We Appreciate Your Business, Please Stay On the Line !!

This is a very good article I came across written by Robert Plant. Though the topic under discussion is very different than what I use on my blog, I am posting here as its very relevant and applicable for all customer service oriented industries.

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On a recent business trip I somehow left my credit card at a restaurant in San Juan. No big deal, I thought: Simply call the bank. When I got home, I eventually found, hidden on a remote corner of the web site, the number to call for lost cards. I was assuming this would be an important call for them, but I was left on hold to think about the power asymmetry between service provider and customer.

During this time I was subjected to sales pitches for sundry credit-protection services and told it "only takes a few minutes to enroll." Clearly, this institution believes it's less important to meet your service needs than to get you to spend more. But what could I do? I couldn't hang up. I had to resolve the problem. So that's how I spent the next 31 minutes.

I experienced a similar asymmetry when a credit-card company informed me that the terms and conditions for claiming hotel rewards had changed. For example, the number of miles needed for a free night in a top-category hotel room had gone from 125,000 to 160,000. "If you're not satisfied with these changes you can cancel your account by calling us," the statement said — hardly an attempt at building customer satisfaction or loyalty. Just as before, I was stuck; I didn't want to cancel the agreement and forfeit my accumulated miles.

Customers — maybe even your customers — experience this kind of thing every day. They feel small compared to your bigness. They feel weak in comparison with your power. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Companies in a few industries have adopted policies of transparency and accountability that reduce some of the asymmetry. Airlines are a good example. JetBlue offers rebates under clearly stated circumstances: If your flight is delayed an hour and a half to an hour and 59 minutes, you get a $25 credit; if you're delayed six hours or more, you get a round-trip ticket.

But airlines did this in response to new government regulations establishing fines for companies that leave customers sitting for hours in planes on the ground. Those regulations themselves were the result of a push by customer-advocacy groups such asFlyersRights. If the airlines had assumed that consumers were weak and insignificant, they were wrong. Consumers got so mad that they figured out how to be powerful.

Your company shouldn't wait for customers to do that. The time to revisit your customer guarantees is now.

Here are a few proactive steps a company can take to reduce the asymmetry that customers despise:

• Make it an ironclad policy to honor original contractual agreements, come what may. If you're a credit-card company or a hotel and you've told customers they need a certain number of miles or points or whatever to get a free room, keep the requirement at that level. If this becomes a burden for the company, make it harder for customers to earn future points. That way you're not punishing people you made a commitment to in the past.
• Don't punish customers by manipulating the rules. Companies that play bait-and-switch not only create dissatisfied customers but generate resentment and end up with lower loyalty rates. For example, phone companies that promised unlimited data plans and then, at contract renewal, changed the mechanism to retain these functions are seen by customers as unreliable partners.
• Explain why an action is being taken, and be trustworthy. If a call center is busy, don't tell customers the hold time is five minutes and then, after four minutes (as higher-priority customers enter the queue), revise that to 10 minutes. If the wait is going to be long, have the system take customers' numbers and call them back — and if you say you're going to call back, do call back.
• Be there for customers when they need you. If you've explicitly or implicitly offered a certain level of service, just provide it. Don't try to nibble away at its corners or mindlessly try to turn each service encounter into a sale. Customers don't enjoy hearing recorded pitches when they're holding for your service reps.
• Don't conceal important information. Don't take the phone number off your web site or hide critical service information deep in a site. FAQs are great, but customers still need to talk to your people. Open the person-to-person channel, and monitor it: Measure the call center's queue length, answering speed, and abandoned-call proportion, as well as customers' rate of zeroing out (hitting "0" repetitively to get an operator).
• Empower your employees at all levels to change processes in customers' favor. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh instills this approach into the company culture, with the desired aim of "wowing" customers.

If you don't take these steps, you're leaving yourself open to customer flight. Customers' memories of the times when they were poorly served tend to be a lot more vivid and longer-lasting than their recall of seamless service experiences. You also leave yourself vulnerable to possible retaliation through social media. Reacting to a social-media disaster is a much more expensive proposition than providing excellent customer service and first-time problem resolution.

