X

The client, a multinational CPG company, conducts brand tracking around the world and across all of their product categories. These include health, hygiene and home products among others. They wanted to adopt a harmonized brand tracking dashboard for different categories of product. In order to stay ahead in the game, the client wanted a competitive and comparative study for product and brand level performance. The client’s demand was challenging since the company has 120+ product portfolios of its global and regional brands. The primary goal of CPG companies is to maintain long-term relationships with retailers and ensure products are being promoted and sold across all locations. To enable this, the client wanted to understand the different purchase drivers, which are responsible for the sales. This included capturing awareness, familiarity and purchase drivers and barriers.

Drom, a leading fragrance manufacturer, was facing challenges in ensuring product compliance of regulations and industry standards across 43 countries. The company was dealing with disparate regulatory and safety data management and documentation workflows. There was a need for data standardization across global operations and increasing customer transparency into regulatory and safety information. The company also needed to continue meeting the requirements of the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) Compliance Program, which requires “eco-labeling” and bans or restricts the use of 174 chemical substances in fragrance products.

Mercedes-Benz, as part of their Ambition 2039, committed to becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2039 across their entire value chain. This includes not only the emissions produced by their vehicles but also those that occur during the production process. A significant proportion of these emissions occur not at Mercedes-Benz locations, but within its supply chain. To develop a realistic yet ambitious decarbonization strategy, it was crucial to gain transparency about emissions hotspots in the supply chain and quantify possible reduction measures. However, the company faced challenges such as missing emissions transparency in the supply chain, lack of reliable, detailed emissions inventories for steel, aluminum, and plastics, lack of knowledge about the influence of renewable energy and recycled or bio-based materials and their impacts on supply chain emissions, and lack of CO2 reductions potentials for target setting.

Mapei, a leader in the production of adhesives and chemical products for the building industry, faced several challenges. They needed to provide environmental information in a reliable and transparent manner in response to market demands on products in relation to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). They also needed to assess the performance of products in the design phase, reduce costs associated with the development of EPDs, and create effective communication messaging for the supply chain and consumers.

The consumer appliance manufacturer was facing numerous challenges from increasing global competition. To stay competitive, they developed a strategy centered on R&D and innovation to produce new technology that would satisfy client needs. To preserve the quality of its design from conception to manufacturing, post-market upgrades and productivity changes, the Manufacturer performed Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). This approach helped reduce errors throughout the product lifecycle and avoid costly failures and recalls. However, the FMEA process required many manual hours using standard spreadsheet software to edit, update and format risk reports. The manufacturer was struggling with inefficient analysis of risk, difficulty upholding standards and reactive mitigation of product failures and recalls.

The apparel firm was facing several challenges in managing its chemical compliance systems and processes. The company was using manual systems and processes for managing chemical SDS information, including binder storage and manual label printing at each of their facility sites. This created critical issues in chemical data management, updates, and reporting. The firm was dealing with siloed and limited access to safety data sheet (SDS) documents through a paper-based system. The label-making and formatting were done manually. The company was using a large quantity and variation of chemicals in their manufacturing process. There was also a lack of insight on the environmental impact of these chemicals.

Ball Corporation, a manufacturer of billions of aluminum cans each year, aimed to improve the sustainability credentials of their products. They wanted to identify the environmental hotspots of the aluminum can and compare it with competing beverage packaging options. The assessment was conducted in Europe, the U.S., and Brazil, considering regional collection/recycling rates, recycled content, weight optimization, and energy efficiency. The challenge was to provide an objective and reliable benchmark to interested 3rd parties, inform and enhance Ball’s sustainability strategy, and compare the regional sustainability performance of aluminum beverage cans with alternatives.

Stiferite, a leading company in Italy in the production of polyiso foam thermal insulation, was looking to improve its market position and create bigger opportunities in public bids and building projects. The company needed to obtain Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) certifications swiftly and autonomously to promptly respond to bid specifications and market requests. They also wanted to generate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on their entire product range and improve communication along the supply chain through transparent, credible, and effective messages.

