Energy and Process Industries

The Nordic countries are the proud base for many large and mid-sized process industry players in the areas of Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Paper & Pulp, Packaging, and Steel & metals.

These companies are known for being capital and asset-intensive enterprises. While they operate within long-term planning horizons and investment cycles, they must also respond rapidly to short-term changes in a cyclical environment. As if that weren’t enough, globalization is moving markets around, fluctuating raw material prices are posing new challenges, new competitors are arising in Asian economies, talent management / shortages are increasingly becoming an issue and financial markets are demanding continuous, stable value growth and the simultaneous delivery of short-term positive results.

It’s not easy. These challenges can only be addressed by continuously improving the operational efficiency of global or regional production networks. This means a focus on operational excellence: improved asset utilization and productivity, reduced procurement and infrastructure costs, optimized supply chains and complexity management. If process industry companies especially in the Nordic region are to move forward, they must create new business models and achieve sustainable value-building growth. And if they are to succeed, they must outperform their global competitors.

In other words, they must reconsider and challenge both strategic and operational business activities. A.T. Kearney works with leading companies in the Nordic process industries to do exactly that, using future-focused solutions from both perspectives:

• Suppose a chemical company decides to restructure its global production network. We help by evaluating and balancing the dimensions of the network, making sure that high capacity utilization, enhanced delivery reliability, inventory, operation and quality cost reduction are all stringently examined to ensure the best possible solution.
• Perhaps a company decides to create value through divestment strategies. When done right – and that means when done systematically – value-enhancing divestment enables traditional chemical companies and financial investors to identify key value drivers and successfully realize maximum value from a business considered for divestment.
• How can a packaging player best leverage a global pricing strategy? We work with the client not only to identify the opportunities from its current pricing approaches by leveraging a true cost-to-serve model, but also to identify new, innovative approaches to achieve value-based pricing and consequently realize higher turnover and margins.

For more information about our global practices in this area please click here