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THN Team Works across Sites and Functions to Tackle Huge Supply Chain Challenge
June 27th, 2019
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime." – Babe Ruth
Sarves Peri, Supply Chain Leader, remembers the exact moment the THN challenge started. It was 3PM, and he was sitting in a Global Leadership Team (GLT) meeting, only hours away from the start to his vacation week. When his phone beeped, Sarves saw a highly-concerning email from Monument’s THN supplier. Weeks earlier, Monument had finalized a renewed contract for THN with the local Houston supplier – which included Monument paying for a portion of the maintenance needed on the equipment that produces THN. The email Sarves received stated that the supplier wanted Monument to pay for the equipment repairs and replacements in FULL to keep the deal in place – making the partnership financially inviable only weeks before the existing contract ended.
We’ve all had those “wheels falling off the wagon” moments in life, and since Monument relies on THN (Tetrahydronaphthalene) as a key component in several products, including those for a high-value, high-value tolling customer at Baytown, that email was definitely one of those unnerving moments for Sarves. He, in turn, shared the news with the GLT in the room, so that the brainstorming could begin immediately.
They knew three things. First, Monument was NOT going to accept the new deal. Second, this meant they faced a big challenge in the weeks and months ahead. And third, a heavy amount of collaboration would be needed to overcome this challenge by identifying both a short- and long-term “Plan B.”
Calling All Ideas – and All Hands on Deck
The brainstorming quickly extended well beyond the GLT. The Supply Chain team reached out to contacts at a range of toll manufacturers to address the short-term need. The supply costs were high, but necessary in the short-term to maintain uninterrupted service to Monument’s customers.
“The path forward for the long-term was definitely more challenging,” said John Lewis, Houston Area Supply Chain Manager. “We needed team members from across functions to be looking at every potential ‘game piece’ we had on our strategic table.”
One of the most critical (and NEW) “game pieces” on the table was the Bayport facility. The acquisition was still in an early stage, but the new partnership was a lucky break for the THN team.
“We had already begun thinking about ways that Monument might make THN internally, and the Bayport facility – with its quick scale-up capabilities – offered a solid opportunity to make that plan a reality,” said Rick Caines, Vice President, Manufacturing.
Once the team decided to pursue internal production, the next challenge was figuring out how to do that successfully.
“As with many challenges, we broke it down into pieces to solve one hurdle at a time,” said Umair Virani, Commercial Development Manager – and THN Project Manager. “At some point, we realized that the manufacturing process itself could also be broken into pieces. We could outsource the first part of the THN reaction, and then handle the second part (which we are great at) ourselves.”
The R&D and Manufacturing teams worked together – across sites – to prepare for scale up.
“This project truly showcased the expertise of our R&D team,” said Sibel Selcuk, Vice President, Global R&D. “Within a two-week period, they were already recommending tangible steps. Because of their confidence, the Supply Chain team had the confidence to begin ordering the millions of pounds of raw materials we needed to start the scale up.”
Let’s jump back to Bayport for a moment. One of the coolest parts of this story is how the new Bayport partnership enabled success in the THN project, thanks to the hard work of many Texas team members like Bobby Rundberg from Bayport R&D and Danny Kowalski from Baytown Supply chain. The THN collaboration, in turn, enhanced the success of the overall Bayport integration.
“Before the THN project work started, we all had a chance to briefly get to know each other at site visits, so we weren’t strangers when the collaboration began,” said Virani. “And when the work kicked off, because of the project’s urgency, we jumped right over the awkwardness that sometimes happens when teams start working together for the first time. There was a shared sense of ‘let’s get this done together.’”
The overall integration work with Bayport also benefitted from this early collaboration, as the site teams got to know each other very quickly – and bonded through a joint purpose. The THN project also required a quick implementation of Monument’s “stage gate” process at Bayport – an achievement that will be of huge benefit for other new projects to come in the future.
The Collaboration Pays Off
In April, the team completed a successful first trial at the Bayport site. Planning is currently underway to support a similar THN scale-up at the Houston site to further ensure that Monument’s supply can fully meet customer demand.
“The challenge itself reminded us of the importance of building options into our supply chain,” said Sarves. “Moving forward, we plan to be even more proactive about having multiple possibilities for critical product lines.”
The THN project also reinforced several key themes from Monument’s Top Priorities, particularly cross-functional collaboration.
“We’ve all seen and heard the push for collaboration – and here’s a tangible proof that it works,” said Sibel. “From HSE to Operations to R&D to Supply Chain, we worked together to solve a very complex problem in a very short amount of time.”
Team members are also quick to highlight Virani’s excellent project management and his role in keeping everyone aligned and connected – from project start to the work happening today – as well as Sarves’ leadership oversight and support.
“A project this complex can derail fast, so having a razor-sharp focus and one message from the top down ensured we were all moving in the right direction,” said John.
Though Sarves won’t soon forget the moment when he read that jaw-dropping email from Monument’s former supplier, he – and the other team members – recognize that we grow best when we face challenges.
“Early in the process, we created a PPT slide with a listing of the recommended steps for success, and every single one of them panned out,” said Sarves. “This is a testament not only to our existing strengths, but also to our willingness to grow those strengths through hard work and collaboration.
“I’m sure there will be more challenges to come – it’s a fact of life! But I’m just as sure that we’ll be able to tackle them by working together.”
