Sphera > Case Studies > Streamline chemical compliance and processes with a comprehensive product stewardship strategy

Streamline chemical compliance and processes with a comprehensive product stewardship strategy

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Country

Worldwide

Product

Sphera’s Chemical Management Software

Tech Stack

Cloud-based system

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Environmental Impact Reduction

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Apparel
Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Inventory Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

About The Customer

The customer is a large multinational apparel manufacturing and retailer. The company was founded in 1940 and operates in the consumer goods and manufacturing sector. The firm has a global presence with 33 production facilities spread across eight countries. The company has approximately 27,000 employees. The firm uses a large quantity and variation of chemicals in their manufacturing process. Prior to the adoption of Sphera’s software in mid-2016, the apparel firm was using manual systems and processes for managing chemical SDS information.

The Challenge

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.

The Solution

The firm turned to Sphera to streamline approximately 3,700 SDS documents from nearly 1,300 vendors that are dispersed across 33 production facilities in eight countries. The goal was to deploy a centralized, universal database that allowed its 27,000 employees to access pertinent chemical data with ease to make informed decisions. Sphera’s Chemical Management solution helps organizations manage global chemical data within a single SaaS system. The solution integrates regulatory data and chemical approval functionality. It provides access to 1 million unique product profiles and up-to-date SDS for each. The solution also facilitates powerful reporting on any chemical-related data with global capabilities.

Operational Impact

The apparel firm was able to save each of the 80 relevant employees approximately three weeks of time annually by eliminating the need to manually update and print SDS documents as well as manually search for similar chemicals already approved.
Employees can go directly to the cloud-based system and search for SDS documents across all firm-wide facilities within minutes.
Automated SDS label printing with compliant pictograms and formatting to meet regulatory requirements.
Reduced the quantity and variation of chemicals used in their manufacturing process.
Employees can view eco-certifications alongside SDS details to screen for ‘greener’ chemical alternatives.

Quantitative Benefit

Saved each of the 80 relevant employees approximately three weeks of time annually.
Streamlined approximately 3,700 SDS documents from nearly 1,300 vendors.