Company: Colgate-Palmolive Company manufactures and markets a wide variety of products globally, including toothpaste, soaps, laundry detergents,

and pet foods. Situation: Colgate operates in more than 200 countries and manages brands globally. Colgate began rolling out the SAP core enterprise solution in 1995 to improve its operations. While this contributed to large gains in efficiency, Colgate wanted more visibility into customer demand and its own capacity so it could serve customers better. Goal: Colgate aimed to upgrade supply chain performance worldwide by replacing a regional sourcing model with a fully globalized supply chain built around vendor-managed inventory (VMI) with key accounts, cross-border sourcing, and collaborative planning with downstream subsidiaries. The business objective: improve service to retail and internal customers and reduce inventory and total delivered cost. Process/Tools: Colgate selected my SAPTM Supply Chain Management (my SAP SCM) to provide instant, real-time access to information about orders, forecasts, production plans, and key performance indicators such as inventory levels and fulfilment rates. Results: Colgate improved customer order fulfilment rates to 95 percent. It improved on-time and complete orders from 70 percent to 98 percent for my VMI replenishment. It lowered inventory by 10 percent and reduced overall order cycle times. Colgate also increased compliance levels for intracompany replenishment. my

SAP SCM capabilities are critical to enhancing Colgates global supply chain performance. my

SAP SCM enables Colgate to gain visibility into global logistics data. It allows the company to
optimize operations through the use of advanced mathematical planning functions. And it provides a platform for collaboration with Colgate customers and partners. By leveraging my SAP SCM, Colgate is progressing toward excellence in supply chain planning across worldwide operations. Supply Chain Strategy of Colgate Palmolive Toothpaste Supply Chain Strategy of Colgate Palmolive Toothpaste Objective : 1. To know the supply chain strategies used by the Colgate Palmolive ltd. 2. To know the distribution channels of the Colgate Palmolive toothpaste. 3. To study the supply process of Colgate Palmolive from supply of raw

materials till supply to retailers. Introduction: The distribution strategy is concerned with the product or service placement. Broadly speaking, there are two categories of issues and decisions which need to be handled while designing the distribution strategy as part of marketing mix. These are: (a) management of marketing channels and (b) the management of physical supplies. In this unit we will discuss these two areas of distribution decisions. IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION Channel decisions refer to the managerial decisions on the selection of best routes or paths for moving goods from the producer to the consumer. Channels of distribution are concerned not only with the physical movement of goods but also with their promotion, selling and marketing control. The term channels of distribution are used to refer to the various intermediaries who help in moving the product from the producer to the consumer, There are a variety of middlemen and merchants who act as intermediaries between the producers and consumers. Channels of distribution are the most powerful element among marketing mix elements. Many products which were intrinsically sound died in their infancy because they never found the right road to the market, On the other hand, by developing a sound distribution network and launching aggressive advertisement campaigns, a company can carve out a niche for itself. Channels of distribution can be grouped under two major headings: i) Direct Selling by manufacturer and ii) Indirect Selling through middlemen. For direct selling, the first option involves supplying the product to the customer using your own salesmen and arranging your own deliveries. The second option is using the medium of post office. You obtain orders from your customers who respond by mail or telephone to your advertisements or to letters mailed directly to their houses. You deliver your products to them through mail or through some other carrier. The next alternative is to establish your own retail stores.

But in most cases, manufacturers have to take the help of a variety of agencies or middlemen to reach their ultimate customers. These agencies are called by various names which generally follow the services they perform. They are generally classified as : (i) Functional middlemen or (ii) Merchant middlemen. The functional middlemen are those intermediaries who perform various marketing functions without having title to goods. More important of ' them are mercantile agents like brokers and commission agents. On the other hand, merchant middlemen obtain title to the goods with a view to selling them at a profit. They take the risk involved in marketing and work not for a certain percentage of commission but for a margin of profit. More important of them are wholesalers and retailers. Colgate Palmolive Toothpaste: When it comes to toothpaste in China, Colgate is the market leader, according to a recent AC Nielsen Media International survey on Chinas emerging consumer society. But in the shampoo category, a Colgate-Palmolive rival tops the list. Driving sales through brand-building and smart marketing is as necessary for fast-moving consumer products com- panies in China and the rest of Asia as it is in the mature markets of North America and Europe. But in Asia, with its fickle tastes, falling prices and unpredictable competitors, the pressure to keep ahead of the packand make a proper returnis relentless. The trick is to control tightly what can be controlled. The one area a consumer products company can be firmly in charge of is its own internal business processes. Eliminating waste and wringing out costs can have a dramatic effect, especially with the likes of sham- poo, toothpaste and soap, where vol- umes are large but margins are tight. In the past two years Colgate- Palmolive has rolled out an ambitious program to do just that in the Asia Pacific region. The companys entire supply chain was reengineered and new back-office systems were put in place with stunning speedall the more remarkable considering that the undertaking involved 57 sites across 11 different markets, including China. As a result, these far-flung operations were transformed into a single, closely integrated organization. Today, Colgate-Palmolive is following a new model. Subsidiaries throughout Asia use the same automated systems, whether they are handling orders or managing credit. Sourcing has be- come more economical, with selected countries being the primary suppliers of products for the region. Support- ing

each market is a shared service organization providing region- wide information technology and financial functions. Colgate-Palmolive is famously coy when it comes to releasing facts and figures about its business. But accord- ing to Malaysia-based Barry Simpson, general manager of Asia Pacific Information Technology for Colgate- Palmolive