Akten Cosmetics - Workcube Success Story

Workcube offers end-to-end solutions for the digitalization of large and multinational companies in dozens of projects in the Cosmetics and Chemistry Sector. 

Managed by the second generation, Akten Cosmetics is one of the cosmetics manufacturers that succeeded in digitalization with Workcube by choosing Workcube in their search for corporate business software 4 years ago. Established in 1988, Akten Cosmetics produces hair, skin, body and baby care products at European Union standards, both under its own Thalia Natural Beauty brand and as a Private Label, and exports them all over the world.

The second generation managers of the company are General Manager Ms. Gökhan KARA and Director Ms. Banu ÇELİKOBA, Human Resources Manager Ms. Canan ASLAN, Product Development and Project Manager Ms. Cem Çelebi, E-Commerce Manager Ms. Abdurrahman Aktan, Company Manager Ms. Cem Sayginer; They explained how they manage all product and production processes from raw material to shelf, sales processes from first contact to delivery, all operations from purchasing to e-commerce, and all HR processes from recruitment to payroll with Workcube. We thank them very much.

"ERP Selection Was An Important Process For Us"

Our company was founded in 1988 by my father Metin Kara, and after 30 years, I took over the company as the second generation. The ERP process was an important process for us, from the day I came to the company, I started some work on having a real ERP. Of course, a classic software used by everyone was used, an accounting program that was not cloud-based, running on a server, that you could not reach at any time, that you were trying to operate with a difficult remote desktop connection, was obviously not a complete ERP.

Afterwards, we started to use a cloud-based ERP, which is used by installing but it was not a web-based program. We continued all the production processes and purchasing processes, but there were some difficulties. Because we had many trips abroad, during these periods we could not install and use the program wherever we wanted.

For example, when I wanted to reach the program instantly in a hotel when I went abroad, I could not reach the program because it was necessary to download the program. Therefore, our processes began to slow down, we began to not see good costs because it is very important for companies like us to see instant and daily costs. When we started to not see good costs, we started to search for a different program.

"It was a great advantage for us that Workcube has unlimited users."

Workcube was the solution that we thought was the most ideal for us. First of all, it is very important that it is open source, developable, flexible, accessible from anywhere, web-based, and unlimited number of users. As you know, most other ERP programs have a user limit and you pay a high price as you buy the user package. It was a great advantage for us that Workcube has unlimited users.

"We went live in 4 months" 

We are talking about a company that has everything, going live in a short time like 4 months is quite impressive. In other words, when you look at it, it has accounting, finance, bank, production, purchasing, purchasing offers, converting it to an order, sales offers, converting sales offers into sales orders, creating production from there, e-commerce system, we had a retail store at that time. Execution of this, managing the warehouse, seeing the costs instantly. When you look at all of these, we are talking about very serious processes. There is export, there is export registered invoice. Therefore, a serious implementation process was required at each stage, thanks to Mifa here, they acted very quickly for us. We've worked very hard. I would also like to thank my teammates, they adapted very quickly, because you know that it is very difficult to change these kinds of programs. My teammates adapted very quickly and we switched to Workcube as of April 2019.

"Workcube Was Our Biggest Chance In The Pandemic"

It was a great chance for us to work with Workcube. This chance was that the pandemic process affected all of us a lot, it was very tiring, but there were periods when we worked from home momentarily. When we were working from home, it was very difficult to do this in old-style traditional software, Workcube had a great advantage in this respect. We could easily access it from anywhere we wanted, from our mobile phone, tablet, computer, anywhere.

Therefore, although remote work has just begun to enter our lives in the world, we have taken a very good step towards this with Workcube, in fact, we have realized the digital transformation. 

You can watch our success story video compiled from interviews here. 

"Lot tracking was very critical for us, an excellent system was established"

Lot tracking is a critical issue for us, as we are a manufacturing company and produce cosmetic products. An excellent system for lot tracking has been established, there is a very good reporting system. We see all the flows related to e-commerce on a daily basis, even hourly. We see our costs hourly. Now, of course, there is no such thing as I bought and used Workcube as is. In other words, each company has its own specific requests. It needs to be a bit of tailoring work, in fact, it's a job we liked too. We have made many improvements in line with our own needs, we have made serious improvements both in the production area, in the financial sense, and in the sales orders, and we are still continuing the development. Thanks to Workcube, we can do the most important things that a company may want.

The best part is: We can also reflect the cost as we wish.

In other words, we can instantly see at Workcube at what stage that product needs to cost, and we can reflect it accordingly, and all of these are very valuable to us. I think Workcube will be a constantly evolving program for us, because general needs and daily needs never end. There are many departments, each department has its own needs. Therefore, Workcube continues to develop gradually.

When we look at the present from the point we started, we have made very serious improvements, but this is just the beginning.

"Frankly, I don't think there are too many programs similar to Workcube in the world."

There are many ERP programs, there are many accounting programs, but I think it is not easy to find a program where production, accounting, ordering and purchasing are all together and at the same time, all of them work in integration with each other at the right timings. Frankly, I don't think there are too many similar programs in the world. 

I think Workcube is perfect for us cosmetics manufacturers!

Akten cosmetics was founded by our father in 1988, we are the second generation. We manage it together with my brother Gökhan Kara. Gökhan came here first in 2010, and I came here in 2015. Since then, we have been trying to continue our processes in the company, which was production first, later with its own brands and, of course, with its production power.

Of course, we started to create our own brands in this process. In addition to producing for other brands, we also try to promote our own brands and sell them both in Turkey and in foreign markets.

At the point we have reached, we export to about 30 countries. We work primarily and intensively in European countries, especially Germany. In addition to this, I can say that we have a lot of fans in the Middle East, Russia, and Azerbaijan markets, as well as in the Ukrainian market.

