The Sun Never Sets
As a Florida native and employee of Hawaiian Tropic for more than 19 years, one would think that Bill Jennings, executive vice president and chief financial officer, knows a thing or two about obtaining a killer tan.
While Jennings admits to spending too much time in the sun growing up, he has a much different philosophy about the effects of the sun today.
"Now when I go out in it, I cover myself from head to toe in at least a 30SPF," says Jennings. "Judging from my skin tone, you would never think I worked for Hawaiian Tropic."
Jennings held a brief stint in the public accounting arena before migrating to the Hawaiian Tropic audit team. Before his current position, he surfed up the ranks from assistant controller, to controller and then vice president.
"This is a great place to work," says Jennings. "Professionally, it's very satisfying because you have exposure to a lot of things that a lot of people in mid-market companies don't get to do."
Hawaiian Tropic owner Ron Rice rarely gets involved with the day-to-day operations, creating an incredible amount of autonomy for Jennings.
"I like that because you don't feel like you have the owner looking over your shoulder everyday," says Jennings. "It would be difficult in a larger company to operate that way. The work environment here is very casual. It takes after the image of the product."
Offices in Canada and Ireland also provide Jennings with the opportunity to travel to unique locations to understand how other markets perceive Hawaiian Tropic's image.
JOINING FORCES
In 1999, Jennings played a pivotal role in Hawaiian Tropic's acquisition of Kentucky-based HT Marketing, Inc., the company's primary distributor in the United States.
Unfortunately, sales and distribution systems were separate from financial and inventory which impeded Hawaiian Tropic's goal of reducing inventory, optimizing production and enhancing customer service.
"The systems didn't talk, obviously, so we knew we had to eventually adopt a new enterprise system," says Jennings. "We needed to join manufacturing with sales and distribution that we acquired."
SYSTEM SELECTION
In 2001, Jennings and his ERP selection team considered software systems from Oracle, JD Edwards and SAP. Overall, Jennings felt each system was comparable, but noticed a few key areas where SAP received a better rating, most notably in the area of production planning.
Today, the sun care products manufacturer uses mySAP All-in-One to tailor and distribute products according to each customer's specifications. In addition, mySAP.com allows Hawaiian Tropic managers to control and track inventory. Managers establish the number of orders placed for a certain product, the amount of products available and future sales forecasts.
"The strength of the mySAP All-in-One for Consumer Packaged Goods solution and mySAP.com e-business solution, and SAP's track record and commitment to the small and midsize business market both surprised and convinced us that they are the right enterprise application solutions partner for us," says Jennings.
Jennings also wants to implement SAP's direct store delivery (DSD) capability for drivers who deliver product to stores and stock the shelves. DSD functionality will enable Hawaiian Tropic to integrate its back-end SAP systems with mobile devices to help delivery drivers respond more efficiently to customer requests.
"I consider myself to be a technology buff," says Jennings. "I'm always looking for ways to leverage tech to benefit the business."
WORKING WITHOUT A NET
Currently, Jennings is intrigued by the .Net platform from Microsoft due to its rapid application development aspect.
"I would like to see SAP integrate with the .Net platform for possible future application development," says Jennings. "We are a Microsoft shop running Windows, Exchange and MS Office, and .Net might be a way we could further leverage all of these pieces with SAP."
Jennings also believes that because Microsoft's .Net platform is so tightly integrated with XML, the application holds limitless potential.
"I also think Microsoft's tools are easy and economical to use," says Jennings.
FUTURE PLANS
Jennings anticipates future growth opportunities in foreign markets such as the Pacific Rim, where the company repurchased the distribution rights back from an independent distributor about five years ago.
In Europe, Hawaiian Tropic is revamping its product line for the 2004 season with new formulations and packaging that Jennings believes will spark further growth.
Jennings also deems the South American market to be strong for Hawaiian Tropic, primarily Argentina and Chile. However, due to economic turmoil in those areas, sales have slipped tremendously for Hawaiian Tropic. Jennings says the company will seek out other international markets to make up the shortfall.
Hawaiian Tropic currently manufactures sun care and skin care products for most of the major drug chains in the United States, including Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS and Duane Reade, and also manufactures sun care products for Wal-Mart. Private-label skincare equals 20 percent of Hawaiian Tropic's business. The company plans to expand its private-label brand into Shoppers Drug Mart, the largest drug store chain in Canada.
"The domestic sun care market continues to grow and we continue to gain market share," says Jennings. "To maintain the high growth rate we enjoyed over the last few years, we need to look to the international markets."