Discussing The Implementation Of ERP Marketing Information Technology Essay

Colgate-Palmolive Company is a global leader in products, selling brands such as Colgate Palmolive, Mennen, Softsoap, Irish Spring, Hill’s Science Diet and Hill prescription “diet foods pet in over 200 countries and territories. A lot of product moves through its stores. 

Colgate-Palmolive is a $ 9,900,000,000 company that operates in over 200 countries. 

Need to implement ERP in Colgate-Palmolive 

When the demands of worldwide manufacturing and marketing Colgate-Palmolive Company encouraged to join the SAP ® software systems in their countries of Asia, the consumer goods giant called experts from SAP Consulting. The global delivery model of SAP helped the two partners together expand and implement a cost-effective, high quality solution. 

For the world’s leading companies such as consumer goods player Colgate-Palmolive Company, has become increasingly important to align IT systems and processes worldwide. 

customers Colgate-Palmolive, such as department stores are expanding across national borders and expect their requirements consistently achieved from region to region. 

In addition, Colgate-Palmolive has facilities that manufacture products for markets worldwide. Overseeing worldwide supply chains is further tricky when the systems vary from one nation to another. 

SAP implementation for Colgate-Palmolive. [A] 

Furthermore, the development and maintenance has to be duplicated in each individual system. To consolidate its various SAP ® software systems, Colgate-Palmolive turned to the global delivery model of SAP – SAP Consultant part – as a solution. 

Advance efficiency by merging the various releases of SAP enterprise software through its sites in Asia. Explore the paybacks of a delivery model worldwide for further future use. 

Colgate uses SAP ® Software for managing tasks and resources to expedite the product through its supply chain. 

Why SAP Services?  [B] 

• Long and successful history of collaboration with SAP. 

SAP Colgate – Palmolive 

Details of SAP in Colgate – Palmolive: 

Existing Environment 

SAP R / 3 ® software (functionality now found in mySAP â„¢ ERP)

SAP Business Information Warehouse component (functionality now found in the SAP NetWeaver ® Business Intelligence component)

SAP Enterprise Buyer and SAP Advanced Planning & Optimization component of mySAP Supplier Relationship Management. 

mySAP Customer Relationship Management solution 

Database: – Oracle 

Hardware: – IBM 

Operating System – AIX 

Barriers to implementation of SAP Solutions. [C] 

The business functions on an IT infra supported by SAP solutions by means of SAP R / 3 ® software at its heart. (SAP R / 3 functionality is now in mySAP â„¢ ERP.) During late 1990, when SAP initiated in regions of Colgate-Palmolive in Asia, around were a no. of motives why the business might not make use of a solitary system all the way through the constituency. 

Colgate has been the management of these distribution centers successfully with the SAP ® software for years. It was just announced warehouse management software SAP, with a focus on the task and the functionality of resource management, to raise their game even more. “Our goal – always – is that what the volumes are going through a deposit today, we want to increase,” says Brian Madel, senior manager of global supply chain AMSSO IT Colgate-Palmolive. “We implemented SAP software to enable faster throughput of higher volumes through our supply chain to end customers.” 

Using the warehouse management software from SAP, which is now part of the mySAP â„¢ ERP application, the company can automatically manage warehouse tasks and resources – users and computers – needed to perform these tasks. Software assesses the current workload and the physical location of resources to continually optimize the sequence in which tasks are processed, so that each step is carried out at the right time and the best resource is used for the job. With full transparency of operations, planners and supervisors can replace store delivery sequence if priorities change. 

Colgate launched the solution in the centers of high-volume distribution in India. The warehouse management software SAP initiates the transfer orders of the materials, indicating the beginning and end. The task and the functionality of resource management and then breaks the transfer order discrete processes optimized. By the time a truck stop at the distribution center and back to the dock, warehouse workers are ready – after being electronically assigned the task of downloading via terminals installed on your computer and “talking “through an RF network to the SAP.  “We have increased the volumes of the platform and collecting any case our stores. We have streamlined our post-away and picking processes. Now use your computer more efficiently. We have improved inventory accuracy to over 99%.” Company Brian Madel, AMSSO Senior Manager Global Supply Chain IT, Colgate-Palmolive. “With the new software, we were able to streamline our process of replacement of distribution centers our manufacturing plants,” says Madel. “We have also simplified replacement at the store. We created the software task and resource management to monitor each compartment. When inventory falls below a certain level, the system automatically creates a transfer order, which led to Users choose a platform and restock inventory, is a fully automated process that continually replenish the inventory. We have also accelerated the delivery of output; tasks are automatically assigned to several people working on different teams in different areas of the warehouse, which all collected simultaneously for the same delivery. “

