Unilever & Comarch EDI

Situation Before the Beginning of the Project

Since the moment of entering the Russian and Ukrainian markets in the 90s, the company has undergone many major changes, resulting in a significant increase in production and the volume of imported goods. The rapid pace of development and a wide spreading of Unilever products in the country caused the company to optimize its cooperation with its partners, which contributed to the implementation of electronic documents (EDI).

Implemented Product

Unilever is one of the first companies that have decided to use electronic documents to facilitate cooperation with retail chains. The enterprise uses a variety of document types, such as ORDER, ORDRSP, DESADV, INVOIC, INSDES, OSTRPT, RECADV and PRODAT. As one of the first companies in Russia it has also implemented an electronic invoice that meets the requirements of the FR legislation.

Since 2007 in Russia and 2009 in Ukraine, Unilever has been working with Comarch to organize electronic document circulation between the company and retail chains. The company joined the Comarch EDI platform via AS2 communication protocol using the optimal system for its document format. In addition to the integrated connection, Unilever employees use the Comarch Web-EDI application to work with electronic documents on a daily basis.

The next step of our cooperation was the implementation of the solution improving management of processes related to distributors’ orders. It was directly integrated into the existing ERP system, which allowed many partner companies to quickly receive information on Unilever’s product range and prices and subsequently place orders. All these activities are carried out through a special web-portal. Such types of documents as ORDRSP, ORDER, Price List, Material Master were implemented.

Effects

Convinced of the advantages of EDI technology, which allowed optimization of the process of preparing documents and improvement of work in certain branches of the company, Unilever decided to automate the exchange of information with their logistics operators. The main objective of the project was to reduce the time required for manual preparation of documents, increase accuracy of information and improve work in warehouses. 

In the pre-implementation phase of analysis was created the scheme workflow of EDI documents, corresponding to all Unilever’s requirements, as well as the most optimal plan his realization. As a result of implementing a various type of document, such as Material Master (PRICAT), Instruction to Despatch (INSDES), Inventory Report (INVRPT), a lot of processes was optimized in the company, including synchronization of data master, ordering process and product management in the warehouse.