Kimberly Clark Runs an Intelligent Business
For a company like Kimberly-Clark Corp. (www.kimberly-clark.com) that touches more than one billion consumers in 80 countries each day, business users must seamlessly share and collaborate.
Recently, the company recognized the need for a new business intelligence (BI) solution to better measure performance in its global manufacturing and supply chain operations.
“What’s become very clear for us in order to drive value is that IT needs to provide teams, whether that’s manufacturing, supply chain, finance, human resources, with the toolsets to be able to measure successes,” says Ramn F. Baez, vice president of IT Services and chief information officer at Kimberly-Clark. “So that’s where BI tools are extremely important to make sure we stay on track.”
Last month, the company announced that it selected Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) Business Intelligence (BI) solutions because of their user-friendly interfaces, extensibility and integration into its existing Microsoft software that the company already owns.
By deploying a suite of familiar Microsoft desktop solutions, including Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for reporting needs, Kimberly-Clark provided its business analysts greater visibility into the supply chain, inventory and manufacturing performance, making it easier for them to pull and aggregate data such as corporate forecast variance and in-stock tools, without a steep learning curve.
Kimberly-Clark was further able to consolidate disparate reporting solutions across its manufacturing facilities into a single central system. This drives value by enabling its IT staff to provide business users with fast access to the right information in a secure and compliant way on whatever device they are using — PC, smartphone or browser — so they can efficiently glean customer insight, measure success and move their business forward.
In the first three months since the deployment, Kimberly-Clark has already increased production efficiency, using solutions like SharePoint 2007 to store reports and standardize work across multiple resources; and Excel 2007, that enabled them to create built-in processes and tools to replenish data easily and allow for at-a-glance data visibility. For one major customer, in a supply chain application, the company realized $10 million in additional revenue by avoiding out-of-stock scenarios.
Having successfully implemented the BI solution in its supply chain and manufacturing execution domains, Kimberly-Clark is now looking to reproduce the benefits of the solution in other areas of the company. The company also plans to add new capabilities to the existing BI solution when it upgrades to Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010.
“The Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions have transformed the way we do business at Kimberly-Clark,” says Baez. “The challenges of the economic downturn make it imperative to use information as a competitive advantage, and thanks to Microsoft’s BI solution, employees can make faster decisions and leverage mission-critical information to stay one step ahead of our competitors.”
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
Every day, 1.3 billion people — nearly a quarter of the world’s population — trust Kimberly-Clark brands such as Kleenex, Huggies and Kotex to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. (Pictured left: Grey’s Anatomy star and mom Ellen Pompeo helped kick off a national diaper drive in October 2010.)
Enabling Tools
Kimberly-Clark adopted a business intelligence solution from Microsoft to increase business agility.
Words of Wisdom
“Whether it’s in supply chain or manufacturing, we now have a nice platform we can duplicate and replicate across the environment to continue to drive value. It’s about making and using information as a competitive advantage.”
—Ramn F. Baez, VP of IT Services and CIO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Recently, the company recognized the need for a new business intelligence (BI) solution to better measure performance in its global manufacturing and supply chain operations.
“What’s become very clear for us in order to drive value is that IT needs to provide teams, whether that’s manufacturing, supply chain, finance, human resources, with the toolsets to be able to measure successes,” says Ramn F. Baez, vice president of IT Services and chief information officer at Kimberly-Clark. “So that’s where BI tools are extremely important to make sure we stay on track.”
Last month, the company announced that it selected Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) Business Intelligence (BI) solutions because of their user-friendly interfaces, extensibility and integration into its existing Microsoft software that the company already owns.
By deploying a suite of familiar Microsoft desktop solutions, including Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for reporting needs, Kimberly-Clark provided its business analysts greater visibility into the supply chain, inventory and manufacturing performance, making it easier for them to pull and aggregate data such as corporate forecast variance and in-stock tools, without a steep learning curve.
Kimberly-Clark was further able to consolidate disparate reporting solutions across its manufacturing facilities into a single central system. This drives value by enabling its IT staff to provide business users with fast access to the right information in a secure and compliant way on whatever device they are using — PC, smartphone or browser — so they can efficiently glean customer insight, measure success and move their business forward.
In the first three months since the deployment, Kimberly-Clark has already increased production efficiency, using solutions like SharePoint 2007 to store reports and standardize work across multiple resources; and Excel 2007, that enabled them to create built-in processes and tools to replenish data easily and allow for at-a-glance data visibility. For one major customer, in a supply chain application, the company realized $10 million in additional revenue by avoiding out-of-stock scenarios.
Having successfully implemented the BI solution in its supply chain and manufacturing execution domains, Kimberly-Clark is now looking to reproduce the benefits of the solution in other areas of the company. The company also plans to add new capabilities to the existing BI solution when it upgrades to Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010.
“The Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions have transformed the way we do business at Kimberly-Clark,” says Baez. “The challenges of the economic downturn make it imperative to use information as a competitive advantage, and thanks to Microsoft’s BI solution, employees can make faster decisions and leverage mission-critical information to stay one step ahead of our competitors.”
FAST FACTS
Company at a Glance
Every day, 1.3 billion people — nearly a quarter of the world’s population — trust Kimberly-Clark brands such as Kleenex, Huggies and Kotex to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. (Pictured left: Grey’s Anatomy star and mom Ellen Pompeo helped kick off a national diaper drive in October 2010.)
Enabling Tools
Kimberly-Clark adopted a business intelligence solution from Microsoft to increase business agility.
Words of Wisdom
“Whether it’s in supply chain or manufacturing, we now have a nice platform we can duplicate and replicate across the environment to continue to drive value. It’s about making and using information as a competitive advantage.”
—Ramn F. Baez, VP of IT Services and CIO, Kimberly-Clark Corp.