Unilever needed to unify its core business processes across over 190 countries due to growing transaction volumes. It transitioned to running its worldwide business on four SAP ERP instances with a goal of one global platform by 2015. Unilever added SAP HANA to accelerate analytics and reduce processing times for transactions reaching 60,000 per minute. This supported real-time decision making and maximizing product availability.

1. UNILEVER’S PUSH
TOWARD UNIFIED
GLOBAL SYSTEMS
BY,
ZEP16
JIBU SUNNY, NIKHIL VARGHESE

5. SUMMARY OF THE CASE STUDY
Unilever is one of the most famous reputed firm, which is globally covered all over
the countries. Unilever have cooperation with a company Proctor Gamble and
Nestle (PGN). In order to meet with some of the products Unilever focuses on 14
brands, each netting more than 1 billion annually including more products;
personnel care brands, deodorant and such conditioner brands and more over top
sellers they include ice – cream brands, best food products, and soup, seasoning, and
tea brands Lipton and Knorr. Altogether, the Anglo – Dutch multinational boasts
over 400 brands, sell its products in over 190 countries, and employs more than 17,
5000 people worldwide.
Unilever is organised as the two separate holding company: Unilever PLC (Public
Limited Company), headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and Unilever N.V.,
headquartered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The main aim of the firm is to have a
single economic entity to operate the two legal divisions nearly as possible. The
Unilever Group – with unity of management, operations purpose, mission.

6. In order to grow its business in developing and emerging markets, Unilever needed to unify
its core business processes, including supply chain management. Standardized processes
were essential to effectively manage volatile prices and changing commodity supplies. This
was not feasible prior to 2007. Almost every business in each of the more than 190
countries in which Unilever operated functioned as an independent division. Approximately
30000 transactions per minute including every order received, invoice issued, material
produced, and product shipped were processed through 250 different enterprises resource
planning (ERP) SYSTEMS.
In order to run the campiness worldwide business on ERP systems, every transaction for
each order it receives, material it produces, item it ships and invoice that issues runs through
Unilever’s backbone ERP systems. Trying to run a global business that was doubling its
transaction volume with 250 systems proved too challenging. In order to add layers of IT
infrastructure to prepare for rapid business growth. Unilever’s globalisation strategy
involved the exact opposite action. For consolidating and simplifying its technology
platform so that it would support the company operating as single global entity. Unilever
transitioned to run its worldwide business on only four instances of SAP ERP, with the
ultimate goal for managing as one global platform by 2015.

7. With transactions slated to reach the 60000 per minute range, Unilever was still
investigating additional tools to increase transaction processing speed. To remain a leader in
modern demand – driven supply chain management, Unilever began adding SAP HANA
(High – performance Analytic Appliance) software to some of its key SAP ERP applications
at the end of 2012. HANA is an in-memory date platform that is deployable as an on-
premise appliance, or in the cloud. It is a very well suited for performing real-time analytics
and processing extremely large numbers of transactions very rapidly.
One of Unilever’s first project was implementing SAP CO-PA (Controlling – Profitability
Analysis) Accelerator powered by SAP HANA. The enhanced financial analysis software
reduced the number of days to produce the month – end close from three to just one. This
experience was valuable for Unilever on several levels. It allows the company to start with a
single critical business process that could easily be rolled back into a traditional database if
necessary, gain experience, and lay the ground-work for future HANA implementations.
The success of this project and its enthusiastic embrace by end users convinced Unilever
that other business process could indeed benefit from the addition of the SAP HANA in-
memory computing platform.

