October 2012 – In an effort to become more sustainable, Czech BCSD member company, HenkelCzech Republic, and business partners have begun to roll-out paperless invoicing across its business units.
Henkel Czech Republic is part of the global consumer products company Henkel. A global brand, Henkelspecializes in laundry and home care products, cosmetics and toiletries, and adhesive technologies. It has branches in several countries, including the Czech Republic.
Since the start of this year, Henkel Czech Republic, in co-operation with its business partners, has begun to introduce paperless invoicing. Today, nearly 120 of the company’s corporate and other partners – some of them Czech BCSD members – now receive their invoices and other documentation electronically in PDF format, up from 45 partners when the program began. Thanks to this initiative, it is estimated that the company will be able to make savings of some 100 kilograms of paper every year. This is a key part of Henkel’s sustainability strategy.
Going forward, Henkel Czech Republic plans to introduce paperless communications in other areas of the company’s activities and in other business units. “We began in February this year by addressing partners in our Adhesive Technologies business sector. The initiative was met with huge interest and a very positive response from companies. Within the space of one month, electronic invoicing was in place among more than thirty of our business partners,” says Eva Malíková, Customer Service Manager.
Thanks to this initiative, Henkel Czech Republic continues to pursue its corporate sustainability strategy, whose objective is to deliver higher value using fewer resources and to triple its rate of efficiency by 2030. “Approximately 100 kilograms of paper can be saved on standard invoicing alone, given the current number of partners. Electronic invoicing brings both our partners and our company major financial and time savings, streamlines all processes and simplifies archiving”, said Eva Malíková describing the benefits. What makes this project especially interesting is that it did not require the implementation of any new systems or costly technologies within the company. Henkel was simply able to use an existing interface of the SAP enterprise resource planning system. Proving that being sustainable needn’t be a costly undertaking!
Henkel Czech Republic uses Orion consolidation centre services for electronic billing. The centre distributes the documents and also archives them securely in accordance with the legislation in force. The Orion Centre is operated by CCV Informační systémy.
Czech BCSD is one of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Regional Network partner organizations.