In recent years, sustainability-related issues concerning plastics, such as sourcing from non-renewable resources and end-of-life issues (recycling, reuse, littering, biodegradability), have gained significant attention. The plastics industry is under pressure to provide credible solutions to these problems. To bring about sustainable change in the plastics industry, accurate information in the form of standardized and credible Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results needs to be made available in a transparent way to as broad an audience as possible, including non-LCA experts.

ista, a sub-metering company based in Germany, had set ambitious sustainability goals and needed to measure their success. For the annual collection of sustainability data, roughly 20 data sets from about 174 sites are collected, involving around 130 people. When the company decided to expand their sustainability initiatives, the existing approach was no longer adequate. Instead of focusing only on data collection and reporting, ista also needed to analyze the existing data to improve future performance. The challenges they faced included extensive and time-consuming data collection via Excel and email, plausibility checks required to improve data quality, and a lack of tools for analytics and advanced planning features.

The operator of one of the Middle East’s largest and most complex oil refineries was committed to adopting best-in-class industrial practices, recognizing international management standards, and ensuring compliance with all requirements regarding quality, health, safety and the environment (QHSE). As part of its commitment, and in accordance with its company standards, the operator is required to complete a turnaround (TAR) every five years. Performing a TAR on a site this large and complex involved substantial operational risks as a result of potentially hazardous work activities. With more than 2,300 separate pieces of equipment, 40,843 separate but interrelated jobs and no historical activity to act as a guide, the TAR required meticulous planning and exemplary execution to mitigate risks and ensure deadlines were met safely and efficiently.

UPM, a global company with operations in 12 countries, faced challenges in maintaining safety standards due to its diverse locations and growth in new business areas. The company had clear priorities and goals for social responsibility at work, including creating a safe and healthy working environment for all stakeholders. However, the various international, national, and local safety laws, regulations, and rules necessitated a global OHS&E solution for all sites and countries. The solution needed to ensure overall compliance with the UPM Safety Standards and assess and mitigate health and safety risks. The company faced challenges as different sites used different solutions for safety and environmental data, there was no common tool and processes for UPM in place, and there was a lack of global reporting for UPM Safety & Environmental KPIs.

Fater, a joint venture between Procter & Gamble and the Angelini Group, is committed to environmental sustainability and is constantly striving to understand and improve the environmental performance of its current and future products. The company faced several challenges in its sustainability journey. These included assessing the environmental impact of existing and new products, embedding eco-design in product development, especially in the choice of raw materials and type of packaging, quantifying the share of the use-phase emissions and providing retrospective guidance for product development, and supporting marketing claims with fact-based but easy-to-understand environmental indicators for transparent consumer communication.

Yara International ASA, the world’s largest fertilizer company and a leading chemical manufacturer, needed to enhance its Safety Data Sheet authoring capabilities to comply with higher requirements from REACH, CLP, and other mandates. The company also needed to establish a new integrated chemical compliance system compatible with its corporate IT environment. The goal was to drive continuous improvement of SDS work processes and core business operations.

Naturata, a leader in the sale of organic and biodynamic foods, is committed to sustainability and considers it its duty to use organic products and sustainable packaging. However, the ongoing debate and tension between their use of packaging and ecological responsibility are particularly crucial for Naturata. In addition to the quality of their goods, food safety and shelf life are of vital importance to them. Packaging designers and developers, therefore, must consider many different criteria to implement the ideal packaging solution. The challenge was to align packaging solutions with the company’s values and products, integrate sustainability criteria in the demanding processes around the packaging life cycle, identify relevant environmental aspects for comparing different packaging solutions, and cater to increased consumer preferences towards sustainable packaging solutions.

ConocoPhillips, a major player in the oil and gas industry, was facing operational inefficiencies, long wait times for frontline work teams, unplanned downtime and potential process safety losses. The company was also grappling with the challenges of the Digital Age and how it could be leveraged to transform their operations. The oil price downturn five years ago forced the industry to make major adjustments and consider how emerging technologies like data analytics, robotics, automation, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and cloud technology could be used to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The company also had to deal with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a global supply glut.

