Customer Service of ACI Limited

Customer service of Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited

Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited is one of the leading conglomerates in Bangladesh, with a multinational heritage. The purpose of credit section is giving an opportunity to multilevel business and government personnel whereby that particular business can survive with fulfilling the company’s strategic objectives. An effective credit management policy lead the company in the way where they can prove themselves as superior with this aggressive mechanism that is justified by their operational procedure and result. The credit policy helps to boost a company’s sales position along with cash sales so that ultimate superiority can be achieved. Here, the credit procedure of ACI limited is focused where way of providing credit is discussed where terms and condition and legal approach of credit management are evaluated. Also, procedure of credit grant and facility are highlighted where rules and regulation about maintenance of credit and payment procedure are justified.

The proper segmentation of market and level of credit according to the customer are also developed. Besides credit procedure a relation between customer and employee relation is established, where it is shown that satisfaction level of employee has a huge impact on the satisfaction level of customer. As employee gives his best only if he stays satisfied and it results with the customer satisfaction. Business depends on mainly in customer and employee relation. If it goes with a positive attitude, the business sure will go to a desired position.

Mission and Vision of ACI Limited

The efforts of ACI limited are focused on delivery of quality products and services in all areas of customer needs with the aim to add to increased value to shareholders‟ investment and offer highest possible benefits to the customers. There must have the mission as well as vision what should back every efforts of the organization.

Mission

ACI‟s mission is to enrich the quality of life of people through responsible application of knowledge, skills and technology. ACI is committed to the pursuit of excellence through world-class products, innovative processes and empowered employees to provide the highest level of satisfaction to its customers.

Vision

• Endeavor to attain a position of leadership in each category of its businesses.
• Attain a high level of productivity in all its operations through effective and efficient use of resources, adoption of appropriate technology and alignment with our core competencies.
• Develop its employees by encouraging empowerment and rewarding innovation.
• Promote an environment for learning and personal growth of its employees.
• Provide products and services of high and consistent quality, ensuring value for money to its customers.
• Encourage and assist in the qualitative improvement of the services of its suppliers and distributors.
• Establish harmonious relationship with the community and promote greater environmental responsibility within its sphere of influence.

Values

• Quality
• Customer Focus
• Fairness
• Transparency
• Continuous Improvement
• Innovation

Business Units

Pharmaceuticals

ACI carries the legacy of ICI- world renowned British Multinational in providing the people of Bangladesh with quality medicines and healthcare products. Its state-of-the art pharmaceutical plant represents Bangladesh’s quest for a truly world class manufacturing facility. ACI’s rich heritage leads to innovative and higher value added formulations.

The comprehensive product range of ACI pharmaceuticals include products from all major therapeutic classes and in various dosage forms like tablet, capsule, dry powder, liquid, cream, gel, ointment, ophthalmic and injectable. ACI Pharma also has state of the art plant on Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS). It produces world class Modified Release drug and medicine to cater the requirement of pharmaceutical manufacturer of domestic and international market.

It exports high quality pharmaceuticals to a good number of countries of Asia, Africa & South America.

Consumer Brands & Commodity Products

The Consumer Brands Division boasts in having an unequivocal presence in consumers’ heart with the market leading brands like ACI Aerosol, ACI Mosquito Coil, Savlon. These are the persistent performers in keeping the household clean and free from germs and harmful insects.

The necessity of pure food in the minds of Bangladeshi consumers especially in the commodity food business has pushed ACI to fill up the market gap by producing commodity products such as Salt, Flour and Spices. Now the customers of Bangladesh are ensured with 100% pure Salt, Spices products and Wheat products under the brand name of “ACI Pure”.

ACI also represents the world renowned product range of Colgate, Nivea, Tetley, Godrej & Dabur in Bangladesh through distribution and forming joint ventures.

Agribusinesses

ACI Agribusiness is the largest integrator in Bangladesh in Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and deals with Crop Protection, Seed, Fertilizer, Agrimachineries, and Animal Health products. These businesses have glorified presence in Bangladesh.

CC & PH supplies crop protection chemicals, Seed supplies Hybrid Rice, vegetable and Maize seeds, Fertilizer Supplies Micronutrient and Foiler fertilizer, Agrimachineries supplies Tractors, Power Tiller and Harvester and Animal Health supplies high quality Nutritional, Veterinary and Poultry medicines and vaccines.

ACI Agribusiness is having strong partnership with national and international R & D companies, universities and research institutions. Before introducing any product, it is elaborately tested in the laboratory and farmers field.

ACI provides solution to the farmers through a large team of scientists & skilled professionals.

