Simplify Compliance, Maximize Profitability and Protect Your Brand with an Integrated Value Chain
Today’s consumer-driven marketplace, along with the rise of social media, means bad news travels fast. The quality of a company’s supply chain is often times directly linked to the company’s brand and image. To protect themselves, organizations must be able to identify the source of any product issues and take appropriate action quickly when one of their products is under scrutiny or questioned. This need for supply chain traceability and transparency is increasingly embodied in supply chain agreements amongst manufacturers and suppliers.
For example, many major consumer goods companies specify that all suppliers must be able to track and trace the entire history of a product within four hours. If organizations are unable to meet this requirement, they risk not only breaching the conditions of retailer agreements, but also Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Perhaps equally important, companies risk creating negative public opinion, which in today’s environment, can be quite severe.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), along with increasing regulatory requirements, is not just a challenge in the US, but in every country around the world. The most recent story of salmonella outbreak last year compels companies to take proactive measures, guarding against negative financial and brand impacts. Using 2012 as an example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued more than 300 recalls for about 350 different product lines.
Disconnected Systems and Disparate Data is a Challenge
By integrating product, component, packaging and supply chain information with automated approvals and collaboration capabilities, organizations can safeguard their reputation, protect consumers, and simplify compliance. As a first step to ensure supply chain traceability and transparency, organizations must have business processes in place that provide visibility of their supply chain. A challenge: disconnected technology systems and inefficient procedures for managing all of the regulatory, nutrition, quality and safety data.
Disconnected technology systems will add time and complexity when trying to respond to product issues. Inaccurate product specifications, manual review processes, and poor compliance screening will also hamper attempts to resolve product problems. In addition to impacting risk mitigation activities, poor visibility can prevent organizations from establishing a global framework for innovation. Finally, poor visibility can obstruct a business’s ability to rationalize raw materials, manage suppliers effectively, and quickly change business processes to meet evolving needs.
To deal effectively with a product recall, organizations need to be accountable, proactive and agile. They need to be able to:
Integrated Product Lifecycle Management Lead to a Streamlined Value Chain
A solution set based on the SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) application, the SAP Global Batch Traceability application and HCL’s Global Packaging and Labeling (iGPL) framework can help to address these business gaps. The solution can simplify compliance, maximize profitability and improve supply chain performance by providing real-time backward traceability. As an example, a large private label company (where HCL was implementing iGPL) determined a return incident in three and a half hours. The product label did not accurately state the water type (spring water, sparkling water, etc.). This issue was quickly addressed.
SAP PLM & iGPL enable organizations to address the most urgent business processes quickly. Additionally, this solution enables one-click reporting on key information such as delivering item distribution, internal stock overviews and material balance. A large consumer products organization responded to routine external audits successfully by implementing this traceability solution.
A Call to Action
If your company has does not have a “bullet proof” set of processes and systems to manage a product recall, you are running the risk not only of revenue loss, but you are also betting that your product brand will be safe during a recall situation. Is that a bet you are willing to make?
With a best practice solution set such as SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) and HCL’s iGPL to support batch traceability and all product-related data in a single place, organizations can react quickly during the returns process and manage product recalls and withdrawals effectively. Benefits include:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Palesano
Executive Vice President, Head of Americas, HCL Technologies
As a part of the executive management team for the applications services unit of HCL Technologies, Greg is responsible for leading the applications business across all industry segments within the Americas. His responsibilities include the enterprise applications technologies including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft.
With over 25 years of experience and over 18 years in the consulting industry, Greg has a diverse set of sales, delivery, and operations management experience. He has broad business and information technology experience including enterprise application implementations, management consulting, and support services. Greg has spent considerable time in other areas of information technology such as architecture, custom development, integration, and testing.
From an industry perspective, Greg’s experience includes Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Retail, Consumer Goods, Engineering & Construction, and Transportation.
For example, many major consumer goods companies specify that all suppliers must be able to track and trace the entire history of a product within four hours. If organizations are unable to meet this requirement, they risk not only breaching the conditions of retailer agreements, but also Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Perhaps equally important, companies risk creating negative public opinion, which in today’s environment, can be quite severe.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), along with increasing regulatory requirements, is not just a challenge in the US, but in every country around the world. The most recent story of salmonella outbreak last year compels companies to take proactive measures, guarding against negative financial and brand impacts. Using 2012 as an example, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued more than 300 recalls for about 350 different product lines.
Disconnected Systems and Disparate Data is a Challenge
By integrating product, component, packaging and supply chain information with automated approvals and collaboration capabilities, organizations can safeguard their reputation, protect consumers, and simplify compliance. As a first step to ensure supply chain traceability and transparency, organizations must have business processes in place that provide visibility of their supply chain. A challenge: disconnected technology systems and inefficient procedures for managing all of the regulatory, nutrition, quality and safety data.
Disconnected technology systems will add time and complexity when trying to respond to product issues. Inaccurate product specifications, manual review processes, and poor compliance screening will also hamper attempts to resolve product problems. In addition to impacting risk mitigation activities, poor visibility can prevent organizations from establishing a global framework for innovation. Finally, poor visibility can obstruct a business’s ability to rationalize raw materials, manage suppliers effectively, and quickly change business processes to meet evolving needs.
To deal effectively with a product recall, organizations need to be accountable, proactive and agile. They need to be able to:
- Perform rapid analysis,
- Quickly identify the root cause,
- Provide detailed reports,
- Manage product withdrawals / recalls process effectively,
- Make appropriate product, supplier or process changes.
Integrated Product Lifecycle Management Lead to a Streamlined Value Chain
A solution set based on the SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) application, the SAP Global Batch Traceability application and HCL’s Global Packaging and Labeling (iGPL) framework can help to address these business gaps. The solution can simplify compliance, maximize profitability and improve supply chain performance by providing real-time backward traceability. As an example, a large private label company (where HCL was implementing iGPL) determined a return incident in three and a half hours. The product label did not accurately state the water type (spring water, sparkling water, etc.). This issue was quickly addressed.
SAP PLM & iGPL enable organizations to address the most urgent business processes quickly. Additionally, this solution enables one-click reporting on key information such as delivering item distribution, internal stock overviews and material balance. A large consumer products organization responded to routine external audits successfully by implementing this traceability solution.
A Call to Action
If your company has does not have a “bullet proof” set of processes and systems to manage a product recall, you are running the risk not only of revenue loss, but you are also betting that your product brand will be safe during a recall situation. Is that a bet you are willing to make?
With a best practice solution set such as SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) and HCL’s iGPL to support batch traceability and all product-related data in a single place, organizations can react quickly during the returns process and manage product recalls and withdrawals effectively. Benefits include:
- Reduced financial and brand exposure
- Accelerated innovation and reduced associated costs,
- Improved quality and safety,
- Potential to have increased product revenues and margins,
- Meeting or exceeding regulatory requirements, including those enforced by the FDA.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg PalesanoExecutive Vice President, Head of Americas, HCL Technologies
As a part of the executive management team for the applications services unit of HCL Technologies, Greg is responsible for leading the applications business across all industry segments within the Americas. His responsibilities include the enterprise applications technologies including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft.
With over 25 years of experience and over 18 years in the consulting industry, Greg has a diverse set of sales, delivery, and operations management experience. He has broad business and information technology experience including enterprise application implementations, management consulting, and support services. Greg has spent considerable time in other areas of information technology such as architecture, custom development, integration, and testing.
From an industry perspective, Greg’s experience includes Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Retail, Consumer Goods, Engineering & Construction, and Transportation.