Success story
methodIndustry• Consumer packaged goods

Solution• OpenText™ Trading Grid™
• OpenText™ B2B Managed Services

Method creates a clean path to growthwith OpenText B2B integration
World-class method plant and distribution center secures reliable,scalable B2B integration with OpenText™ B2B Managed Services

Results
Established tools and expertisefor reliable B2B transactions
Connections completed aheadof schedule
Confidence for global expansion
Customers are offered seamless
deployment and upgrades“The fact that OpenText is already doing ASNs with some ofour major retailers—already has that communication set
up and has that relationship established—gave us a lot ofconfidence in what OpenText could bring to the table to get
the project going.”
Susan Karr

EDI Analyst
methodMethod creates a clean path to growth with OpenText B2B integration

Method is a manufacturer of non-toxic and biodegradable naturally
derived cleaning products. Together with its sister brand Ecover,method offers a portfolio of products that includes laundry, homecleaning, hand and body wash and air care products. The company’s
mission is to run its business in a values-driven manner, building socialand environmental benefit into its products and everything it does.

Addressing B2B challenges of first manufacturing
and distribution facilityPeople Against Dirty Manufacturing, the organization formed by method,
regards its manufacturing plant and distribution center in the Pullman Park
District of Chicago as a tangible realization of the company’s commitment
to sustainability and community. The ‘South Side Soapbox’ meets strict
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) benchmarks
for ecological facilities. It is the only LEED-Platinum certified plant inits industry and only one of two in the United States. It also supports
revitalization of an area rich in manufacturing history by being the first
new factory to be built on the South Side of Chicago in nearly 30 years.
Among other standout features, the facility is surrounded by solar
tracking trees and a refurbished 230-foot wind turbine that generates
half of the building’s annual electricity consumption. Additionally, morethan half of the 150,000-square-foot facility is topped with a commercial
scale greenhouse, the world’s largest hydroponic rooftop farm, equipped
to produce up to one million pounds of produce every year for local
stores, restaurants and markets.
Priorities for B2B experience
People Against Dirty Manufacturing professionals focus on the production,
warehousing and distribution of planet-friendly, design-driven home-care
products. To help keep that focus, they needed an experienced partner

to integrate electronic data interchange (EDI) for efficiency in line withthe plant itself and overall company mission. “We’ve never had our own
distribution center, so we had no existing systems to leverage,” said
method EDI analyst Susan Karr. “We were looking to find a vendor with
EDI capabilities to hit the ground running and make the transition as
seamless as possible.”
Priorities for reliability, speed and scalability
A partner for its distribution center needed to be quick and steadyfooted—agile enough to handle the first deliveries within months whilelarge enough to grow with future capabilities, as the U.S. plant merged
capacity with Ecover resources on a global basis.
For method, an incomplete or incorrect advance shipping notice (ASN)
can result in swift and painful fines. Working with a reliable partner,however, was not just about avoiding fines but also a way to accelerate
its business and maintain positive relationships with retailers. “The factthat OpenText is already doing ASNs with some of our major retailers—already has that communication set up and has that relationship established—gave us a lot of confidence in what OpenText could bring to thetable to get the project going,” added Karr.

Established B2B Presence

The South Side Soapbox is now connected to a global trading community
in the OpenText Cloud through B2B Managed Services and OpenText™
Trading Grid™, the world’s most powerful B2B integration network. B2BManaged Services combines comprehensive technology, people andprocesses for automating and streamlining e-commerce transactions.
Method selected OpenText for its e-commerce expertise, readiness andcost-effectiveness. “OpenText understood our business model andalready had the tools in place to execute this project. It is a really
good partnership,” said Karr.

“OpenText understood
our business model andalready had the toolsin place to execute thisproject. It is a really
good partnership.”Susan Karr

EDI Analyst
methodMethod creates a clean path to growth with OpenText B2B integration

For instance, B2B Managed Services has mapped to more than 200
e-commerce standards and enterprise application formats, building a
4,000+ map library. “The fact that OpenText already had library maps
was amazing. It wasn’t starting from scratch for the major retailers—since it does the same ASN mapping for other manufacturers, wewere able to benefit from its expertise,” noted Karr. The project also
moved quickly, clocking in a week ahead of deadline.

Reliable, cloud-based global reach

Together, method and Ecover form the world’s largest green cleaning
company, shipping to thousands of retailers. With world-class data
centers and an award-winning mapping and translation engine, B2B
Managed Services ensures trading transactions are handled securely andefficiently, supporting service to retailers and releasing manufacturing
professionals to focus on company initiatives.
Trust and reliability
For dependable, timely transactions with retailers, the People Against
Dirty Manufacturing place trust in the B2B integration experts atOpenText. “I felt very confident in OpenText,” said Karr, noting priorexperience with the technology leader developed her expectation for“stellar customer service.”
Judging further from the Pullman plant project, Karr reports OpenText
knows B2B, attributing success—in part—to high-quality mapping.
“Compared to other centers, in terms of the accuracy of the ASN outof OpenText versus other systems, it’s been better. We have a lot
more confidence in the document.”

Though issues often arise in the back-end system once a company
goes live with a new B2B system, Karr said experience and OpenText’s
established relationships gave method a head start. “When you’reusing a map that’s already going to a retailer like Target and you’re
dropping in data from our distribution center, you’re not taking the riskof having the wrong information tied,” Karr noted. “The expertise thatOpenText provided in getting the output document from the distribution center and getting the right information into the ASN has helped
us stay on track and efficient.”
Speed and scalability
From the outset, Karr and her team knew they needed a partner withlong-term viability and short-term turnaround, specifically four monthsfrom introduction to plant production at the South Side Soapbox.
They found both speed and scalability with B2B Managed Services.
“OpenText finished its work and was ready for the next step evenfaster than we were,” Karr noted. She attributes project speed tocohesive, seamless teamwork between OpenText and method.
Proven tools provide flexibility for expansion
B2B Managed Services taps the Trading Grid for on-demand cloudbased services that support market readiness and agility. “We werelooking for a partner to grow with us and we see a lot of potential tobuild on the model with OpenText to connect with several additional
trading partners, as well as combine some of the systems and merge
our capacity with Ecover on a global basis,” said Karr. “It feels lessdaunting to know we have a partner in OpenText to help us pull this off.”

About OpenText

OpenText, The Information Company,
enables organizations to gain insight
through market leading information
management solutions, on-premises orin the cloud. For more information about
OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX)
visit opentext.com.
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