"Our biggest flaw in the ERP programs I used before Workcube was not being able to follow the life cycle of the product."

In us, everything starts from the raw material, so taking a product from the raw material and turning it into a finished product and being able to follow its whole life on the shelf after it becomes a finished product are very important processes. Especially if you are doing business with foreign and corporate companies, being able to follow all these processes is much more valuable and is one of the elements that distinguishes your company from all other companies.

Our biggest flaw in the ERP programs we used before Workcube was not being able to follow the whole life of the product. With Workcube, we were able to provide this to a very significant extent. All processes of the product, from raw material to shelf, are recorded, and therefore, retrospective traceability is very valuable. We can provide this with Workcube.

This is the product side, but while we manage the sales side, where we contact the customers and how we manage the relations of the customers, we can also handle these on Workcube.

We upload all our meetings at the fairs we attend or the B2B meetings we attend to Workcube. Therefore, the information is open to everyone in a common area, and everyone can follow that process. In other words, when the customer was contacted for the first time, what was spoken in the first meeting after the contact, what was discussed in the second meeting, whether an offer was made, and if an offer was made, the offer can be uploaded to the system. All of these are huge pluses.

Since Workcube is a platform that we can access from anywhere, even from our home, over the internet, I can follow up on what progress a colleague has made after contacting a customer whenever I want.

"Workcube has been an element that has made all our processes incredibly easy and accelerated the sales department."

There is another thing, once we have entered a piece of information into the system, we no longer have to deal with that information all over again every time. In other words, if I contacted the customer, created an offer for him, and put that offer into Workcube, even all subsequent order processes can move from there. Since there is no need to enter products many times, also in Word, and also enter another platform while issuing invoices, etc., we minimize the disruptions that can be created by humans or very natural mistakes. In this sense, Workcube has become an element that makes all our processes incredibly easy and accelerates the sales department.

All my colleagues happily use Workcube since the sales department has to deal with sales rather than paperwork. I definitely encourage them to use it.

In this sense, I am grateful to Workcube for making our job easier. As a software, I find Workcube very valuable as a sales department executive because it contributes to our growth. Today, I don't know if everyone is aware that software can be so effective, but I think that the facilities provided by the software are one-to-one factors in growth.

"When we first got used to Workcube, both I and my teammates had no difficulties." 

I find Workcube valuable in this sense, first of all, it is a local company. I think that being a local company has great advantages in knowing and applying its habits and conveniences. Therefore, when we first got used to Workcube, both I and my teammates had no difficulties. Because terms are terms we know, not translated terms. Whatever we want to say, we find its Turkish in return.

"Workcube's response time is very short and their understanding of helping is incredibly fast."

On the one hand, since the teams we work with are local companies, we were able to explain our problems and how we could improve them more easily in the extras we wanted. In this sense, Workcube's response time is very short and their understanding of helping is incredibly fast. I think that being local has a big impact on this point as well. It is also very comfortable to use. Therefore, we are a local company, a local manufacturer and we are competing with global companies in the whole field.

It also makes me proud to have such a successful company in software from Turkey.

"Workcube also has an important place for us on behalf of the employer brand."

I think we use all HR processes of Workcube. Of course, Workcube is a living system. I've been using it for about 3 years, it renews itself every day. We continue to use different portals with it. I think we mostly use the fields related to leave, payroll and reporting more frequently.

Actually, I am the one who introduces Workcube to every employee who comes to the company. Here, Workcube has an important place for us on behalf of the employer brand.

We want an employee, whether blue-collar or white-collar, to have full knowledge of the whole system in the account opened for him/her here. Because this is like a communication platform that we use internally, I mean it in terms of HR. Therefore, we constantly encourage them to use it very actively.

In other words, we wait for the employees to enter their own profiles and enter their data, that is, leave entries, and advance entries, and then enter our system. If they did not enter, we encourage them to enter. We use these screens very actively.

"We control all of the products in our warehouses through Workcube."

From the moment the purchase is made, we process all raw materials, semi-finished products, finished goods, and all entries through Workcube in all goods acceptances made to the warehouse.

We use Workcube in the distribution of these to the warehouses of the production departments we have used within our company, in all the operations performed there, namely in the stocking and production processes. In the warehouse organization, we control all of our stocks, raw materials, semi-finished products and the products we call finished products through Workcube.

At the same time, we started a new work with Workcube, Workcube provided data matrix formation on our behalf. We separated all the areas we use for storage sector by sector and switched to hand terminals with data matrix.

With these handheld terminals, we can do all the transfers between warehouses, from the delivery of the finished product to the customer and invoicing. What has this given us? In the past, we used to do some manual operations while working between shelves. We can now perform these operations systematically, thanks to the data matrix.

We can also distribute these to other mobile warehouses that we use within the company with hand terminals. At the same time, through Workcube, we can integrate and use the stock and storage in our company with the external warehouses that we have used as an outsource. In other words, we also manage our external warehouse through Workcube.

"At the moment, our handheld terminals, systems, reporting are all running smoothly."

I can say that Workcube is the program with the simplest interface I have ever used. I have worked in about 7-8 large companies, we have worked with many ERP companies, international-domestic. But since the e-commerce dynamic is a little different, we have a lot of special requests, specific to each platform, specific to each cargo company, and we need to be constantly innovating. Unfortunately, many companies could not provide this, but on the Workcube side, we overcame all these problems.

When you look at it in total, we completed all our integrations in a period of one and a half months.

Currently, our handheld terminals, systems and reporting are all running smoothly and this has given us incredible speed. Workcube has made significant contributions to us.

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