Expanded service roster adds luster to distribution

High-tech shipment tracking, new reference resources, more waste recycling options and on-staff technical experts are helping chemical distributors lure new customers and keep old ones.

Chemical distribution these days is a lot more than taking orders and sending them out on trucks. Increasingly

it is a service-oriented business intended to make the purchase, use and disposal of chemicals as hassle-free as possible. These services do not come cheap, but distributors say they are a fact of life in an era when large chemical consumers are pruning their lists of suppliers in order to save money on procurement.

Take satellite tracking of shipments, which is increasingly common among chemical distributors with large fleets. For Brenntag North America, one of the major chemical shippers in the U.S., this capability, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) to locate individual delivery vehicles, has both customer service and safety and security applications.

The system employs a transponder on the roof of the delivery vehicle that sends a message to a satellite on a timed basis (typically set at 10 minutes) with the location and speed of the vehicle. The satellite relays this information to the central dispatching office.

According to David Garner, vice president of operations at Brenntag, use of the GPS system allows branch offices of the Reading, Pa.-based company to "quickly identify which deliveries have been made and determine if the driver is on schedule for other deliveries that day." The system also has capabilities for two-way e-mail messaging, he adds, which allows drivers to communicate with the home office and keep in touch with their families.

The system's ability to monitor the location and speed of a delivery truck can also serve a vital purpose if the vehicle is stolen or suspected of being involved in terrorist activity, says Garner. In fact, he notes that some versions of the system allow a truck's engine to be reduced to an idle remotely. In this state, the vehicle can be pulled over to the side of the road, but cannot be accelerated to be used as a weapon or to escape.

Another technology-based service Brenntag provides is a system that remotely monitors a customer's chemical storage tanks in order to determine when they must be refilled. Garner says that this capability, which is available from some of the larger chemical distributors, is gaining acceptance among customers because "it eliminates the need for their people to monitor the tank level and place an order for product." With the ability to see the storage tank level and product usage, he adds, Brenntag can schedule deliveries, allowing for a "seamless supply process."

The remote tank monitoring system uses an electronic level measurement sensor placed on a group of storage tanks. The sensor is then connected to either a modem, cell phone or an internet computer server. The modem method sends tank information on a timed basis via a standard phone line to a remote computer. Alternatively, a cell phone can be used to send the tank information on a timed basis to a remote computer. This setup is used when the tank is in a remote location and there are no standard phone lines available. The Internet computer server method allows comprehensive, real-time viewing of tank data, which can be accessed via the Internet by any computer.

According to Garner, software packages are available with various options. One allows the customer to have various alarm set points that alert them when a tank needs to be refilled, or when the tank level is going down during off hours, which could mean that the tank has a leak or is being tampered with. The software also allows a review of past usage information for production scheduling purposes.

A new service from Univar USA, the giant chemical distributor, offers a compilation of information comparing the chemical and physical, properties, costs, applications, and benefits of competing classes of products—for example, different types and brands of artificial sweeteners for food. This seems like an obvious idea, but it has never been done before in the distribution business, says Beth Warren, director of marketing for food ingredients at Univar.

Univar USA, headquartered in Kirkland, Wash., has just unveiled four compilations of data on different classes of food ingredients intended to assist its customers in the food industry. The categories covered in these "function libraries" are acidulents, leavening agents, high-intensity sweeteners, and mineral supplements. The data are presented in the form of easy-to-read tables in brochures. The sweetener table rates seven popular types of sweetening agents by taste, potency, cost per pound, caloric value, function and application. The acidulents compilation lists 11 chemical classes in terms of their form, flavor, solubility, function, applications, and whether or not they are natural. In formulating these tables, says Warren, "our goal was to be as objective as possible." Univar will probably release at least four more compilations of food ingredient data by the end of the year, she notes.

