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About the Client

Metso Paper is the leading global supplier of processes, equipment, and services to the pulp and paper industries. Metso’s install base includes roughly 1,500 paper machines and 800 pulping processes in operation today. It is part of Metso Corporation (www.metso.com), the core businesses of which are Metso Paper, Metso Automation, Metso Minerals, and Metso Ventures. It has net sales of 4,221 million euros and 22,000 employees.

The Challenge

The North American pulp and paper industry has undergone significant change. With new plants in Asia and South America, the industry is now global and more competitive in nature. Companies aren’t building new mills but many are retrofitting existing mills and seeking ways to improve processes and output. This has led to growth in technical consulting services.

As Metso was striving to get closer to customers, the company’s Canadian operations began to upgrade to the more client-focused ISO 9001:2000 certification. One of the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 certification is the need to implement a customer-feedback program.

“We wanted to implement a comprehensive but practical survey. We looked for a third party with progressive and innovative survey delivery and analysis expertise,” said Rick Leroux, General and Business Manager with Metso Paper in Montreal, Quebec.

Metso selected The Agili-T Group partially because of our excellent track record servicing B to B clients and because of our advanced Androfact B to B web-based surveying platform.

The Process

Agili-T began working with Metso in 2004 to capture feedback from client stakeholders and then deliver customer intelligence to senior management at Metso. The team worked to identify specific customer interaction areas the survey should cover, including which departments – sales, service, engineering, and so on – needed to improve processes.

Agili-T met with Metso senior management and business unit managers during a discovery phase to acquire an in-depth understanding of the organization, customer landscape, and competitive environment.

Based on discovery information, Agili-T was able to:

• Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Develop a comprehensive survey questionnaire to serve as an operational effectiveness
• assessment tool
• Determine the data-collection instrument to be used
• Establish an internal and external communications program to make both Metso clients and Metso managers aware of the program and the reasons for it
• Produce an analytical framework to deliver meaningful survey results to Metso based on the overall paper business, board business, tissue business, and fibre business

The Solution

Agili-T designed an online web survey using its enterprise feedback technology to capture data. A paper survey was also offered as an alternative to respondents without online access. The first survey was conducted in fall 2004, and the response rate was excellent. Agili-T obtained feedback from 90% of Metso Paper's accounts, representing over 80% of the company’s revenues.

Once the survey was completed, Agili-T submitted a report to Metso senior management and worked closely with Metso to develop an action plan.

Thank-you letters were sent to surveyed customers with overview of the survey results and the actions Metso planned to take. “In many cases, we sat down with customers and discussed the results, then developed a series of improvement or alignment actions,” said Mr. Leroux.

Business Impact

The survey has had a strong, positive impact on Metso’s customer relationships, Mr. Leroux indicated. Metso used survey results to establish a customer-service benchmark and then defined activities and areas that required improvement. Metso also developed Key Account Plans – customer/business unit action plans – based on survey results.

Acting on the survey has enabled Metso boost revenue by over 20% in the accounts surveyed. In 2005, Metso conducted a follow-up survey and found that its key customers acknowledged having experienced service improvements. These results validated the work that Metso had done and encouraged the company to continue its process and service improvement programs across the board.

The survey process that started in Canada was so successful that an identical program was recently implemented for Metso Paper USA and Metso Minerals Canada. Metso has indicated that it would like to implement this program globally.