Subsidiaries

ACI Formulations Limited

ACI formulation Limited (ACI FL) is a subsidiary of ACI limited, located at Gazipur in the out skirt of Dhaka. ACI FL manufactures majority of the products of ACI Strategic Business Limited except for the Pharmaceutical Division. The factory is equipped with the state of the art facilities for product formulations and process innovation. These include modern computerized equipment like HPLC and GLC.

The product range manufactured at ACI FL include Crop Protection Chemicals like Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides in granular, powder and liquid, mosquito pesticides in  the forms of aerosols, vaporizers and coils house hold chemicals like toilet cleaners and hand wash.

Apex Leather Crafts Limited

Apex Leather Craft Limited is a private limited company incorporated in 2007 with the registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Dhaka Bangladesh Under companies Act 1994 having 100 %shares by ACI limited.

ACI Salt Limited

ACI Salt was launched in 2005. Within the very short period it has been enjoying the pride of the Brand Leader. The best in its kind, ACI Salt is vacuum evaporated, free flowing and properly iodized. It is also very porous and free flowing. Iodine is coated in every single grain which makes it an essential product for the children; the absence of right quantity of iodine in their food may cause mental disability to them. ACI Salt has won the “BEST BRAND OF

BANGLADESH AWARD 2008″ for unparallel customer loyalty beating all the brands in Foods & Beverages category.

ACI Pure Flour Limited

ACI Pure Flour Ltd is the largest flour producing company in Bangladesh delivering cleanest, healthiest and most hygienic flour by adopting state of the art technology. Coupled with double digit growth and continuously producing pure product make ‘Pure’ brand a huge success & make it a household product overnight. In a very short time ‘Pure’ is able to become consumers’ morning bell and snatched prestigious second position overtaking all other players in the market. ‘Pure’ flour is able to communicate to its consumers that ACI Pure is synonymous to Purity. Our plant stands by the bank of Sitalaksha River with most advanced European technology coupling with a well-equipped laboratory keeping in mind to provide the best quality flour to the consumers.

ACI Foods Limited

The necessity of pure food in the minds of Bangladesh consumers especially in the commodity food business has pushed ACI to fill up the market demand by producing food products such as spice, edible oil, snacks, confectionary etc. ACI is engaged in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of various branded food products and condiment. Now the customers of Bangladesh are ensured with 100% pure food products under the brand name of ‘Pure’. Within the very short period of its entrance this brand has been enjoying second leading position in the market. Fun Candy and Fun Chanachur produced from high quality imported raw materials with state of the art technology have attained enormous popularity among the consumers. ACI Foods Ltd. is focusing on improving the food habit of Bangladeshi Consumers through providing more ready to cook products and ready to eat as well. ACI is also exporting its Pure Brand products to Australia, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and many other countries to come into the list.

Premiaflex Plastics Limited

Premiaflex Plastics Limited is a private Limited company incorporated in 2007 with the register of Joint Stock Companies, Dhaka, Bangladesh under Companies Act 1994 having 80% shares by ACI Limited. The principle activities of the company are manufacturing and marketing of plastic products, flexible printing and other ancillary business associated with plastic and flexible printing. The factory of the Company is located at Sreepur, Gazipur.

Creative Communication Limited

Creative Communication Ltd. is an integrated communication firm founded in 2000, staffed by dedicated and pragmatic specialists working as one team. As a forward-thinking marketing and advertising firm, Creative Communication Ltd. is a solid partner at both strategic and tactical levels and has developed several partnerships with the most state-of-theart players in numerous fields.

The core competency of Creative Communication Ltd. is to provide result –oriented advertisement, public relation and complete corporate communication solutions. Creative Communication Ltd. has special expertise in Photography, TVC, Conceptualization and Designing of Corporate Manual, Annual Report, Corporate Brochure, Calendar Dairy, Press Advertisement etc. Besides these Creative Communication Ltd. has long experience in handling Outdoors, Events and Project Management along with strong rapport in the Electronic and Press Media.

ACI Motors Limited

ACI Agribusinesses has launched a new subsidiary business, ACI Motors, from 6^th November 2007 with an objective to market high quality farm machineries and light commercial vehicles. ACI Agribusinesses now ensures complete solution to the farmers with the introduction of the agrimachineries. ACI Motors are now marketing the various models of Sonalika tractor which is 3rd leading position in India as well as the fastest growing brand. It also has introduced high quality Bull Power brand power tiller and mini combine harvester, Hardy Sprayer from China.

