From Complexity to Clarity: Inventory Optimization at Clariant

The main challenge centered on the perception that there were limited opportunities to reduce inventory due to:

• Made-to-order replenishment strategy: Compared with its other business units, Catalysts maintains an MTO replenishment strategy, hence not planning for inventory. Demand is driven by long customer order cycles and managed as separate quote-based projects.

• Global supply chain setup: Global supply chain setup: Catalysts serves customers through a global manufacturing footprint. By its nature, it maintains long lead times and thus holds high inventory value.

This required an outside-in view of Clariant CA’s inventory levels and the identification of reduction opportunities.

• • Qualitative assessment of Clariant CA’s inventory management processes.
  • Quantitative assessment of inventory health, baseline performance, and improvement opportunities.
  • A roadmap and improvement initiatives to capture inventory opportunities.

Bluecrux used the inventory command center within its in-house decision and analytics platform, Axon™, to model Clariant CA’s end-to-end value chain network and performance using data from 2019 to 2025.

Bluecrux supported Catalysts’ Head of Supply Chain and BU President in reporting the results to the Executive Leadership Team, with a focus on partner engagement.

• Used Axon to support value chain and inventory analysis.
• Identified qualitative pain points in inventory management, including scoring against a Gartner-based maturity curve.
• Conducted quantitative analysis across seven areas…, validating double-digit inventory reduction opportunities.
• Identified 16 improvement initiatives, mapped on a +/-2-year roadmap to capture the identified potential.