For example, Alan’s team was involved in building the first release of the Shell Polymers Customer Hub, where converters can conveniently place orders, track resin shipments, and more.
And speaking of tracking shipments, his team was also instrumental in outfitting all 3,300 of our resin rail cars with GPS units. Those rail cars will depart from our Storage in Transit (SIT) Yard loaded with high-quality resin.
We’re the first in the polyethylene industry to make such a logistics investment, which will provide converters with real-time data – through the Customer Hub – about their shipment timing, bringing logistics transparency and also enabling both customers and our team to act to better mitigate potential impacts if there’s a delay.
Meanwhile on the Shell side, Alan and his team deployed a full technology suite to support our brand new commercial business.
They are also helping to support the commissioning of the plant and the start-up of various units within it, and they’ll continue to play a crucial role after we start producing polyethylene.
For Tech Decision Making, Customers Are His North Star
Our Customer Hub and railcar GPS units are both aimed at providing value to our converter customers, and that’s no accident.
When designing such technology with his team, Alan regularly reminds colleagues to ask themselves whose job the technology is making easier: Their own or the customer’s?
"I find this usually points us in the right design direction,” he said.
Alan views that focus on customer needs as a fundamental character trait of Shell Polymers.