BearingPoint advises Kao USA on warehouse consolidation

BearingPoint, a global management consulting firm, recently supported personal care and cosmetics firm Kao with centralizing its warehouse operations for wholesale and salon deliveries in the Americas.

Headquartered in Japan, Kao has $13.7 billion in annual revenue and 32,600 people across Asia, the Americas, and EMEA. The firm’s brands include Bioré, Jergens, and Sensei.

BearingPoint was tasked with eliminating the inefficiencies of multiple third-party-operated warehouses by consolidating wholesale and salon delivery operations in a central distribution center in Cincinnati. The project included relocating the salon warehouse, moving thousands of products, and migrating and reconfiguring data in the SAP system.

BearingPoint first had to reconfigure the new SAP warehouse, which included managing data for over 10,000 storage bins and updating storage types and tables. The consultancy reviewed all processes, from sales to shipment and from purchase to storage, and inserted over 500 delivery routes into the SAP system. BearingPoint also created new SAP codes to align all tables and programs with the new warehouse requirements.

The consulting firm used a phased go-live approach that involved parallel usage of the previous warehouse location and the new central distribution center. This helped avoid delays from route changes and scheduling adjustments.

“This project with Kao is a great example of how strategic collaboration and technology excellence can drive real operational improvements,” said Andreas Fitz, partner, BearingPoint. “The successful transformation was the result of a strong and trusting partnership with Kao. Their clear vision, collaborative mindset, and openness to change enabled us to jointly deliver a complex logistics and SAP transition with precision and impact.”

By collecting all logistics data in the SAP system and centralizing on a single, in-house facility, Kao enabled significant cost optimizations as well as greater data transparency and forecasting capabilities. BearingPoint says the manufacturer can also manage the delivery times of its products better, plan inventory more effectively, and improve services for customers.

“Working with BearingPoint was a fantastic experience,” said Christoph Schorn, associate director of logistics at Kao USA Inc. “They delivered on time, on budget, and with exceptional technical expertise.”