Customer and Supplier Management

WACKER strives to provide products and services that benefit its customers. Satisfied customers are critical to our success. To steadily enhance their satisfaction, we are in constant dialog with not only customers, but also suppliers and logistics providers.

The WACKER SILICONES, WACKER POLYMERS and WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS divisions use the customer information and control system (KISS) to manage their customer relations. KISS supports Sales, for example, with correspondence and with complaints evaluation/processing. Every complaint is entered into KISS and systematically tracked until our final reply has been sent to the customer. We endeavor to reply to customers within 48 hours.

We regularly solicit feedback from our customers about the quality of our products and services. WACKER POLYSILICON, for example, conducts annual customer surveys. The Siltronic business division analyzes the supplier evaluations which its major customers conduct each year. The surveys and comparative analyses have repeatedly confirmed WACKER’s excellent reputation over the years.

We also seek to build up and nurture partnerships with the best suppliers. Our purchasing conditions require suppliers to observe our business principles, e.g. the sustainability aspects entailed by Global Compact. Where a violation is identified, WACKER takes corrective action. This can range from joint decisions on improvements to temporary blocking of the supplier through to termination of the business relation.

WACKER ensures that suppliers are certified to, and comply with, the Global Compact’s sustainability principles. (photo)

WACKER ensures that suppliers are certified to, and comply with, the Global Compact’s sustainability principles.

We also ensure that our suppliers are certified to ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environmental protection). Our complaints management system enables us to improve processes at short notice. Our key suppliers’ performance is entered into an evaluation which we discuss with them collaboratively. WACKER honors the best suppliers and shippers at the annual Supplier Days held by Technical Procurement & Logistics (MW).

In 2009 and 2010, MW began systematically analyzing its most important suppliers around the world for the first time. The goal here is to remove risky suppliers and to preempt threats to the supply chain. More than 1,000 suppliers from Europe, Asia and the USA were evaluated on the basis of five risk factors: unique selling proposition, quality, stability, protection of intellectual property, and importance to production at WACKER.

For many years now, WACKER’s Siltronic subsidiary has been deploying its own risk management system for suppliers as a way of securing deliveries and services in the long term. Suppliers are assessed by criteria such as quality, delivery reliability and solvency. The system then categorizes them by risk. Where the risk to criteria fulfillment is acute, countermeasures are promptly taken.