Henkel expands the use of electronic communication

Henkel, one of the leading world suppliers of consumer goods, has substantially expanded its use of electronic communication.  Besides the electronic interchange of documentation in EDI format, Henkel now sends invoices to selected customers in PDF.

One of the goals of Henkel’s sustainable development strategy is the implementation of paperless communication throughout the company. The digitalization process was not reserved to the company’s internal processes, however, but was also aimed at Henkel’s trading partners, including those, who have thus far not had any experience with electronic data interchange.

The evidence of this is the company’s employment of the Orion consolidation centre’s services, provided by CCV Information systems, to issue electronic PDF invoices to customers, with whom they hitherto communicated via regular mail. Henkel was thus able to expand its current electronic data interchange in a structured EDI form, which is used to exchange thousands of documents every month not only with trading partners but also with suppliers of logistic services.

The issuing of invoices in PDF was first employed in Henkel’s adhesives department, where according to Eva Malíková – customer service manager – it was met with great interest on the customers’ side. This innovation brings further substantial savings in terms of time and financial resources for Henkel.