Mervyns Automates Factory Audit and Social Accountability Program
“We reduced our compliance management workload by about 50 percent going from a manual process to an automated system.”
Challenge
Mervyns department store has a well-earned reputation for its extensive selection of national and private-label fashions and housewares. With a 58-year tradition of being a good neighbor, Mervyns is committed to Corporate Social Responsibility. The Mervyns Factory Audit and Social Accountability compliance program ensures that Mervyns private label vendors agree to the company’s standards for vendor engagement before doing business with Mervyns. In the past, tracking the documents that verify compliance was a completely manual process. Mervyns needed a system to automate certain functions so that the compliance team could focus on other responsibilities.
Solution
Mervyns retained Hokura in 2004 to build the Mervyns Vendor Management (MVM) system from scratch. MVM is a web-based solution that houses Mervyns private label vendor and factory profiles. MVM automates the invoicing, audit scheduling, tracking, reporting and record keeping compliance management processes. The Mervyns Brand Compliance team uses MVM to see which vendors have agreed to comply with the standards of engagement, ensure that all private label vendors register their factories, and track factory audit results. Developed through an iterative process, MVM has been in use since 2005 and now profiles 630 vendors and 1,778 factories. MVM was later integrated with Mervyns product specification and item setup systems.
Success
MVM has made the complaince management process more efficient through enhanced data management. It not only saves time but also reduces errors. The system eliminates confusion and potential duplication of effort among vendors and third-party auditors by enabling collaboration among all parties. Because it is a Web-based system, MVM allows Mervyns, its vendors, third-party auditors and agents to access real-time, up-to-date data 24/7. This saves time in the communication channel, and gives internal and external users better visibilty into all data. Vendors can view audit statuses for their factories, auto-generate invoices, and receive alerts when their factories are up for re-audit. The system also enables audit lead-time tracking and performance management. MVM has reduced audit cycle time, enabling Mervyns to expedite the factory approval process and, as a result, speed up the supply chain.
“Mervyns and our vendors, third-party auditors and agents all agree that MVM enables us to be at the forefront of technology in the industry.”
About Mervyns LLC
Mervyns LLC, headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a family-friendly promotional neighborhood department store offering trend-right fashions and home decore for the entire family at affodable prices.
Founded by Mervin G. Morris in 1949 with only 2,800 suare feet and two employees, Mervyns now operates 176 stores in eight states and employs more than 23,000 associates.
Visit Mervyns at www.mervyns.com.