OLYMP, a global apparel company, was faced with the challenge of improving the environmental performance of their packaging while maintaining functional requirements. They needed to calculate the environmental impact of different packaging types and identify a reliable and easy-to-use life cycle assessment (LCA) tool for packaging. They also required external results verification for transparent communication. The company aimed to meet the criteria for their sustainability flag GREEN CHOICE by 2025, which involved increasing the proportion of sustainably produced raw materials, reducing the use of critical chemicals, and establishing environmentally friendly processes in production.

Covestro, a leading manufacturer of high-tech polymer materials, was facing challenges in standardizing its Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs) documentation. The company wanted to ensure that all its plants could access and share templates, reduce the effort spent on maintaining software and keeping hardware up to date, and have the flexibility to modify templates in accordance with changes in business and industry requirements. Additionally, Covestro wanted to improve the visibility of process safety information to enable solution evaluation and tracking.

YPF, a leading energy company, was looking to enhance transparency and provide stakeholders with a clearer view of their environmental and carbon data. Their existing collection system was technologically obsolete and Excel-based, which made it difficult to aggregate environmental emissions related to waste & water management and biodiversity data into a single repository. They wanted to transition from a manual process with separated data streams to an automated and unified reporting solution. The goal was to improve key performance indicators (KPIs) in sustainability, increase transparency for audit trails and provide more reliable data for stakeholders and investors.

The Co-op, a large consumer co-operative with interests across various sectors, was facing challenges in ensuring the safety of its workforce. The retail sector is vulnerable to a wide range of incidents, from workplace accidents to antisocial behavior, as well as the verbal abuse and physical assault of colleagues. To improve the safety culture, Co-op decided to establish a new incident reporting and management system, accessible to all colleagues and contractors. The safety strategy went beyond the collection and reporting of incidents and near misses. An important success factor for establishing a broad and efficient safety culture and protecting the workforce was to evaluate the collected data with advanced data analytics capabilities to spot underlying trends and risk profile sites, ensure compliance and enable better decision-making. Due to Co-op’s complex safety requirements and the need to cover all its stores, future-ready mobile technology was needed.

Bayer, a global leader in healthcare and nutrition, was using various documentation tools for their Process Hazard Analysis (PHA), including MS Word, Excel, PHA Works, Leader and PHA-Pro. This disparate approach did not allow for shared data analysis, and Bayer had no way of identifying the common risks shared by their sites. They were in need of a risk management documentation tool that would allow for consistent and accurate data recording and analytics. The tool needed to be capable of recording PHA safety reviews across all sites and sharing them globally throughout Bayer’s network.

The multinational footwear and apparel company was struggling with a manual material approval process and difficulty managing safety data sheets and inventory. The lack of documentation led to the repetition of tasks and confusing communication to internal stakeholders. The company's processes were spread across multiple software solutions, which were cumbersome and often created redundant work.

DEUTZ, a leading manufacturer of innovative drive systems, faced challenges in securing its supply chain and being risk aware. The company had integrated Sphera Supply Chain Risk Management into its global risk management within procurement, but realized that limited visibility into sub-tiers represented a significant risk of supply disruptions or shortfalls. In 2022, the focus was on meeting strong demand, fulfilling delivery obligations, and keeping supply chains up and running. At the same time, the German Supply Chain Act with special focus on human rights and environmental protection along the supply chain, drove companies such as DEUTZ to perform risk management and reporting for all suppliers. DEUTZ’s attempt at manual identification of sub-tier suppliers failed due to two significant hurdles: it did not meet the requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and it involved a high expenditure of time, yet did not provide value to neither DEUTZ nor their customers.

Clariant, a leading specialty chemical company, recognized supply chain risk management as a megatrend that they would have to manage if they wanted to stay ahead of the competition. They wanted to secure their market position by cooperating with the right suppliers who didn’t pose a threat to their reputation, whether because of noncompliance with regulations, sustainability issues or other reasons. As a chemical company, Clariant can’t produce their products without all the supplies they need—even if that supply is only one tiny component of a much larger product.