Distributors of chemicals are also stepping up the range of waste management services they offer their customers, particularly in the areas of recycling and reuse of wastes, and waste minimization. Traditionally, the distributors offer to pick up wastes at their customers plants for disposal by licensed contractors. Disposal options might include landfills, incineration, blending into fuels, or aqueous treatment. But with disposal costs rising, more and more chemical consumers are choosing to have their wastes recycled. In fact, recycling and reuse of customer wastes "is the fastest growing area of our business," reports Steve MacDonell, director of Univar USA's ChemCare service, which manages wastes for Univar's customers.

Waste recycling at the ChemCare unit focuses mostly on used or contaminated organic solvents, which are collected and purified by distillation and other methods by Univar's contractors. The purified solvents can then be sold to other Univar customers, usually at a discount over virgin solvents. The recycled solvents may not be pure enough for some facilities, such as those making pharmaceutical or medical products, notes MacDonell, but he says they are clean enough for use in many routine industrial operations. A benefit of the recycling program is that Univar's customers don't need to send as much of their wastes out for expensive incineration and landfilling. They also receive various tax benefits, MacDonell adds. He says costs of the Univar waste management services vary widely, depending on the size of a facility and how much waste must be treated.

As part of its waste management service, says MacDonell, "we work with customers to try to help them minimize wastes by using purer products on the front end, or changing their chemical or processing procedures."

The hiring of chemists, chemical engineers and other technical specialists by chemical distributor for the purpose of advising their customers how to solve technical problems is another development. Most technical service people at distributors have usually been salespeople, notes Jim Leask, director of the energy sector at Univar USA. But in his sector, which supplies chemicals to the oil and gas industries, he says there is a need for nonsales-oriented technical personnel.

Leask's group hired 11 technical people last year. He now has a staff that includes two PhD chemists and 20 to 30 chemical engineers. Many of these staffers also have MBA degrees and past experience working for oil and chemical companies. Univar has also invested in laboratories, including an in-house simulator to model gas processing conditions. He says such a facility is unique for a chemical distributor.

The technical staff at Univar's energy sector spend a lot of time at customer facilities. Their functions are segmented by categories such as purifications or gas-treating absorbents. Their efforts help customers to lower their costs by solving their problems and running their plants more efficiently. And that, Leask hopes, will spur those customers "to give us a larger share of their business."

Product	Taste	Potency	Cost per lb, sugar equiv.*	Calorie kcal/g	Function	Applications
Sugar	***	1x	$0.25	4	Nutritive Sweetener	All Food Applications
NutraSweet brand, Aspartame	***	200x	$0.07	0	Non-Nutritive Sweetener for 100% sugar replacement taste	Beverages, Dairy, Confections, Sauces, Fillings, Desserts, Dry mixes, Seasonings, Low-calorie, Sugar-free
Neotame	***	800x	$0.04	0	Non-Nutritive Sweetener for 25% sugar replacement taste to enhance flavor and reduce costs while maintaining sugar taste	Beverages, Dairy, Confections, Sauces, Fillings, Desserts, Baked goods, Low-calorie, Sugar-free
NeoCrystals, blend of Neotame co-crystallized with sugar	***	80x	$0.09	4	Non-Nutritive Sweetener for 25% sugar replacement with sucrose while maintaining sugar function and sugar taste	Bakery, Beverages, Dairy, Confections, Sauces, Fillings, Desserts, Dry mixes, Seasonings
Maltotame, blend of maltodextrins and Neotame	***	160x	$0.06	4	Non-Nutritive Sweetener for 25% sugar replacement and calorie reduction while maintaining sugar function and sugar taste	Bakery, Beverages, Dairy, Confections, Sauces, Fillings, Desserts, Dry mixes, Seasonings, Low-calorie, Sugar-free
Ace-K	*	200x	$0.07	0	Non-Nutritive Sweetener which requires blending with other sweeteners	Many food applications, but requires blending with other sweeteners for sugar taste
Sucralose	**	600x	$0.25	0	Non-Nutritive Sweetener produced through the chlorination of sugar