It has own sales and service center at Bogra, Comilla, Jessore, and Dinajpur by which ensure highest quality after sales service, repairs and spare parts. It also provides flexible credit facilities for farmers for better customer satisfaction and service. ACI Motors are planning to introduce light commercial vehicles like pickups and mini trucks to support farmers to carrying agricultural goods. Also, high quality diesel engines and pumps for irrigation purpose will be offered in the near future. This business shows considerable promise in contributing to the agricultural productivity of Bangladesh.

ACI Logistics Limited

ACI Logistics Limited was formed in 2008 with a vision to setup nationwide retail outlets, named “Shwapno”, to utilize ACI‟s strong presence in Bangladesh through implementation of world-class supply chain mechanism.

ACI HealthCare Limited

ACI HealthCare Limited, a public limited company, is a subsidiary of Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited was incorporated in 18 February 2013 under the Companies Act 1994.

The principal activities of the Company are to be manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for regulated markets, especially for USA. With this aim, the company has planned to establish a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical factory in Sonargaon, Narayanganj, Bangladesh. The Company has already acquired 1,241.71 decimal land valued at BDT 434,600,000 located at mouza- Tripurdi, Sonargaon, Narayanganj. The plant will manufacture products for domestic and international markets.

Joint Ventures

ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited

ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited is a joint venture company formed by a 50:50 stake of ACI Limited, Bangladesh and Godrej Agrovet Limited, India. The company started its business in Bangladesh at the end of the year 2004 with Poultry Feed. It started Hatchery and Breeding Farm Operations in February 2007. The Company launched and started selling Fish Feed at the same time. In July 2008, it diversified its product portfolio and introduced Shrimp Feed and Cattle Feed.

ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited is into the business of providing integrated solution to the market by manufacturing and marketing quality Poultry, Aqua, Cattle Feed and Day Old Chicks, not only for business purpose but also for the improvement of socio economic condition of the farm owners of Bangladesh.

At present a huge amount of Investment is going on for various required projects, like: The technical knowhow of this business is being given by the Godrej Agrovet Limited, India which has a leadership position in India.

Tetley ACI (Bangladesh) Limited

ACI Ltd also has Joint Venture business with Tetley Tea of UK in the name of Tetley ACI (Bangladesh) Limited. Tetley produces one of the finest qualities Tea in various pack sizes, both in laminated pack and tea bags. Tetley tea has become a household name and demand of the product is very high.

Asian Consumer Care (Pvt.) Ltd

ACI Ltd has Joint Venture with one of the leading companies of India, Dabur India as Asian Consumer Care Ltd. Dabur has a long range of food items which is distributed through the channels of ACI Consumer Brands. These products are very popular in Bangladesh Market.

The food items are:

• Dabur Honey.
• Dabur Chawanprush.

Asian Consumer Care (Pvt.) Ltd. also markets the personal care products of Dabur. The personal care products of Dabur are:

• Dabur Amla Hair Oil.
• Dabur Vatika Hair Oil.
• Vatika Shampoo.
• Dabur Vatika Face pack.

All these products of Dabur are already known to the customers through various satellite channels and bringing good name for both Dabur and ACI.

Extension of Credit Limit and Days

Extension of Credit Limit

Corresponding to business operation there might be a need for credit limit extension. Limit extension should not be done with temptation to meet with the target. There has to be real need and proper justification for the extended credit limit. The cases where initial limit allowed to the customer is not sufficient or excessive, SM may propose to revise the credit limit to a higher or lower level, based on the historical performance and potentiality of the customer. In case of credit limit extension the following terms and conditions are to be fulfilled:

1. In case of limit extension facility to Dealer and Super Store, the proposal has to be placed with a letter (Annexure A 1), a credit application forms (Annexure A) and an extension forms (Annexure B 1). Apart from that the customer has to submit a new security cheque covering the amount of proposed limit and sign on an agreement paper (Annexure C 1). Limit can only be extended once in every six months.
2. In case of deposit credit customer, limit will be extended in accordance with the addition deposited amount.
3. Credit facility to all other categories will be determined in accordance with the value available in the work order/purchase order.

Afterwards the proposal has to be recommended by HOS/SM. Finally FinanceCredit will execute the extension once they are satisfied with the proposal and have approval from Executive Director.