In big companies, it's easy for managers to forget that the acquisition of each customer represents a real victory for product development, marketing, and sales. Don't squander that effort by letting customers slip away due to service failures. By fighting the slide to a power-asymmetry culture, you'll bind your customers closer to your company, a very desirable outcome in an environment of decreasing consumer loyalty.

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EGoM to meet to firm up new bidding norms for Ultra Mega Power Projects

A top ministerial panel headed byDefence Minister A K Antony will meet next Thursday to finalise fresh bidding norms for ultra mega power projects. 

If the norms are approved, the process of invitation of bids for the proposed ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) is likely to pick up pace. 

"The Empowered Group of Ministers will meet on July 25 for finalising the new standard bidding documents for the UMPPs," a Power Ministryofficial said. 

These projects are the ones where the fuel source is established in advance. 

UMPPs are coal-based generation projects with an average capacity of 4,000 MW. The new bidding norms will apply to Case-I and II projects. 

Case-I projects are where developers have the choice to decide on location, fuel and technology to be used. 

In Case II, the location of the project and fuel to be used are already decided before start of competitive bidding. 

A decision is expected to speed up the process of inviting bids for the proposed UMPPs in -Chhattisgarh (Sarguja), Odisha (Bedabahal) andTamil Nadu (Cheyyur). 

The government has so far allotted four UMPPs of which three have been bagged by Reliance Power -- Sasan ( Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam ( Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand). Tata Power has already commissioned the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat. 

With significant volatility in fuel prices, especially in imported coal costs, many power generators have been adversely impacted since they don't have the option to pass through the higher costs to end consumers. 

Power sector, which is projected to see a capacity addition of about 88,000 MW in the current Five Year Plan (2012-17), is grappling with multiple woes. These include fuel scarcity, environmental hurdles and weak financials of distribution companies.

Assam Petrochemical to acquire 200acre land for 100Tonne Sulphonated Formaldehyde Project

Public sector undertaking AssamPetro-chemicals is looking to acquire around 200-acre land to set up a new manufacturing plant with an installed capacity to produce 100 tonnesof sulphonated formaldehyde per day. 

The company, which is investing Rs 1,028 crore to set up an integrated methanol-acetic acid plant in Assam, has zeroed in on land at Goalpara district in Assam. 

"We will set up a formalin plant in the state. For this, we are looking to acquire around 200 acres of land in the next one year," Assam Petro-chemicals Ltd (APL) Managing Director Ratul Bordoloi told PTI here. 

The company has already seen a land parcel in Goalpara and it is likely to take the possession within next one year, he added. 

"The government has identified some land and we have seen this. It is as per our requirement and we will go for it," Bordoloi said, but declined to share the value of the land. 

As part of its long-term plan, APL will set up the formalin plant. 

The product sulphonated formaldehyde is a chemical used as additive with cement for bringing down the cement requirement for civil constructions. 

Bordoloi said: "We will set up the formalin plant after we are done with the ongoing methanol-acetic acid project. It will be after 2016. The unit is proposed to have an installed capacity to product 100 tonnes of formalin every day." 

Although it has not been finalised, the plant construction is likely to cost Rs 32 crore, he added. 

APL, a government of Assam undertaking, is implementing a Rs 1,028-crore methanol-acetic acid project in the state. 

Earlier this month, it had raised a debt capital of Rs 635 crore from a cluster of 10 banks to complete the project. 

The methanol-acetic acid plant has been envisaged and is under implementation. PMC Consultancy has been engaged for setting up of the integrated Plant. The Project is scheduled to be completed in 2014. 

Bordoloi said after the completion of the project, the employee strength of the company will go up to around 600 people from 362 people at present.

In APL, the state government holds 51 per cent stake and the rest under Oil India Ltd's control. 

In the government's portion, Assam Gas Company and Assam Industrial development Corporation also have equity participation. 

Incorporated in 1971, Assam Petro-Chemicals was the first entity to manufacture petrochemicals in India using natural gas as feedstock.