Joyson Safety Systems (JSS), a global leader in mobility safety, faced several challenges in managing its supply chain risk efficiently. The automotive industry is governed by strict regulations and standards to ensure product safety, quality, reliability, and business integrity. As a tier-1 supplier of safety systems to automotive manufacturers, JSS had to ensure compliance with these laws and rules. The company also had to monitor the financial stability of its suppliers, many of whom were small to mid-sized businesses. The merger of two global automotive suppliers to form JSS in 2018 further complicated matters. The company had to deal with multiple interfaces of systems and databases, and the lack of a systematic approach to supply chain risk management. The company's risk reporting was based mostly on downloads from various regional systems, which were then consolidated manually. This led to inefficiencies and increased the likelihood of human errors.

Vimeo, a leading professional video platform, was facing the challenge of identifying critical signals in their decade's worth of data that could be used to improve operations, monetize services, and advance the business. The company's existing rule-based monitoring system was not able to understand each KPI's context or dig deeper into its permutations to find hard-to-detect anomalies. The company's growth was a big factor in the decision to adopt Anodot to quickly identify anomalies and trends in the data. The existing monitoring and alerting tools were based on hard-coded thresholds that couldn't cope with Vimeo's hyper growth. The threshold approach wasn't scalable because the numbers changed all the time.

Browsi, a startup providing large-scale publishers with AI tools to gauge the visibility and impact of their online ad inventory, was struggling with handling the enormous amounts of data it collects daily. The company needed an autonomous monitoring system to assess Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as page views, ad impressions, and other metrics for online movement and ad interaction. Browsi required real-time capabilities to respond to business or technical issues as they arise and to alert their customers of potential problems. Before integrating Anodot, Browsi had a limited view of its data systems and was alerted of technical or business problems only a day, and in some cases only several days, after they occurred. These delays and faults translated into a loss of revenue that could easily reach thousands of dollars.

The digital printing company sells commercial digital presses for digital printing of items such as pictures, labels, large format prints, etc. Its customers are print houses around the world. The business model is that the customers purchase the printing press up front and also pay per page printed. The company provides the ink and spare parts and most of the support. Whenever a press is down, the company loses both in revenue (due to fewer prints) and in support costs. Customer satisfaction also suffers as a result. Typically, whenever there was a problem, the customers’ first instinct would be to start replacing spare parts that the company provides, and only afterwards they might call support. The initial support call costs the company several hundred dollars, and still may not resolve the problem. If an issue persisted or recurred, an expert would be sent (at the cost to the company of a few thousands of dollars per call). In this process, the company lost revenue from presses that were malfunctioning, paid a lot in support and parts, and also eroded its customer satisfaction.

Before using Anodot, Wix's data analysts manually measured and analyzed vast amounts of data. This included activity related to customers' actions on Wix, such as success and failure rates while opening the Wix website editors, checkouts at e-commerce sites hosted by Wix, logins by premium customers, and other important events. The analysts spent a great deal of time scrutinizing reports and graphs to try to detect issues, but important issues were sometimes identified hours to days after they had occurred. Wix needed a real-time alert system that would indicate issues without manual threshold settings in the key metrics.

As Minute Media’s business scaled, it became increasingly difficult to keep tabs on incidents that impacted user experience, revenue, and costs. The company needed a solution that could help identify underlying issues in the platform to prevent penalties with Google and other supply-side platforms, understand issues with the integrity of data aggregated from a wide variety of sources, improve the ad profit margins, especially during consistently changing patterns such as the pandemic, and prevent revenue loss by quickly notifying of fraudulent bot clicks on video ads. Prior to Minute Media adopting Anodot, data analysts extracted data and worked with it manually to try to spot anomalies or trends. This manual process was untenable, especially as the company grew, leading Minute Media to begin looking for an automated solution to identify anomalies in the business data.