Customer Management

GRI 102-43, GRI 102-44, GRI 103-1, GRI 103-2, GRI 103-3
Wacker Chemie AG - Sustainability Report 2015/16

WACKER provides products and services that benefit its customers. Satisfied customers are the basis of our success. To steadily increase their satisfaction, we are in constant dialogue with not only customers, but also suppliers and logistics providers.

SMART is the name of our customer management system that helps us maintain our customer relationships. SMART contains customer profiles and all other relevant information about customers. The system supports Sales, for example, with correspondence and with complaints processing. Every complaint is entered into SMART and systematically tracked until our final reply has been sent to the customer. Standardized measures, some of which are initiated automatically, ensure that the affected customer and associated team are always kept up to date on the complaint status. This helps us to enhance processes, and stops errors from recurring.

WACKER offers existing and prospective customers a further service: the WACKER Infoline. Specialists provide advice on products and related applications by phone or email. If someone asks a question, they get initial feedback within eight hours and a detailed answer within 48 hours.

We regularly solicit feedback from our customers about the quality of our products and services. WACKER , for example, conducts annual customer surveys. Siltronic analyzes the supplier evaluations which its major customers conduct each year. The surveys and comparative analyses have repeatedly confirmed WACKER’s excellent reputation over the years.

WACKER customers can be categorized into three groups: global key accounts, customers, and distributors. Global key accounts are customers of special strategic significance for WACKER and those generating high sales levels. WACKER currently has 40 global key accounts, with which we generated around 25 percent of our 2016 revenue in the chemical divisions – WACKER , WACKER and WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS. Over 55 percent of our chemical-related revenue was from our approximately 8,000 other active customer relationships and around 20 percent from distributors.

Polysilicon
Hyperpure polycrystalline silicon from WACKER POLYSILICON is used for manufacturing wafers for the electronics and solar industries. To produce it, metallurgical-grade silicon is converted into liquid trichlorosilane, highly distilled and deposited in hyperpure form at 1,000 °C.
Silicones
General term used to describe compounds of organic molecules and silicon. According to their areas of application, silicones can be classified as fluids, resins or rubber grades. Silicones are characterized by a myriad of outstanding properties. Typical areas of application include construction, the electrical and electronics industries, shipping and transportation, textiles and paper coatings.
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule made up of smaller molecular units (monomers). It contains between 10,000 and 100,000 monomers. Polymers can be long or ball-shaped.