JSW in talks to purchase stake in Sandur Manganese & Iron Ore

JSW Steel, owned by billionaire Sajjan Jindal, is in talks to purchase a significant stake inSandur Manganese and Iron Ores in Karnataka to improve its access to iron ore and cut logistics costs, two people with direct knowledge of the development said. 

"JSW is in talks to buy a significant stake of the promoter in Sandur Manganese at a considerable premium to its current market price," said an investment banker with direct knowledge of the deal. He declined to provide further details as the deal is yet to be closed. The promoters, who own 74.15% stake in the company, have appointed investment banker Edelweiss Financial Servicesto scout for a buyer. 

JSW, India's largest domestic steelmaker by capacity, currently sources iron ore from India's largest iron ore miner, the state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation, through e-auction. The iron ore comes from NMDC's mines in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The proposed transaction is intended to ensure assured supply from the Sandur mines located 30 km from its 12 million tonne Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka. The company is already buying a part of its iron ore requirement from Sandur. 

"We are open to selling stake in the listed company to a partner if they are interested in buying surplus iron ore for which an equity holding is essential, '' Nazim Sheikh, joint managing director, Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores said. 

''We are in talks with five strategic investors including JSW to build an alloy steel plant with an investment of anywhere between 900 crore and 1,000 crore which is partly financed by equity and debt.'' Sandur will continue to own majority stake in the new joint venture, he added. The iron ore supply to JSW's Vijaynagar plant, which used to be sourced primarily from its Karnataka mines, jointly owned by the Karnataka government, was hit after the Supreme Court ordered all mines in the state to sell iron ore through e-auction. 

"'The company (Sandur) has been talking about divestment for sometime. JSW is keen to acquire iron ore mines,'' a person with direct knowledge of the company said. "'We do not comment of market rumours and speculations,'' a JSW spokesperson said. On Monday, Sandur Manganese shares rose 1.86% to close at 502 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

" A deal will help JSW cut logistic costs as it pays around 2,000 more for every tonne of iron ore they purchase from Chhattisgarh or Odisha,'' Ashish Kejriwal, metal and mining analyst at brokerage Elara Capital,said. ''But (right now)it has to buy iron ore at market price through e-auction, denying the company the price advantage of being an owner of the mines.'' 

''The company is hoping that the apex court may relax its stringent order of selling iron ore through e-auctions for captive mine owners in future which will help the company to source iron ore much cheaper,'' Kejriwal added.

Posco shelves Rs 32,000 crore greenfield plant in Karnataka

South Korea's Posco has decided to shelve its plan to build a Rs 32,000-crore greenfield steel plant in Karnataka due to unavailability of a captive mine.

"The proposal was based on a captive iron ore mine, but the allotment of any captive mine was taking long," a senior Posco executive told ET. "The identified reserve (Ramandurga) that we had to share with other investors wasn't large enough for the kind of plans we had in mind."

Posco India's proposed 6 million tonnes per annum plant in Gadag district had also faced opposition from villagers led by the leaders of a local religious mutt.

"Karnataka is a critical player in India's steel market. We and the state agreed that while this particular project will not work, we could consider other projects in the future," the Posco executive added.

Posco had recently asked the state government to refund the Rs 60 crore it had paid for the 3,382 acres of land in Gadag.

Meanwhile, in view of the Supreme Court-imposed regional production cap of 30 mtpa, uncertainty continues over whether the state can allot Ramandurga to any of the companies whose names have done the rounds in the past. These include JSW - which has a 10mtp steel plant in Vijayanagar but no captive mine to feed it, Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal - both of which have promised to set up plants. The latter, though last year, withdrew its application for an iron ore deposit in the Donimalai range, stating that initial exploration had indicated insignificant and poor ferrous content. According to state officials, ArcelorMittal has also relinquished about 1,500 acres of the original 4,000 acres identified for its proposed steel plant at Kudatini.

Posco, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, says a Karnataka official was the last to sign on at the glittering mega investor event organised by the state in 2010. The company then had been committed to building a Rs 51,000 crore, 12mtpa greenfield plant at Jagatsinghpur in Odisha. But the project, five years after it had been inked, seemed to be running into regulatory obstacles, even as locals fiercely opposed land acquisition.

