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Workflow software works for JohnsonDiversey

JohnsonDiversey speeds the approval process for packaging changes and launches using a workflow database that handles specifications and bills of material.

Using its paperless workflow database, JohnsonDiversey managers can efficiently coordinate information exchange and approval pro
Using its paperless workflow database, JohnsonDiversey managers can efficiently coordinate information exchange and approval pro

JohnsonDiversey, Inc. may not be a household name to consumers, but its cleaning and sanitation products are well known by commercial customers that include Wal-Mart, Unilever, and Coca-Cola.

Based in Sturtevant, WI, JohnsonDiversey Inc. was the industrial arm of S.C. Johnson that was spun off in 1999. The company, which has 14ꯠ employees worldwide, was formerly known as Johnson Wax Professional until it acquired DiverseyLever from Unilever Plc in May 2002. The company’s worldwide sales last year were $3 billion, with $1 billion of sales in North America.

That level of sales generates a huge amount of packaging data that crosses a dozen product categories and ranges from 8-oz bottles of hand sanitizers to 5-gal pails to 55-gal drums. Packaging data that include component specifications are all organized through one workflow process: Optiva® from Formation Systems. Project team managers have relied on Optiva for the past five years for reliable and accurate data management, which is absolutely crucial for any packaging changes, according to Dean Maune, the company’s senior group manager for global packaging. Recent and impending improvements make Optiva even more useful.

JohnsonDiversey’s database for packaging specifications and other aspects of its operations permits functional group managers throughout the facility to share information and gain faster, more accurate approval for product launches and packaging changes.

Information exchange and workflow efficiency are crucial to the company, Maune points out, adding that all information needed for a purchasing manager to procure packaging materials is generated from Optiva. That includes information on primary and secondary packaging—“everything needed to produce a finished good,” Maune says.

For a corrugated box, Optiva will display the particular box’s dimensions, drawings, and pallet patterns. For a bottle, Optiva will store the bottle’s drawings, written specs, and quality assurance tolerances.

“With Optiva, we have a common database where everyone accesses the same information for reports,” he adds. “It’s not someone’s own spreadsheet with how they handle the data.” Information held in Optiva includes raw materials, formulas, packaging specifications, and bills of material. A bill of material is the information required to manufacture a product, including its packaging, at the plant.

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