Background
Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) is a global company whose products touch the lives of people around the world every day. Headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, U.S.A., Eastman manufactures and markets more than 1,200 chemicals, fibers and plastics products. While Eastman's products are not household words, they are used in thousands of consumer products. The company is the world's largest supplier of polyester plastics for packaging; a leading supplier of coatings raw materials, specialty chemicals and plastics; and a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers and basic chemicals. Eastman is one of the top 10 global suppliers of custom-manufactured fine chemicals for pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and other markets.
Challenge
Eastman was generating several thousand Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) annually. Faced with additional regulatory requirements, Eastman was finding it difficult to keep up with the mounting demands on their staff. Since hiring additional personnel was not the preferred option, Eastman's EH&S department needed to find alternate ways to increase productivity in their Product Safety operations.
The Ariel Solution
In March of 2003, Eastman decided to redirect its MSDS authoring strategy by expanding its relationship with Ariel Research (now part of 3E Company) to outsource 100% of their global MSDS authoring. Since Eastman was heavily invested in the utilization of SAP's EH&S module, it was determined that a co-sourcing model was the best method to use for MSDS authoring. In this co-sourcing model, Ariel authors all of Eastman's MSDS's directly on Eastman's SAP EH&S system by running an instance of their SAP EH&S system at Ariel's authoring office. This technique allows for the authored MSDS's to be automatically integrated into Eastman's SAP system.
In October 2003, Ariel assumed total responsibility for authoring all of Eastman MSDS's globally. Ariel achieved productivity and efficiency gains while reducing Eastman's MSDS authoring costs by optimizing Eastman's data usage, dedicating a team of expert MSDS authors to focus solely on authoring and utilizing Ariel regulatory and IT expertise. Since initiating Ariel's services, Eastman Chemical has realized advancements that span beyond cost savings to improved compliance and consistency. The complete transfer of authoring responsibility was accomplished six months earlier than Eastman's original authoring optimization process, a 50% time savings. MSDS' are now produced 60% faster with an 18% cost savings in the Product Safety department.
"… Ariel's impact on Eastman's Commercialization Process Cycle time is a very significant improvement and step forward …" - Greg O. Nelson, Senior V.P. and CTO, Eastman Chemical Company
Results
By transferring MSDS's authoring responsibility to Ariel, Eastman achieved the following results:
- 60% reduction in MSDS authoring turnaround time 18% overall cost savings in the Product Safety department
- Ability to redeploy existing MSDS authors to other functions, allowing greater flexibility/productivity in the Product Safety Department
- Expanded MSDS authoring infrastructure, enabling it to meet current and future authoring needs
- Broader regulatory coverage for North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific
- Consistent MSDS content resulting in improved compliance, reduced risk and decreased liability through process automation
Location: Kingsport, TN
3E Services: Ariel MSDS Authoring
Industry/Market: Chemical Manufacturing
Company Web Site: http://www.eastmanchemical.com