CLIENT CONTEXT

Unilever is a global FMCG leader operating a complex multi-tier supply chain in China, one of its top three global markets.

China contributes nearly RMB 25B in annual revenue, with 40% of sales coming from online channels.

The supply chain covers procurement, production, DCs, RDCs, distributors and key account retailers.

Logistics cost is a critical profit lever across line-haul, regional distribution, warehousing, ambient, cold-chain and ice cream categories.

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Before 2022, logistics cost management relied heavily on manual Excel processes.

Budget management based on historical data and manual adjustments caused 5%-10% deviations.

Month-end reconciliation took at least one week, causing supplier payment delays and inefficiency.

Monthly closing data lagged 6-8 weeks, limiting management to post-event review.

Organizational restructuring required independent cost accounting across five business units and multiple categories.

GUANDATA SOLUTION

Built a unified business-finance logistics KPI system anchored on CPT (Cost Per Ton).

Covered DRP line-haul, Secondary last-mile delivery and Warehouse cost links.

Implemented a three-level attribution model: module attribution, volume-value analysis and factor quantification.

Designed role-based dashboards for supply chain directors and logistics managers.

Integrated SAP, carrier invoices, offline spreadsheets and logistics/financial data into Unilever's data lake and Guandata BI layer.

Digitized allocation, reconciliation, settlement, anomaly alerts and root-cause analysis workflows.

SELECTED ANALYTICS SCENARIOS

BUSINESS IMPACT

Reduced cost allocation time from 2 weeks to 2 days.

Reduced settlement cycle from 15 working days to 3 working days.

Reallocated 80% of logistics team time from data integration to root-cause analysis and strategy optimization.

Delivered approximately 10% annual logistics cost savings.

Unified 14 core KPIs and reduced business-finance data conflicts.

APPLICABLE SCENARIOS

Applicable to FMCG, distribution, retail, cold-chain and logistics-heavy businesses where logistics cost directly affects margin.

Useful for CFO, supply-chain, logistics and business-unit conversations around cost governance and business-finance alignment.

DATA & PROCESS SCOPE

Works with SAP, carrier invoices, offline spreadsheets, logistics / financial data and the customer data lake.

Covers CPT KPI governance, allocation, settlement, anomaly alerts, root-cause analysis and logistics-cost review.

KEY TAKEAWAY

This case shows how BI supports logistics-cost governance when supply-chain and finance teams need one operating language.