Are you buying products or results?

In the end, it’s not about what resources you are using. What matters is how efficiently those
resources are turned into output, quality, and profitability.

Regardless of what your business is and what you are producing, we all have the same
challenge. The costs, the competition and resource efficiency. The common saying “While the
world is changing, we must too” has the truth on it. But what makes the change is our way of
thinking. For the process industry suppliers, it means that we must start thinking differently and
focus on the value creation while the market is in the pressure due high-competition environment.

For years, supplier value creation has been built around the one promise. Replacing the existing
product with a cheaper alternative which does the same as the previous one. In some cases,
this approach makes sense, but it doesn’t change the big picture. Small improvements matter,
but when the focus moves to value creation the bigger gains wait behind the door. It’s time to
start thinking big.

The industry challenge is bigger than product cost

In forest and process industry the suppliers have been challenged always to provide better and
more cost-efficient solutions. This expectation is justified but only takes us half-way through.
One of the biggest limitations is the mutual understanding of expectations between the supplier
and the customer. The supplier proposes a solution in his best understanding, potentially
lacking some key information while the customer might evaluate the proposal narrowly alone
from the product cost perspective.

To take the leap and fight against the global common enemy of the rising costs and the high
level of competition on the pulp, paper and board marked we must start thinking differently. We
must join our forces for the fight of better resource efficiency. Not only to save environment but
also save our competitiveness. That means solutions that not only provide more cost-efficient
products but more valuable solutions that helps the industry to be more efficient, produce
higher quality products with lower resources. That is where the real value is created.

Emphasizing the value

To start the movement on the right direction, first we must “forget” the price and move the focus
on value. If something has price, even a low one, that doesn’t automatically mean that you need
it. If there isn’t real value behind it, you don’t need it. It’ still too expensive. Instead of counting
pennies on individual products, we should focus on how to improve total resource efficiency.
That shift has two parts:

1. Focus on savings through resource efficiency, not through products alone

Whether the solution involves process chemicals, equipment or investments the focus should
not be judged too narrowly. In a chemical service solution, the value doesn’t come from the
price, it comes from the results through several sources at once. Multiple parameters must be
considered like the overall treatment cost, better runnability, improved quality, energy saving
related and the time saving provided. Some of the most valuable savings are often found in
places that are not measured first.

That is why the view must change. Instead of looking at one resource in isolation, the focus
should be on all the resources required to run the process and the output created from them.
And not only during the production itself. The evaluation must also include shutdowns,
cleaning, maintenance and the service efforts. The totality, the big picture. The right and smart
way to evaluate the value creation. Not only asking what one resource costs but asking how
efficiently the solution turns resources in the high-quality production. This is the only thing that
matters.

2. Prove the value through data

Second part is showing the results through data. This is not the hardest part of the value
creation. It is very straight forward process. Collect the right information, look at the trends and
compare different data points. In the end you get the gut-feeling based on the measurable
outcomes. But no one “buys” or understands the gut feeling, it’s only someone’s perspective to
the one specific matter.

What people understands is numbers, especially in the form of money. Tweak this, change that,
adjust those, use less chemistry or use more chemistry and you will save this amount of money
today and day after tomorrow. That is the one thing that people understand and what is easy to
accept. When value comes visible, it’s much easier to understand.

The hard part is the building the engine

The hard part is to build the engine that makes this possible. Well, the answer in easy. Just
combine the fragmented data from multiple different sources that is constantly changing and
shifting. While considering that people are involved with their own perspectives and ideas of
how the industrial system and process should be run and how the process parameters should
be adjusted to gain the desired savings. Unfortunately, the causes and effects are not always
visible in real time, chemistry or investments included or not.

But it’s totally doable, and we at Banmark are on it with our partners. In fact, this is already being
done in several industrial processes where savings can be followed online and where the
impact of process variation can be seen directly in performance, losses, or improvement
potential.

The next step for suppliers in the future is clear. We must provide easy applicable solutions that
are smart enough to utilize “big data”, capable of understanding process delays and precise
enough to support decisions how the parameters should be adjusted in this moment to make
sure the resource efficiency is maximized in the next moment.

Value is built together

This will not happen if one side works alone in the dark corner and suddenly comes up with a
perfect solution. It only happens if the suppliers truly understand customers goals and desired
outcomes. In the end of the day, when talking about the saving, the only question that matters
is how much was saved, not where it was saved. It comes to the one conclusion: how much
resources were needed to create the necessary production.
This kind of level of understanding only comes through discussions and the cooperation to form
the total understanding of industrial processes. Smart solutions are not made in the isolation,
these are made through the combined knowledge of process specialists, production teams,
technical experts and the partners who understand the full system. AI and advanced analytics
will support this development, but they will not replace understanding. These are powerful tools
that must be trained, guided, and used with real process knowledge. The future belongs to
suppliers and customers who can build that value together. Not by selling products alone, but
by improving resource efficiency, strengthening competitiveness, and delivering measurable
results.

Banmark Oy Ab
Development Director Mikko Rantanen