Clorox improves data accuracy by 70% with integrated SYSPRO solution

Manage company growth with increased automation

Customer

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Customer Profile

Clorox Africa is a subsidiary of Clorox, a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of laundry additives and home cleaning products which are sold in more than 100 countries. Clorox has manufacturing plants in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Its international strategy focuses on establishing joint ventures with local business people in developing countries.

Their Business Challenge

A long-standing SYSPRO customer, Clorox Africa was experiencing substantial company growth and needed to take advantage of new features in SYSPRO 8 such as the increased fields for invoice numbers. Clorox was also looking for opportunities to automate many of its manual processes.

The Solution

Clorox upgraded to SYSPRO 8 and integrated its ERP solution with ZAP data warehouse automation software as well as the Flowgear integration and automation platform. Clorox worked with SYSPRO partner ISB Optimus to implement the solution in South Africa as well as at its sub-Saharan operation in Kenya.

The Outcome

Clorox Africa has automated the inter-branch transfer and accounts payable aspects of the business, freeing up staff for more strategic activities, saving time and costs, and improving accuracy by 70%.

“We are constantly on a drive to minimize errors by cutting down on human intervention and ensuring our data is as accurate as possible.”
– Indani Muchechwa, Accounting and Controls Manager, Clorox.

Harnessing the power of automation

With an annual turnover of R120 million, Clorox sells and distributes around 200,000 cases of product every year, requiring 10,000-15,000 transactions to be processed. To meet the increasing needs of its expanding business, Clorox has identified and prioritized specific areas of the business to be automated.

Idani Muchechwa, Accounting and Controls Manager for Clorox, says the first step was to integrate inter-branch transfers between its depots in Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Bloemfontein.

“This used to be done manually, which meant when stock was moved from one depot to another we had to wait for confirmation that the goods had been received,” he says. “Now, everything happens automatically and in real time. When stock is being moved, the file is uploaded and converted into SYSPRO so we know when it moves from the original warehouse to the in-transit warehouse and finally to the destination warehouse. This has freed up staff to focus on more pressing business issues.”

Clorox has also automated the receipting of its inventory. Previously, the inventory was captured and receipted manually. This meant waiting for the stock to be delivered to the relevant warehouse, capturing it and then sending an invoice which then needed to be captured in SYSPRO.

“Now that we have automated this process, as soon as the goods are delivered all the information is extracted and fed directly into SYSPRO where the receipting is done automatically,” Muchechwa says. “Again, this frees up time for some of our staff to attend to more strategic tasks.”

Improving accuracy, productivity and more

Automating these two areas of its operation has already seen Clorox improve its accuracy by 70%, and productivity has also been significantly enhanced.

“Manual processes are always synonymous with high levels of human error, which in some instances can negatively impact the bottom line. We are constantly on a drive to minimize errors by cutting down on human intervention and ensuring our data is as accurate as possible,” Muchechwa says.

“I am benefiting from time savings as well. Stock reconciliation used to take up a lot of my time. Now, all I need to do is run a report in SYSPRO and I know where we stand without making a call or sending an email.”

Clorox is using ZAP to create graphical views of financial performance which are easily understood by financial as well as non-financial members of the team. This has been another huge benefit, as Muchechwa no longer needs to prepare presentations for the team as the data is easy to digest and act upon.

In addition, the time to complete closing periods such as monthand year-end has reduced significantly compared to past levels.

Brian Mudhokwani, Chief Operating Officer of ISB Optimus, says: “One of the biggest benefits we’ve seen has been a drastic reduction in the number of support calls coming our way. This has helped Clorox reallocate funds to improve the business, automate more processes and implement new integrations into their solution.”

The road ahead

Next up in the pipeline is the automation of Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. As Clorox’s invoices are set up at Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) level, one invoice could have as many as 50 lines, all of which need to be posted individually to the general ledger. Again, this will enable the company to improve productivity, enhance accuracy and reduce human intervention.

“It’s a never-ending, natural evolution of our system,” Muchechwa says. “Overall, our objective is to use as much of our integrated SYSPRO solution as possible.”

Achieve business success with SYSPRO ERP

SYSPRO is a leading, global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software provider, specializing in key manufacturing and distribution industries. SYSPRO’s ERP solution empowers customers to take the next step – whether it is expanding into new territories, adding new product lines, transforming business processes, or driving innovation.

Clorox improves data accuracy by 70% with integrated SYSPRO solution

Manage company growth with increased automation

Customer

Customer Profile

Their Business Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

Harnessing the power of automation

Improving accuracy, productivity and more

The road ahead

Achieve business success with SYSPRO ERP

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