Consistency is Key: Herbalife Streamlines PLM
With record sales of $2.7 billion in 2010, Herbalife Ltd. (www.herbalife.com) is a fast-growing global nutrition company offering products for weight management, targeted nutrition, energy and fitness, and skin and hair care. Since its founding in 1980, the company has expanded operations into 80 countries, supported by more than two and a half million independent distributors who sell its products to consumers.
But with growth comes complexity, especially for a global company whose products and processes must meet the unique requirements of each country in which its products are sold.
“Because Herbalife is a global company, people around the world need to have access to product formulas and information on a consistent basis,” says Gary Swanson, vice president of Corporate Quality for Herbalife Ltd.
Adding to this complexity is the fact that products and formulas are occasionally improved and changed for various reasons, yet product development and approvals were strictly a corporate function and responsibility, leaving a lot of work in the hands of very few.
By 2007, the time had come for Herbalife to implement a product lifecycle management solution that would establish a single source of the truth for product information across all lines of business. After evaluating many different products on the market, Herbalife’s management decided that Oracle’s (www.oracle.com) Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software fit its needs best.
“The benefits include 100-percent record storage capabilities, detailed approval systems and global usage,” reports Swanson. “Agile PLM is accessible from any country to any approved user who has access to the Internet.”
As a result, product management processes have been transformed. For example, product development and approvals are now a company-wide responsibility, with personnel in every country contributing to new product ideas. Change management is much more effective now as the solution has brought discipline and repeatability to the product development and product changes processes.
“It has also helped us keep all product-related information in a central place while giving us an opportunity to reduce new product development and product change cycle time,” adds Swanson.
What’s more, the implementation supported Herbalife’s plans to replace an antiquated reporting system. The company deployed Agile PLM Business Intelligence in 2010, which now provides timely insight in a secure, standardized format to make better product decisions.
“BI Analytics gave us the tools to measure product development performance and product quality performance,” says Swanson. “It has become an invaluable tool for setting goals with Agile PLM.”
First regarded as a quality and R&D process, Herbalife has expanded the use of PLM to every business process, including sourcing and marketing operations. Next up, Herbalife is implementing product portfolio management to even more tightly synchronize product information, maximize resource utilization and ensure visibility and decision support throughout the lifecycle.
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
With operations in 80 countries worldwide, Herbalife Ltd. continues to evolve its product management strategy to ensure a single source of the truth for product information.
Words of Wisdom
“PLM allows the company to operate unimpeded, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on product development and other activities.” -- Gary Swanson, Vice President, Corporate Quality, Herbalife Ltd.
Trusty Tracking
Using Oracle’s Agile PLM, Herbalife users can track product changes with built-in capabilities, like audit trail and sign-off history, which are requirements in a compliance and regulated industry.
New Product Development
But with growth comes complexity, especially for a global company whose products and processes must meet the unique requirements of each country in which its products are sold.
“Because Herbalife is a global company, people around the world need to have access to product formulas and information on a consistent basis,” says Gary Swanson, vice president of Corporate Quality for Herbalife Ltd.
Adding to this complexity is the fact that products and formulas are occasionally improved and changed for various reasons, yet product development and approvals were strictly a corporate function and responsibility, leaving a lot of work in the hands of very few.
By 2007, the time had come for Herbalife to implement a product lifecycle management solution that would establish a single source of the truth for product information across all lines of business. After evaluating many different products on the market, Herbalife’s management decided that Oracle’s (www.oracle.com) Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software fit its needs best.
“The benefits include 100-percent record storage capabilities, detailed approval systems and global usage,” reports Swanson. “Agile PLM is accessible from any country to any approved user who has access to the Internet.”
As a result, product management processes have been transformed. For example, product development and approvals are now a company-wide responsibility, with personnel in every country contributing to new product ideas. Change management is much more effective now as the solution has brought discipline and repeatability to the product development and product changes processes.
“It has also helped us keep all product-related information in a central place while giving us an opportunity to reduce new product development and product change cycle time,” adds Swanson.
What’s more, the implementation supported Herbalife’s plans to replace an antiquated reporting system. The company deployed Agile PLM Business Intelligence in 2010, which now provides timely insight in a secure, standardized format to make better product decisions.
“BI Analytics gave us the tools to measure product development performance and product quality performance,” says Swanson. “It has become an invaluable tool for setting goals with Agile PLM.”
First regarded as a quality and R&D process, Herbalife has expanded the use of PLM to every business process, including sourcing and marketing operations. Next up, Herbalife is implementing product portfolio management to even more tightly synchronize product information, maximize resource utilization and ensure visibility and decision support throughout the lifecycle.
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
With operations in 80 countries worldwide, Herbalife Ltd. continues to evolve its product management strategy to ensure a single source of the truth for product information.
Words of Wisdom
“PLM allows the company to operate unimpeded, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on product development and other activities.” -- Gary Swanson, Vice President, Corporate Quality, Herbalife Ltd.
Trusty Tracking
Using Oracle’s Agile PLM, Herbalife users can track product changes with built-in capabilities, like audit trail and sign-off history, which are requirements in a compliance and regulated industry.
New Product Development
Successful new product development is a big part of Herbalife’s commitment to becoming a global leader in nutrition. Its most recent U.S. launch, Herbalife24, provides a comprehensive performance nutrition program designed to meet the nutritional needs of the 24-hour athlete.
Global Impact
Aside from growing its global footprint, Herbalife is dedicated to improving children’s lives worldwide through the Herbalife Family Foundation, which helps organizations provide healthy nutrition to children at risk.
Global Impact
Aside from growing its global footprint, Herbalife is dedicated to improving children’s lives worldwide through the Herbalife Family Foundation, which helps organizations provide healthy nutrition to children at risk.