Extension of Credit Days

Sometimes customers may require some flexibility in repaying the outstanding amount. In course of business it would not be wise to restrict good customer from providing the time flexibility when they require. In line with that the concept of credit day‟s extension is implanted only for institutional customer. Extension of credit days can have a positive impact in business. But unnecessary extension of credit days and day‟s extension to wrong customer can prove to be expensive. So we need to be careful in approving the application for extension. We should keep it in mind that extensions are made for special situation only and therefore we should not make it regular practice. The proposal for credit day‟s extension must be placed with valid justification from the HOS/SM/BM/BD and approval from the Executive Director. Temporary extensions can be made up to 60 days for specific invoices only. Once the desired invoices are raised the days limit of the customer should be brought down to the original days limit.

Extension of Both Credit and Days

Extension of both credit and days limit concurrently is discouraged to allow.

Monitoring and Follow-up Tools

Credit Review

Every year, while preparing the sales budget, the overall credit position and market situation should be analyzed and based on the experience with credit collection the sales management will decide whether credit sales should be more liberal or more stringent. The field force will be geared up accordingly. In addition to that a Business-Finance interaction meeting is suggested on half-yearly basis to review the credit status of respective business.

Follow-up through Payment reminder Memos

Statement of credit Outstanding

Finance-Credit will generate timely statement of credit outstanding, aging schedule and debtors‟ movement and circulate to the designated people.

Early alert SMS

Customers will get an early alert via SMS for the payment on the verge of time their outstanding receivables are going to be matured stating the total due amount and amount to be matured within a stipulated time.

SMS Reminder to the overdue customers

As soon as a customer exceeds days from the due date, he/she will receive 1^st reminder SMS from Finance-Credit. The 2nd reminder SMS will be sent after 15 days to those customers who have not settled the overdue balance in the meantime.

Memo Reminder to the overdue customers

As soon as a customer exceeds 25 days of overdue, he/she will receive 1^st written reminder letter from Finance-Credit. The 2nd reminder letter will be issued after 15 days to the customers who have not settled the overdue balance in the meantime.

Action plan for overdue customers:

The BM/HOS/SM will determine the steps to be taken, in consultation with the Executive

Director and act accordingly, including suspension of credit, depositing the cheque, create social pressure and take legal steps etc.

Periodical balance confirmation:

It is imperative that a system exists through which the company may verify the correctness of accounts receivable balances that appear in the books and that the customer agrees with the balance. To achieve the above, Finance-Credit will send by courier accounts statements in duplicate [Balance Confirmation Form] to all credit customers in a staggered way once a year  and reconcile the balance outstanding with them as per company books. Sales Staff will collect the duplicate copy of the balance confirmed by the customer and reach them to Finance-Credit as per “Annexure F”. Any discrepancy must be urgently sorted out.

Payment Method

• Credit should be preferably paid by cheque/Pay Order in case of a local customer and by demand draft by an outstanding customer.
• Collection of DD/PO from one customer and depositing it to other‟s account will be treated as an offense.
• An official receipt must be issued by the person receiving the payment.
• All persons authorized to receive payment from customers will be provided with a Receipt Book.
• All credit customers must know that unless he has proof of payment through an official receipt of ACI Limited, his claim of payment will not be accepted.

Credit customers must also be informed that their claim of return of products will not be acceptable unless he can produce the goods receipt note issued by the receiver of goods on behalf of the company.

Income Tax Challan

Advance income tax challan against income tax deducted at source by any tender or third party credit customer, should be collected and sent to Finance within the fiscal year by the concerned officials. This is a part of their credit collection responsibilities.

Return of Security Documents to the Customer

If the customer wishes to close credit business with ACI limited, the following procedures need to be followed:

• Authorized person has to apply on a letterhead to the Head of Sales asking for refund of the security document/deposit.
• Head of sales will forward the application to Finance-Credit after putting his consent note.
• Finance-Credit will check the customer‟s account.
• If outstanding balance found zero, Finance-Credit will return security cheques/guarantees/credit deposit to the customer within 07 working days.
• It is business responsibility to handover the documents to the customer.

Understanding the Relationship between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

The literature offers several explanations as to why employee satisfaction affects customer satisfaction:

• Employees that interact with customers are in a position to develop awareness of and respond to customer goals and needs.
• Satisfied employees are motivated employees; that is, they have the motivational resources to deliver adequate effort and care.
• Satisfied employees are empowered employees; in other words, they have the resources, training, and responsibilities to understand and serve customer needs and demands.
• Satisfied employees have high energy and willingness to give good service: at a very minimum, they can deliver a more positive perception of the service/product provided.
• Satisfied employees can provide customers with interpersonal sensibility and social account. It has been suggested that these components of interactional justice have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. According to this view, because satisfied employees experience interactional justice, they can deliver it; that is, satisfied employees have enough emotional resources to show empathy, understanding, respect, and concern.

