Procter & Gamble (P&G) A DATABASE HELPS P&G MANAGE PRODUCT INFORMATION

introduction Procter & Gamble (P&G) is one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, with more than $43 billion in annual sales. P&G sells more than 300 brands worldwide, including major brands such as Tide, Mr. Clean, Ivory Soap, Crest, Pringles, Pampers, Clairol, and Prell. P&G has five global business units in more than 80 countries, including research and development and contract manufacturing operations. This dispersed business deals with 100,000 suppliers.

Data resource The fundamental product development process at P&G begins with the creation of a set of technical specifications for a product, raw material, packaging material, piece of artwork, or analytical and process standards. Each P&G product has its own set of technical standards and specifications

Data resource the formula card for a single size and fragrance of one Olay product defines technical standards for 30 raw material specifications, 20 test methods, 3 packaging standards, 8 packaging material standards, 4 artwork standards, manufacturing instructions, a set of quality acceptance criteria, 1 process standard, 2 additional formula cards tied to the same packaging standard, and 15 substitute ingredient standards for producing a product in a different location.

Complex-a Because P&G is a global company with some products tailored to regional markets and consumer tastes, P&G has many functionally similar products with significant variations in actual specifications for different regions. There were no global data standards or “pick lists” across all P&G divisions. Consequently, P&G has more than 600,000 specifications and a mountain of product data to manage.

Complex-b These massive quantities of technical standards data used to be stored in 30 separate data repositories, preventing information sharing among researchers. Difficulties integrating and accessing this information made material acquisition more inefficient and expensive.

Complex-c For example, P&G had perhaps 12 different sets of specifications for blue dye, and it was placing 12 different orders for the same blue dye to the same supplier at 12 different prices. One large P&G business unit was using more than 50 different types of adhesives around the world with scores of suppliers, even though the specifications for several adhesives were identical with different commercial names and only three adhesive types were needed to meet all global needs.

Corporate Standards System (CSS) P&G made the management of product information easier by cataloging the technical standards for all of its products and organizing them in a single global database called the Corporate Standards System (CSS). The system is based on eMatrix from MatrixOne, a provider of product life cycle management software. This database is now available to 8,200 P&G employees and will be made available to some suppliers and contract manufacturers.

The Usage of Database The database organizes any and every piece of information that goes into making a particular product. Once this information is in the database, data can be analyzed from many different perspectives to deliver information to serve specific functions. For instance, designers and engineers can use the data to design a new product or improve an old one. Purchasing can use the data to consolidate materials orders. The data even help retailers determine the proper shelf height for storing an item.

Returns P&G’s investment in the database is producing returns. With all product data in one place, P&G can obtain a unified company-wide picture of what materials it needs and use this information to consolidate purchases to secure better prices. This information helped P&G cut down on total adhesive use and develop new processes for applying adhesives more economically.

reuse of technical standards The database also enables P&G researchers who need constant access to standards to work more efficiently and facilitates reuse of technical standards that have already been defined. A researcher in one facility may have already defined a technical standard for a hair-coloring gel, while another researcher may be working on a similar product or a product that may interact with that brand of hair color. The second researcher will be able to reuse the coloring product’s technical standards and know precisely how an ingredient in that product might react with other ingredients. In heavily regulated industries such as health and beauty products, ingredients and their proportions must be exact. Precision and consistency among technical standards are critical.

Share and interface CSS is being enhanced to create more structured data from technical standards that can be easily shared with more groups in the company. Specification data will be delivered to users through specialized interfaces that are tailored for specific business needs. CSS will define and catalog technical standards for any new product, whether that product was developed internally or through an acquisition.