Artificial Intelligence based software to provide detailed visibility into indirect spending and pave the way for supplier-base rationalization; to support future initiatives in Strategic Sourcing.
Zycus, Inc. (www.zycus.com), the leading provider of enterprise Spend Data Management™ (SDM) solutions, today announced that Unilever, Inc. (NYSE: UL), one of the world's largest consumer products companies, has selected Zycus to kick-off a business initiative which will enable Unilever to get detailed visibility into indirect spend across its manufacturing plants in the United States. Zycus' Spend Data Management solution, powered by its artificial intelligence based automated UNSPSC classification engine AutoClass, will encourage adoption of the UNSPSC within Unilever, and accelerate the realization of benefits from supplier base rationalization.
Unilever plans to substantially reduce the total cost of externally purchased materials, goods and services, while maintaining or improving upon the relationship and service quality with its suppliers. The existing IT systems allowed for capture and analyses of spend only at a very top level. With Zycus' SDM Solution, Unilever hopes to get accelerated as well as more detailed insight into it's spend landscape, with data now classified at a granular level including supplier, commodity, and plant level, and also automate the spend analysis process so that it can be done on an ongoing basis. Upon successful completion of the first phase of the project, which will involve historical spend analysis for 13 manufacturing plants, Unilever plans to roll-out Zycus' UNSPSC based solution across the remaining manufacturing plants in the US.
UNSPSC (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code), a worldwide classification system developed in 1998 by the United Nations and Dun & Bradstreet, is an open, global electronic commerce standard that provides a logical framework for classifying goods and services. The hierarchical structure of UNSPSC allows drilling down and rolling up, which is integral for tactical and strategic spend analysis. It is a global standard and freely available to the public with no copyright protection issues which has led to its widespread adoption all around the world.
"By using AutoClass we are able to unlock information about our MRO spend which is already buried in our transaction systems" said David Lapish, Head of Unilever's Information Management Team. "The information is of a depth and quality which our Supply Management group has not had available before. It will enable us to realise savings from avoiding unnecessary purchases and by concentrating spend with preferred suppliers."
"Zycus is delighted to partner Unilever in helping drive forward its supplier base rationalization initiative," said Sandip Maiti, Director Marketing, Zycus. "Managing and leveraging one's spend data is a critical component in any enterprise spend management initiative, and we are committed to pave the way for Unilever to discover its savings potential and lay the foundations for rolling out a global spend reduction initiative." |
Back