That means a faster supply chain. Madel said, “We have increased the volumes of the platform and collecting any case our stores. We have streamlined our post-away and picking processes. Now use your computer more efficiently. We have improved the inventory 

accuracy above 99%. And there are more benefits we expect to perform. We believe that we are just scratching the surface of what software can do. ” 

Decentralization = High Performance 

Colgate running the warehouse management software on a separate server applications company SAP enterprise resource planning. Madel says, “Each store user is logged in the system, warehouse management, RF processes are highly dependent on performance. The last thing I want to do is slow down our people. If you scan a treatment unit and have to wait the system to come back and tell them what to do, we lose productivity. storage separation from other SAP software functionality greatly improves the performance from the standpoint of the end user. In a decentralized environment, which also control planned downtime for maintenance – this is crucial for stores that operate 24×7. ” 

The decentralized warehouse management application communicates directly with SAP software company SAP business. “Communication is very reliable and very robust – there is absolutely no problem,” says Madel. The flow of incoming and outgoing information includes delivery, material and vendor master data management and batch data. When a sales order is entered into the SAP enterprise software, the order becomes a supply and sent to the warehouse management software from SAP through the application link enabling (ALE) to create the transfer order and of the work in progress and resource allocation. Once delivery is complete, another message back to the central system. 

Colgate is next looking at voice activation to match warehouse tasks with voice prompts and responses. He also wants to use the warehouse management functionality of cross-docking to move goods directly from receiving to shipping without storing, managing chair to manage the gates and trailers, and value added services for things like customer-specific packaging . Madel said, “We will continue to further leverage our SAP software for warehouse management to improve the performance of our business.” 

In India, for example, tax structures are extremely complex, as Colgate-Palmolive had to add separate functions to the SAP software in their places of that country. Moreover, China cannot be used with another language such as Thai resort on the same SAP system. Therefore, the sites of the business in the Asia-Pacific were 3 SAP systems that might not be built: each for India, China and 1 for all other countries in Asia. 

Challenges faced for SAP implementation [D] 

Formation of a winning team 

The consolidation of the system was a complete project end to end, from an evaluation and scoping exercise, which ends with the subsequent analysis of consolidation and support. It was to bring together people with a variety of different skills. SAP partners use resources provided was beneficial. To ensure system performance met expectations, the SAP Active Global Support organization of SAP EarlyWatch ® uses to provide services post consolidation analysis at the end of the project. 

The first step for the union of SAP and Colgate-Palmolive team was to review and analyze the differences between the host of Asia and the Indian system. “The knowledge of SAP products intensely obvious in the proprietary equipments given to the plan. These tools quickly identify the areas of harmonization – including all systems and modules,” says Simpson. 

After the analysis, according to Simpson, it was possible that the work had to be done before the consolidation. “Strengthening India’s example was delivered on time and within budget,” says Simpson. “The skills of SAP consultants and experience to ensure that all technical aspects of building complexes have been considered. That – and his pragmatic approach to implementation – to promote effective collaboration between our peoples, contributing to the overall success project “About 75% of the work on the project was carried out at sea, offering an excellent proof of concept for the SAP. Consulting global delivery model. Once the project had been completed by their location in India, Colgate-Palmolive found that the implementation of the consolidation of the places in China was a much more simple. The company is confident that had the skills necessary to perform this task without help, though kept in close contact with SAP Consulting and use their resources if necessary. 

