When Honeywell targets customer satisfaction with N10bn investment

Nigeria’s big market is attractive; an economy of about 167 million people, with the largest population in Africa, is alluring to foreign and local investors. Those companies like Vodacom that missed investing in the country are gnashing their teeth. Nevertheless, some investors who operate in the economy are not just relying on chances but are making moves to slice a large chunk of market share for themselves where they operate by satisfying the consumers.

The interest in Nigeria has continued to swell Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the economy as the country receives the largest amount of FDI in Africa. “FDI inflows have been growing enormously over the course of the last decade: from $1.14 billion in 2001 and $2.1 billion in 2004, Nigeria’s FDI reached $11 billion in 2009, according to UNCTAD, making the country the 19th greatest recipient of FDI in the world,” report said.

For many companies, understanding the Nigerian consumer, through market research, and satisfying them is a way to building brand loyalty, which is “a guarantor of profitability, market share growth and sustainable success in the marketplace.” Some companies understand this roadmap. Taking a deep assessment of the flour mills industry where it operates, Honeywell Flour Mills plc recently took a different dimension to customer satisfaction by increasing its production through automation of its factory.

The management understands that its appetite for modern technology will not only increase efficiency but enhance customer satisfaction, reduce cost and assist it to meet changing market requirement. Honeywell, which finds relation between automation and customer satisfaction, said “superior operational efficiency ensures consistent production and delivery of top quality flour and a range of flour-based products for the satisfaction of our highly valued customers.”

The N10 billion state-of-the-art automated factory, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, installed by the Switzerland-based technical partner, Buhler AG, has upgraded the production capacity of Honeywell Flour Mills by about 63 percent. This of course has translated to more availability of the product in the market and as this happens, there might in the long run be a reduction in the price of flour products and subsequently the by-products of flour.

The automation of the factory and the subsequent increase of production have become important as the flour mill industry in Nigeria with total installed capacity of 22,000 metric tons is producing at about 50 percent due to exogenous factors. Inasmuch as the challenges of manufacturing are still prevalent, Honeywell, which made a profit of over N2.8 billion this financial year, has assisted to make more products available through its factory automation.

It is also heartening that under the automation, there is no human contact in the production process. Right from the vessel, which imports the wheat from USA, “we store in the silos. After some time in the silos, we start to draw them through series of conveyors and machines into the mill proper,” explained Dele, a factory engineer.

From there the wheat is subjected to cleaning process to remove stones, other grains that are not wheat, sand and other impurities, he said, saying “when this is done, we now subject the wheat to tempering, which is to bring it to the right condition for milling. After about 24 hours when the condition should have been optimal, then we send it to the mill where the shell of the wheat is broken open and the endosperm is crapped off. It goes through a series of gradual reduction process until all the flour is taken out.”

In the production of flour, other products like Semolina are in-between the process of the wheat and the flour. “From the intake at the vessel to the packaging and storage are fully automated,” Dele said.

Delighted on the automation of the factory, which has increased the availability of flour in the market, Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria lauded the company as it believed the new state-of-the-art mills would help boost the company’s production as well as its products in the market. “With the increase in production, there will be no room for artificial scarcity caused at times by some of the stakeholders,” Jacob Adejorin, chairman of the association, said.

Speaking on the new facility, Babatunde Odunayo, executive vice chairman of Honeywell Flour Mills, said “this is to show Nigerians what the over 20 years old indigenous company has been able to achieve.” He said the new equipment would guarantee operational efficiency, which ensures consistent production and delivery of top quality flour and a range of flour-based products for the satisfaction of the company’s highly valued customers.

Comparing the company with other multinationals that have moved from one man business to conglomerates, he said the Honeywell Four Mills had been able to move from family business to public quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Disclosing that the company has plans to further expand its factory to Sagamu, Ogun State, Odunayo believed that its technical partners would also benefit from the installed technology. Honeywell Flour, which has been awarded NIS 9001:2000 certificate, currently operates on installed capacity of 2,610 metric tons per day and has a wheat storage capacity of about 42,500 metric tons with a monthly usage of about 40,000 metric tons.

Calvin Grieder, CEO of Buhler, said consumers should be proud of the new equipment installed at Honeywell, as “it takes courage to invest in state-of-the-art because it is not for quick return on investment but for quality.”

He referred to Honeywell, which operates on 24-hour self generated electricity, “as a Nigerian company that operates with best and international standards.” Discussions are ongoing with Honeywell to train the staff on the handling of the equipment as “there should be harmony between the equipment and the people,” he said.

In a competitive environment, market satisfaction is imperative if any player wants to remain afloat. According to brand experts, “businesses exist to generate profit and continuous customer satisfaction is the key to delivering this. In order to deliver sustainable success, brand loyalty becomes germane. Brand loyalty cannot happen without a thorough understanding of the consumer and a deliberate decision to satisfy and exceed the customer’s expectations.”

This is what has continued to drive the investment and business decisions of Honeywell Flour Mills as it continues to set the standard.