Customer Profile
Very few brands will ever match the popularity of WD-40. The global consumer products company was founded in 1953 in San Diego, California and manufactures and sells lubricants, hand and household cleaners that are available in more than 160 countries worldwide. In fiscal year 2009, WD-40 Company recorded sales of $292 million.
Challenge
- Ensure manufactures and suppliers worldwide are using the most up-to-date documents associated with product design specs and manufacturing processes.
- Implement a system facilitating the upload and storage of documents easily accessible to global manufacturing and supplier facilities.
Solution - Intelex Document Control module
- Intelex Web-Based Platform
Results - Assured all parties involved top to bottom in manufacturing process were building against correct and current specifications.
- Experienced increased efficiency, consistency and quality of manufacturing process and end product.
Business Objective
With multiple manufacturers and suppliers involved in the production and distribution of their products, WD-40 Company wanted to implement a solution that would ensure that each facility could access and was using the most up-to-date documents related to product design and manufacturing specifications. Understanding that weaknesses in their document control system can ultimately limit the efficiency of their operations and affect the quality of their product, WD-40 Company selected Intelex’s Document Control module to address the issue.
Implementation
Operating on Intelex’s web-based platform, the Document Control module functions as a universal portal accessible to all parties involved in WD-40’s manufacturing and distribution processes from top to bottom. Acting as a central document control repository, documents such as product specs, policies and procedures, and design documents like labels, artwork and packaging specs were uploaded and then accessed by manufacturing and supplier facilities across the globe. Being web-based allowed for each facility to log in to the system and instantly access the most up-to-date documents relating to their part of the process, ultimately eliminating the possibility of using inaccurate and out-of-date documents.
Return on Investment
Implementing the Intelex Document Control module instilled confidence for WD-40 that all of their products are being produced exactly to spec and that updates and revisions to design and manufacturing documents are received in real-time. As a result of implementing their Intelex solution, the efficiency, consistency and quality of WD-40’s overall manufacturing process and end product have significantly increased.The scalability and flexibility of the Intelex system will easily allow the future inclusion of other quality elements such as audits, nonconformance and product defect tracking into one centralized system.
