CHEManager International asked Michael Sauer, Director Channel Strategy & Distribution, Europe, Celanese, and Dr. Jürgen Frisch, Head of Channel Management, Wacker Group, about the reasons for the cooperation of their companies with chemical distributors and the key criteria for the selection of a distribution partner.

CHEManager International: What are the advantages for your company of cooperating with chemical distributors?

M. Sauer: Our vision is to be the first choice chemistry solution source to our customers. In order to fulfill this goal, it is critical that our customers have access to Celanese products and support, regardless of location. Naturally, there are places where our customers may be located where our employees are not present, or destinations where the company cannot fulfill certain logistical criteria in an economical way. It is in these types of situations where we rely on the capabilities of our select distribution partners who also operate with the same guiding principles of Celanese, that being, customer satisfaction and value creation.

J. Frisch: There are several advantages. For instance, distributors provide access to emerging markets and regions which are interesting to us, but which we haven't fully developed yet in terms of local sales teams or offices. Chemical distribution partners help us to enter these markets and to find the most effective and efficient ways to address the needs of our customers there. Distributors are therefore much more than logistics providers. They also help to reduce lead times by making stock and smaller product quantities available locally and by offering one-stop shopping. Most of our distributors also offer expertise and support to develop local formulations. They also help to unify payment terms and make money collection easier. Last but not least, distributors act as trend scouts for local markets and therefore provide valuable information when entering new markets.

In which business areas do you work together with chemical distributors?

M. Sauer: Celanese works with select distributors across most of its business lines. Specific distribution partners can vary from a more commodity or logistics-oriented cooperation, for example, in the case of solvents to a very close relation encompassing collaborative technical efforts to meet customer needs, as is the case with our engineering materials business.

J. Frisch: We partner with distributors in all business areas of our chemical divisions. We collaborate globally, but the business models are always adjusted to the regional markets and to the needs of the local industry.

What are the main criteria to select the best distributor for your needs?

M. Sauer: Since Celanese has a variety of business lines ranging from intermediate chemistry, emulsion polymers to engineering materials and food ingredients, we evaluate potential distributors based on criteria relevant to our specific business needs. Therefore, we developed and utilize an individual selection criteria tool that takes into consideration numerous elements including but not limited to geographical coverage, technical capabilities, depth of knowledge of sales representatives, marketplace reputation, complementary product portfolio, non-competing products in range, business ethics and many more.

J. Frisch: The requirements most important to us are compliance with our company guidelines, expertise in the relevant fields of specialty chemicals, a beneficial product landscape for our products, and transparency, just to name a few.