more strongly in<br />
the coming years.<br />
Operational excellence<br />
A top market position brings different<br />
challenges and responsibilities. That is<br />
why we keep improving our operational<br />
excellence in a systematic way, by<br />
reinforcing our support functions, including<br />
IT, logistics, engineering, purchasing,<br />
finance and HR. And through programmes<br />
for improvement, ranging from EHS and HR<br />
to supply chain, production and sales.<br />
Marriage of global and local<br />
Over a period of more than 100 years, we<br />
have learned to bring parenting value to all<br />
our companies — big or small. At the same<br />
time, we have an in-depth understanding<br />
of local market needs and cherish our local<br />
customers.<br />
By combining the strengths of our local<br />
businesses with those of our global group,<br />
and by setting worldwide standards for<br />
operational and financial excellence, safety,<br />
health and environment, we help our<br />
companies strengthen their performance.<br />
While our local managers take initiatives<br />
in line with their customers’ needs, they<br />
are also able to capitalise on the efficient<br />
business processes of our global group.<br />
Enhancing shared service centres<br />
Etex continues to deploy shared service<br />
centres for the handling of transactional<br />
tasks. Worldwide, 76 companies are served<br />
by highly specialised centres — a number<br />
that will grow to 100 by early 2016.<br />
Our shared service centres not only carry<br />
out corporate operational tasks, processing<br />
over 500,000 supplier invoices a year. They<br />
also help us share specialised know-how at<br />
group level.<br />
Standardising IT<br />
In <strong>2014</strong>, we added several companies to<br />
our global SAP ERP system. Moreover,<br />
we completed over 70 projects regarding<br />
business improvements and functionality<br />
rollouts. Major improvement projects<br />
included the introduction of a mobile CRM<br />
application for our sales representatives,<br />
a central web platform and product<br />
information tools.<br />
Protecting intellectual property<br />
The Inventory Property Service Centre<br />
created by our group in 2013, has continued<br />
to build a solid patent portfolio. The team<br />
was fully up and running last year, and<br />
continues to patent Etex product after<br />
product worldwide.<br />
Optimising planning processes<br />
To keep demand and supply in balance,<br />
we are developing a standardised Sales<br />
& Operations Planning process in our<br />
European Division. More than ever, this<br />
will enable us to avoid product shortages<br />
and deliver the highest level of service.<br />
Planning production, forecasting sales and<br />
scheduling workforce: we have further<br />
optimised these processes to ensure the<br />
right product is available at the right time.<br />
By the end of <strong>2014</strong>, S&OP already proved<br />
its worth. In our pilot company we could<br />
reduce our fire protection inventory by 6%,<br />
while improving our service levels.<br />
Sales excellence<br />
In <strong>2014</strong>, we thoroughly analysed our sales<br />
processes. It is a fact that these vary greatly<br />
depending on the segment they relate to,<br />
ranging from specified technical sales to<br />
distributor sales. Even so, sharing learnings<br />
and expertise across our segments has<br />
proven to be a key factor in improving our<br />
sales excellence.<br />
With combined efforts, we have worked on<br />
improving our sales tools. For instance, we<br />
are continuing to improve and implement<br />
our SAP-based CRM system for the<br />
entire group. What is more, in sectors as<br />
traditional as the building industry, we<br />
continue to develop a sales approach that<br />
fully incorporates the possibilities of the<br />
digital age.<br />
However, sales encompasses more than<br />
efficient processes. It is about knowing<br />
the market and the customers to be able<br />
to create value. Dedicated training and<br />
programmes have been developed for 2015.<br />
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