This customer may not be a well-known brand in Europe, but it’s highly likely that many of us use their products every day. They’re one of the leading manufacturers of chemical fibers, including nylon.
One of the key applications of this customer’s products is in tyre manufacturing, and it was their customer, a French multinational tyre producer, who made the introduction to Ligentia in 2020.
The nylon manufacturer was in discussions with their tyre making customer about the feasibility of achieving ‘Delivery Duty Paid’ (DDP) deliveries of the nylon products. To achieve this a logistics partner in Europe was needed who was experienced in this area. Ligentia was recommended as a trusted partner who could support this initiative.
Standard in the industrial sector, the nylon manufacturer’s customers required an arrangement called Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) where the nylon manufacturer is responsible for analysing and optimising the inventory that is required to meet manufacturing needs, order the required stock and then deliver when and where the customer needs it, just in time.
Having access to a bonded warehouse that is in close proximity to customers’ manufacturing plants is a key requirement to deliver on VMI. Our customer also required the ability to generate an inter-Europe invoice to customers, which required Ligentia to support them with fiscal representation.
For the original implementation, the tyre producer had specific requirements that they needed our customer’s logistics partner to adhere to, so the solution was developed with the support of both organisations. We received a brief outlining the process that was required and we then developed our operating procedures based on this. The whole solution provided by Ligentia included:
The Ligentia team works with the customer on a weekly basis to plan ahead for deliveries, with a focus on ensuring that we have an agreed exact time for delivery. We can also provide urgent deliveries within 24 hours if required.
Our customer is obliged to hold specific quantities in stock for its customers as a part of their contract, and it’s the Ligentia team who manages this consignment inventory, ensuring that we maintain the right levels of product in Europe to meet their customers’ needs.
The original 2020 contract was to support the delivery of one product, Nylon 66, for a single factory in Europe. Following the initial project’s success, the customer has now set up an office in Frankfurt to further develop their growth. Today Ligentia is shipping, storing and delivering multiple products for a number of the nylon manufacturer’s European customers from two locations, Gdansk and Poznan, and product is being delivered to customer sites across Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia.
The customer now has a well-established platform to distribute in Europe, and they are accelerating their expansion plans. They no longer incur demurrage or storage costs beyond the contract with Ligentia – everything is stored in our warehouses. The contract logistics arrangement allows them to easily expand volumes and extend arrangements to new customers, so they can scale much more quickly.