Karnataka, with its iron ore-rich districts of Bellary, Chitradurg and Tumkur, had seemed a good alternative to Posco, even as the Odisha project showed little signs of progress. Although company executives had noted the possible constrain with regard to availability of water in Karnataka, they agreed to build a 6mtpa steel plant.

Welcoming Posco's exit, HK Patil, the minister in charge of Gadag district where the plant was to have been located, said: "We don't know whether they have requested or not, but Posco going away from that area is a welcome move and the people of Gadag will be happy. Everyone knows the way Posco tried to get into Karnataka. There were a lot of allegations that there was no transparency, especially with the (BJP) government at that time."

Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, though, called it a setback. "It is the duty of the government to give proper attention and see that it (Posco) continues here. It is a setback. I will see it is continued; I will discuss with the chief minister," he said.

Meanwhile, the situation has improved considerably for Posco's Odisha project. After an 18-month ban on mining activities, operations have resumed in the state with an annual production cap of 30mt for the next few years. Earlier, when the Supreme Court had announced its judgement, the South Korean company had seen a possible opportunity in the auction of a set of mines, identified as category 'C' for the serious nature of violations in their running.

However, a senior Posco India executive said: "The problem with the 'C' category mines is the valuations. It's uncertain how this will be done, and it may be a few years before their reserves are assessed again."

Posco has been handed over the 2,700 acres in Jagatsinghpur in Odisha for the 8mtpa steel plant. In May, the top court had given a favourable order that asked the central ministry to reconsider Odisha's recommendation for prospecting rights to the Khandadhar deposit in the state.

Coal India to sign Fuel Supply Agreement with NTPC

State-run Coal India will tomorrow enter into 7-8 more fuel supply pacts with powermajor NTPC for 4,000 MW generation capacity, a top official said today. 

The development follows after the logjam on the issue ended last week when NTPC signed fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with Coal India Ltd(CIL) for 500 MW Kahelgaon unit in Bihar and 500 MW Farraka unit in West Bengal. 

"NTPC is signing FSAs with us tomorrow. FSAs would be seven or eight for about 4,000 MW out of 10,000 MW. We have already signed two for Farraka and Kahelgaon," CIL Chairman and Managing Director S Narsing Rao told reporters here. 

Rao said the dispute with NTPC over quality of fuel supply by CIL was "a kind of sorted out" and "hopefully things would get resolved". 

"There is an understanding between NTPC and us that how do we solve this third party evaluation extrapolating into the period from when they reduced the payment affected from October last year," Rao said. 

He added there would be a third party sampling of coal to ascertain its quality at the loading end. 

Replying to another query, he said total coal linkage for NTPC for new generation power plants is about 28 million tonnes. 

NTPC had refused to enter into FSAs with CIL over quality issues of the dry-fuel supplied to it and had stopped payment to Coal India subsidiary, Eastern Coalfields Ltd. 

Retorting to the step, the world's largest coal miner had temporarily stopped supply of fuel to NTPC which was resolved later following government's intervention. 

Rao said NTPC owed "close to Rs 4,000 crore to Coal India" and NTPC has started paying back the money. 

Last week, NTPC signed two FSAs with Coal India for supply of 2.31 million tonnes (MT) of coal from its arm Eastern Coalfields. 

A total of 17 FSAs are to be signed by NTPC for a total generation capacity of about 10,000 MW, Rao said. 

There were two major issues which led to the delay of over one year before a compromise was arrived at by CIL and NTPC on FSA. One issue was how to treat the pre-2009 FSA with the 2012 FSA. 

It was resolved after both agreed that the supplies received at both the stations would be met and thereafter the surplus would be considered for incentive. 

Another issue was how to deal with coal which was below 3100 kilo calories per kg. 

NTPC was not willing to accept below 3100 kilo calories, but its board finally agreed to pay as per the new grading and that for incentive only 25 per cent of the quantity supplied below 3100 kilo calories would be considered.

