As a world-leader in imaging products and solutions for the digital home and office, Canon is faced with a diverse range of risks and data consolidation challenges. Added to this are the huge range of products and the complexity of Canon’s global network with international and national supply chains. It is critical that it can ensure efficiency and a positive end-user experience. Brand is king, and Canon places utmost importance on protecting every facet of its approach.

Working in partnership with Aon for more than 40 years has enabled Canon to identify and streamline one of the critical elements of operational management— the claims process. In 2006, Aon introduced RiskConsole as the solution to manage the claims workflow for Canon. In this article, European supply chain director Mutsumi Fukuda, manager of supply chain management planning & analysis Hiroyuki Morishige, and European logistics analyst Roelie Schaafsma discuss their experiences.

Risk Technology offers Meaningful Data Consolidation

Prior to working with Aon, Canon faced some daunting claims-related challenges. Each country had separate spreadsheets and local databases, which amounted to 36 different instances of data for the company to deal with. On top of that, each also had different processes. To consolidate data and extract meaningful information was very time consuming, as well as open to human error.

Today, 23 Canon employees across seven countries in Europe and the Middle East use RiskConsole. "The solution is in line with our company’s direction and has become embedded in our claims management process," Fukuda says.

Canon now enjoys visibility of the claims in all of the European operations, as well as the ability to link claims data to the specific products, which are updated automatically every month in RiskConsole. This allows much more insight than ever before.

Gone are the days of paper copies of documentary evidence of marine cargo claims being sent via fax or post. Canon representatives are able to attach PDF-format documents and send a notification the same day, which amounts to a tremendous savings of time and effort, as well as reducing the risk of errors or lost paperwork. It also means that instead of trawling though cabinets of paperwork, a search can be performed and the document located quickly.

"It’s much more efficient than having a hard copy document move from one party to the next, maybe four parties in total," says Schaafsma. Now, everyone can see the document from the start.

"We like that it is a paperless activity," Morishige adds. "We also like the improved visibility of the process."

Discussing the typical claims encountered, Schaafsma says they are mainly transport claims. "Most of the claims are outbound shipments within Europe, so from our regional warehouses to destinations within Europe."

By using the reporting capabilities of Aon's RiskConsole, trends are identified and unusual activity investigated. Schaafsma relays an interesting example. "In Germany, we noticed a lot of thefts were occurring at a particular transport hub. 31 claims had the same carrier, same day of loss and so on—it was very unusual. First we had an internal investigation and, with the help of a surveyor, we discovered the facts. It transpired that an employee at the transportation company was stealing the items. He was arrested and it finally led to a change of supplier."

In the past, Canon may not have noticed these trends so early. "We received a document twice a year, and analysis [revolved around the] transport company, transport method, product, route, area or country, or product category," Fukuda explains. "Now, we can make the report ourselves at any time, which means we can take action immediately."

GLOBAL IMPACT, BETTER RESULTS

Canon has various "key performance indicators" (KPIs) for claims, such as the insurance handling lead time, stretching from when the incident happened to when the insurance claim is settled. "We have KPI targets and we have to check our progress," Fukuda says. "Based on reports from RiskConsole, if we have a gap between our target and the real situation, we have to take action.