Atlas Chemicals PLC

Atlas Chemicals PLC

Atlas Chemicals PLC

Background

The company concerned is a national and international manufacturer of chemical compounds which are used to manufacture products such as soaps, detergents and cleaning agents. They have over 70 locations globally and in excess of 150 manufacturing and processing plants mainly in developing countries such as Brazil and India. Demand for raw material chemicals is expanding rapidly following a partnership agreement with an international grocery retailer with stores in all major western developed countries. This gives Atlas Chemicals access to local distribution networks in these countries. They have also established a small foothold in the USA, China and several European countries, including France and Sweden. The company has built their business on a chemical extraction related platform but is looking to vertically integrate into other sectors. Currently this includes the manufacture of branded domestic cleaning products and value added services, such as repackaging and the branding of generic chemical products in partnership with a global player in the USA.

Atlas Chemicals is organized into four regional global business units (GBUs) globally. The Americas, Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. Each GBU is lead by a director who is directly responsible to the CEO who is located at the London headquarters. Each GBU has a logistics manager who is responsible for implementation and support of supply chain and logistics matters within a “centralised logistic framework” and also for identifying, justifying, planning and implementing local supply chain projects.

Each GBU currently has a self contained logistics infrastructure and there is very little interaction between them. Atlas Chemicals operation is a push supply chain, concentrating on efficient use of plants and ensuring available stock to meet sales forecasts. Logistics operations are centred on plant who extracts chemicals which are then shipped into a processing plant where numerous value added operations are undertaken to create finished products. Finished products are either stored in various locations or delivered directly to customers. Some regional GBUs outsource logistics activities to specialist organisations; others operate in-house using their own vehicles and warehouses bought by Atlas Chemicals. Management control structures are traditional “command and control” hierarchies with budgets and key performance measures in place.

Global logistics operational management approaches and Atlas Chemicals

Alternative global logistics operational management approaches. Atlas Chemicals logistics operations can form a part of the overall supply chain management for planning effective and efficient flow and storage of goods and related information. Our logistics team is fully qualified in material management and ensures smooth movement from the point of origin to the point of consumption to satisfy the need of your customers. (Baziotopoulos, 2008, 76-99)

Atlas Chemicals Efficient material management of both inward as well as outward flow of goods can make a great difference to your business. Sometimes it is what differentiates a successful business from others. Effective logistics is required not only for customer satisfaction but also for saving in time value of available funds. We prepare comprehensive reports based on sound research to enable our partners to identify logistic ...