MRC Global Completes Flow Control Acquisition

MRC Global has completed the previously announced acquisition of the operating assets of Dan H. Brown, D/B/A Flow Control Products (Flow Control). Founded in Odessa, Texas in 1981, Flow Control is a leading provider of pneumatic, electric and electro-hydraulic valve automation packages and related field support, including production facilities, pipelines and plant operations, to the Permian Basin energy industry. Flow Control employs 25 people and will operate as an MRC Valve Automation Center. Flow Control reported revenues of USD 28M in 2012. "We are pleased to have completed this acquisition as part of our continued commitment to our customers in the North American Shale plays", Andrew R. Lane, MRC Chairman, President and CEO, said. "I would like to welcome Flow Control's experienced and technically knowledgeable valve professionals to our team in the Permian Basin."

METSO to launch new line of Neles Globe Control Valve in Yr 2014

Metso's new line of Neles globe control valves launched last year, which targeted the Asia Pacific, Chinese and Indian petrochemical, refining and oil & gas industries in its first phase, will be launched globally in 2014. 

The new globe control product line builds and expands on technology and service capabilities acquired when Metso purchased the South Korean company Valstone Control in 2012. 

Metso's new Neles globe valve product line is targeted at critical processes where extreme pressures and temperatures are issues. The Valstone products have been used widely in such applications in the Asia Pacific oil and gas and power industries. These customers will now have convenient access to Metso's advanced control and safety systems as well as its advanced materials and seal technologies. 

Metso's new Neles globe valve series is designed for both general and severe service applications. The top of the line severe service valves use the Omega 'Labyrinth' trim design to tackle even the toughest applications. Neles globe valves are used in various severe applications including anti-surge service. Each of the offerings is available with a variety of seat, seal, trim and actuation options to make them adaptable to a wide range of process conditions. According to See Hoe Lau, vice president of Metso Automation's Asia Pacific Sales & Services, "With the introduction of our globe valve product line to the APAC market, our customers in Asia Pacific, China and India will now be able to choose the best possible control valve solution for their applications from a broad range of products. Customers in other regions of the world will have the same opportunity when we launch the Neles globe valve line globally in 2014."

NEW ROTARY AIRLOCK VALVES FROM ACS

ACS Valves introduces a new line of cast iron rotary airlock valves designed to extend the primary process optimisation benefits typically associated with high-end, specialty-application valve designs to general industry.



This new line of ACS cast iron rotary airlock valves features the ACS RotorRail that enables tool-less access to the rotor and all internal surfaces of the housing without time-consuming disassembly of the rotor, or the removal from service of upstream or downstream equipment commonly associated with standard valve configurations.



The ACS cast iron rotary airlock valve with RotorRail has shown, when compared to bolt-together housing designs, to reduce rotor service cycle times by 78%, increasing the total process uptime by 18% during a typical 8-hour operating shift. The cast iron housings of these ACS rotary valves are cast in North America, and are CNC-machined to precise tolerances. The optimal inlet/outlet seal produced by these ACS rotary airlock valves is achieved using the standard ACS Valves' 8-vane rotor design. The ACS Valves 8-vane rotor design eliminates excess pressure loss through the system, ensures cost-efficient upstream and downstream material management, and reduces process energy consumption.



These ACS rotary airlock valves are available in sizes from 6 inches to 16 inches, with pressure differentials up to 15 PSIG, and temperature tolerance up to 500ºF. Rotor configurations include closed-end, metering, shallow-pocket, Teflon-coated and adjustable-tip. Adjustable rotor tips are available in stainless steel, hardened steel, or bronze. Interior surface coating options include hard chrome and Teflon.

Bechtel awarded PMC contract by QAPCO for Ras Laffan Petrochemical Project

Bechtel has been selected by the Qatar Petrochemical – Qatar Petrochemical Company partnership (QP-QAPCO), to provide project management services for construction of the Al Sejeel mega-petrochemical complex in Ras Laffan, Qatar. 

Bechtel will provide project management services over the course of the project starting with the front-end engineering design phase to ensure the quality, safe, and timely construction of the project.

"Bechtel's contribution to the mega-petrochemical complex will be strategic, as Bechtel benefits from extensive experience and is a leader in the construction of petrochemical plants all around the world," said Dr. Mohammed Yousef Al-Mulla, vice chairman and CEO of QP-QAPCO.