8. Unilever’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) system extracts, transforms, and integrates
ERP transaction data with external data for use in reporting and data analysis. The next
target of the SAP HANA initiative was to accelerate, simplify, and harmonize all ERP
transaction systems so that the data being fed into its global EDW was of the highest quality
possible. Valuable business insights depend on real–time analysis of accurate data. The
profitability analysis accelerator analyses reams of financial data and outputs valuable
statistics about cost and profit drivers. By mid-2013, the SAP CO-PA Accelerator had been
added to all four regional ERP centres over a 16week timeframe and was being managed as
a single global platform.
SAP Cash Forecasting was added to SAP ERP Financials to minimize liquidity risk and
maximise the use of working capital and cash. Product Cost Planning (CO-PC-PCP) was
incorporated to help Unilever plan the costs for materials independently from orders; set
prices for materials, operations, production lines and processes; analyse the costs
manufacture materials, and assess product profitability. The time to analyse the
approximately 150 million records produced each month was halved, and product cost
forecasts could be generated in 30 seconds, down from 7min.

9. On the macro level, the SAP HANA initiative transformed Unilever’s attitude
towards IT. Until HANA, IT pushed solutions to functions in need of
modernization. Now, optimized functions pinpoint business opportunities and
stakeholders ripe for HANA solutions. Unilever believes this swing from
push to pull is a driver for innovation and a growth agenda.
Unilever wanted to maximise product availability on store shelves during new
product launches and promotional campaigns. Since trade promotion
processes drive a significant portion of its sales, in order to enhance the speed
and efficiently with which they could be planned, budgeted, and executed and
in how stock was allocated. Earlier Unilever used a process in which stock
was sequentially assigned to orders as they were received. There was no
mechanism for assigning to orders as they received.

10. There was no mechanism for assigning limited stock between customers
running a promotion and those who were not. Consolidation of its ERP
platforms and the transactions and processing speed of the HANA
platform are the keys to improved performance, reporting scalability
that will enable Unilever to full fill its ambitious growth, social impact
and environmental problem.

11. PROBLEMS
• Unilever need to unify its core business process, including supply
chain management.
• Unilever wanted to maximize product availability on store shelves
during new product launches and promotional campaigns.

12. SOLUTIONS
• Use ERP system which helps to run a global business that was
doubling its transaction.
• Unilever began adding SAP HANA (High Performance Analytical
Appliance). It is very well suited for performing real time analytics if
introduce SAP CO-P (controlling – profitability analysis) which helps
for the reduction of number of days of production.
• If add SAP cash forecast of they can minimize liquidity risk and
maximise the use working capital and cash.

13. CASE QUESTIONS
• What the management problems typical of global systems was
Unilever experiencing? What management, organization and
technology factors were responsible for those problems?
Unilever need to unify its core business processes including supply
chain management and to maximize product availability on store
shelves they have to adopt ERP systems SAP, HANA if, it is not
adapting these technologies they will not get the ability to input raw
materials cost and quickly calculate product price. No any improved and
understanding of the supply chain for the manager decision making and
they cannot able to performing real time analysis.

14. • How did Unilever’s new systems and use of SAP HANA supports its
business strategy? How effective was the solution chosen by the
company?
Unilever began adding SAP HANA software to some of its keys SAP
ERP applications at the end of 2012. HANA is an in-memory data
platform that is deployable as an on-premise appliance, or in the cloud.
HANA accelerated trade promotion management tools different
inventory maximum scenarios and it is very well suited for performing
real time analytics and processing extremely large numbers of
transactions very rapidly.

15. • How did Unilever’s new system improve operations and management
decision making?
Production cost analysis confirmed for Unilever that HANA’s ability to
accelerate business processes was well worth the investment,
substantially improving real-time decision making. The second tangible
benefit was the ability to input raw material cost and quickly calculate
product price. For understanding its margins – the percent profit after all
costs have been deducted – enabled Unilever to analyse ways to
improve them. These factors make improvement in operations and
management decision making.

16. • What influence does the global business environment have on firms
like Unilever and how does that affect its choice of system?
Consolidation of ERP platform and the transaction and processing speed
of the HANA platform are the keys to improved performance, reporting
to fulfil its ambitious growth, social impact and environmental goals.
The global business environment has a firm like this other company can
also follow this and they can achieve great success in global business
environment this will help the developing country to become to become
developed country and also it helps to increase global economy of the
business world.

17. THANK YOU 