The customer satisfaction

The success of every organization depends on its employees. The satisfaction level of employees creates an impact on the satisfaction level of customers. If employees stay satisfied in the organization then it will result to an effective work. Employees will be more efficient in the field of their work and ultimately it will reflect as customer satisfaction. If customer stays satisfied, the goal of an organization ultimately can be achieved. (About: Retail: Shaken Not Stirred by Kevin Ertell)

The satisfaction level of an employee has an effect on employee commitment and employee loyalty. It also has an impact on product quality as well as service quality. All these variables lead to customer satisfaction.

When an employee stays satisfied, he or she always stays committed towards work and also stays loyal towards the organization. The employee loyalty is also responsible for the movement of employee commitment. Product quality and service quality somewhat depend on employee commitment. Perceived product quality and service quality follows to perceived value, which ultimately creates Customer Satisfaction.

Surveying questionnaire is very important for any kinds of project. It helps to give clear idea regarding the status and findings of the project. Here, questions are designed and asked to respondents to extract specific information. For preparing this report, I have used a structured questionnaire and it filled up by 50 clients of ACI limited for majoring the customer satisfaction level. Moreover, we filled up by 20 employees for majoring the employees satisfaction level. From those filled up questionnaire, some of the important analysis and findings are as follows

Customer satisfaction

Now question is, are the Customers happy with the Performance of Credit Department‟s practice? Do they have any particular complain? Etc. To analyze this issue Customer feedback has taken on the following broad dimensions. I have done questionnaire method and face-to face interview to collect the following data. For majoring, the customer satisfaction level we set up 11 questions and asked them to 50 clients of ACI Limited.

Income level and experience of client‟s profession is very much important for any kinds of business. It helps to find out the customer ability to purchase our product. Here we find out the income level and experience of the client profession for the betterment on our survey.

Income level of clients per month

Findings: From the graph, it is seen that 48% clients income level per month is more than 130000 and 28% clients income level range is 110000-129000, which is good for the ACI Limited. Because their clients are financially solvent so it will be less risky to provide them loan as they can easily pay the loan.

Experience of Clients Relating Profession

Findings: Experience in particular business is a very important criterion for any business institution. From the graph, it is seen that most of the clients‟ experience is in between 3-8+ years, which is good for ACI limited. So they can trust their clients to give loan for specific time.

How often do you typically buy the ACI product?

Findings: The graph shows that 46% clients are buying ACI product 2-3 times in a year and 34% are buying once in a year. Only 14% are buying once month and 6% are buying weekly. Here we can see that major clients of the ACI Limited are not buying their product frequently. The main reason is that ACI Limited doing B2B business, their main customers are another business institution and they buy product in a bulk amount at a time, so they do not need to buy frequently

Recommendation

As we all know that ACI Limited is one of the well-known organizations in our country. From my little knowledge, it is quite hard to give recommendation to such a well-established organization. Still from my learning and observation, I am giving following recommendation to follow:

• In our customer survey, we have seen that customers are not happy with the customer service representative and they have lots of complain regarding this department. Only two employees are working to attend the customer‟s call. ACI Limited needs to recruit at list two more employees on this department. After recruiting two more employees, the customer satisfaction level will increase and they will happy to get the service form “service representative officer”.
• In our customer survey, we can see that 38% clients say that our products price is same with our competitors. Here ACI need to more concentrate to setup the price and they have to put the lower price as much as they can.
• In our employees survey we can see that 55% employees believe- they are not utilizing their skills and ability. Most of the time ACI employees do the the same repeatedly. So ACI needs to diversify the employees. For that, they can open different type of project.

Conclusion

Customers are the lifeblood of every business, including both retail and business-to-business customers. Whether or not you think of customer satisfaction as a social responsibility issue, every business owner will think of it as a profitability issue. Time and resources put into understanding the customer perspective is always a good investment. Strong and effective customer relations can be the direct route to long term success.

ACI Limited, one of the leading industries in Bangladesh, always tries to deal with the satisfaction level of both employee and customer. ACI Limited believes that, only creating a positive relationship between employee and customer, ACI Limited can reach to its ultimate goal.

Majority of the customer of ACI Limited are satisfied with the service quality as well as the product quality of ACI Limited. But nothing is enough for business. There is always something to do in the business field which can keep the business competitive.

There can be a very few changes or adoption to make the relation between ACI customer and ACI employee more strong, which may lead ACI Limited to a new arena where the customer and employee bonding will get priority. As it is known to all that customer and employee is the biggest asset for an organization.