A model of flexibility [E]  

Colgate-Palmolive’s global IT organization is divided into three regions: Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific. On the basis of its recent consolidation, the success is focused on the Asia-Pacific, Colgate-Palmolive is looking for other opportunities and future projects. Simpson says he does not hesitate to recommend SAP Consulting for these projects. “The SAP Global Delivery model is now a key component of Colgate’s approach to the provision of IT services,” says Simpson. “It provides us admission to extremely accomplished assets at reasonable prices. And SAP Consulting has proven to be a flexible partner and maintain its long-term work. 

CRM Evolution [F] 

Benefits of SAP Deployment 

Featured Application 

• Approximately 75% of work since the global delivery center for SAP in Bangalore, India 

• Consolidation was implemented on time and within budget without problems. 

 Key Benefits 

• Access to a global network of experienced resources. 

• Reduced total cost of ownership. 

• Consolidation of existing business processes. 

Change in vision of Colgate-Palmolive after SAP implementation. [G] 

Colgate-Palmolive is already seeing the benefits of consolidation of system in place in India. Customer service has been harmonized across the region. Incorporation of the SC offers a quick as well as well-organized progress of merchandise in all nations, along with amalgamation of fiscal, accounting info, such as P & L reports, is united. The total cost of ownership of IT infrastructure has been reduced. There is a less supported, which has reduced maintenance costs and hardware. The cost-effective means of Colgate-Palmolive expects to receive repayment within a year of consolidation. “SAP Global Delivery works well in Colgate. SAP Consulting can provide deep technical knowledge we need on a project basis-byproject” says Simpson. “Not only was the cost-effective global delivery model, but there was a real partnership with SAP experts – from planning to implementation. As a result, we had a team with common goals to deliver driving consolidation.”

SAP NetWeaver Process Integration

In late 1990s, Colgate – Palmolive revamped its entire IT system with SAP because it has feature rich enterprise solutions and experience in the consumer goods industry to execute Colgate-Palmolive’s global transformation strategy. The objective of SAP NetWeaver PI (SAP NetWeaver Process Integration) was to streamline the business processes across global operations and accelerate business transformation. It enabled process-centric collaboration across Colgate-Palmolive’s entire extended value chain. Also SAP NetWeaver PI facilitates exchange of information across non-SAP systems too. The implementation of SAP NetWeaver PI spelled the end of Colgate-Palmolive’s traditional ERP and e-business systems.

It is moreover premature hitherto to establish the fiscal paybacks of this SAP venture along with the ROI are not all that is required. SAP NetWeaver platform helped in consolidating and exchanging business-critical data not only with internally processes but with Colgate-Palmolive’s external partners, suppliers and customers too.

The implementation of RSUNIFY and successful working is possible due to SAP NetWeaver PI otherwise it would have been hard to integrate the rest of the SAP system with the legacy inventory and order-to-cash management cycle.

The SAP NetWeaver Portal is used for customer collaboration and it replaced Colgate-Palmolive’s traditional e-business system. It helps in enhancing their replenishment and order fulfilment process.

Conclusion

Colgate-Palmolive is a 200 years old CPG industry with four core segments of Oral care, Personal Care, Household, and Pet Nutrition. It has global operations with its products available in 223 countries and their 65% sale comes from outside of USA.

But with India’s low-technology driven FMCG sector product differentiation became quite difficult for Colgate-Palmolive. Implementation of ERP didn’t only reduce cost for Colgate-Palmolive but also introduced a new way of working for the company. It is already seeing benefits from the Indian market with customer service being harmonised across the country and satisfaction levels among customers increasing. SAP also provided Colgate-Palmolive with cost-effective Quality.

SCM incorporation offers flawless transfer of goods across countries, as well as the assimilation of fiscal solutions means book-keeping info, such as P & L reports, is unified. Total cost of ownership (TCO) of the IT infrastructure has reduced. Maintenance and hardware expenses have reduced as well as there is one system less to support.

Colgate-Palmolive has linked all its suppliers, stockists, distributors, customers, partners through ERP systems for real time and free flow of information and synchronising of eventful data ensuing in remarkable cost savings for Colgate-Palmolive.

The outcomes are very evident and this proves that if an ERP system is complemented by business policy and relationship restructuring and also process reengineering throughout the business network. It thus augments the business value of the network further.

References

www.sap.com

www.managementparadise.com

www.fundinguniverse.com

www.colgate.com