Colgate-Palmolive Company 2008 Annual Report

Colgate continuously looks for more efficient ways of doing business in order to fund new product development and marketing activities, and deliver greater profitability.

Colgate’s ongoing Global Funding the Growth program has consistently delivered savings averaging over $400 million each year for the last five years and reached an all-time record level in 2009. In one example, by opening a new environmentally sustainable distribution center in Portland, Oregon, Colgate improved service to its customers in the Pacific Northwest, while reducing fuel and transportation costs and carbon dioxide emissions.

Colgate is also generating savings on indirect purchases, which are managed by a team of global and local procurement specialists. In real estate, for example, the Company renegotiated with current suppliers for better lease terms in several countries around the world, including one European office where the new lease agreement generated over $1.3 million in savings.

Colgate has also expanded its manufacturing capacity for dry dog food and for toothbrushes with the opening of four new highly efficient plants. New Hill’s plants in Emporia, Kansas, and Hustopece, Czech Republic, will supply the U.S. and European markets, respectively. New toothbrush plants supplying global markets were opened in Vietnam and in Sanxiao, China, where over one billion toothbrushes are produced per year.

An ongoing business simplification initiative is generating significant savings by reducing the number of formulas, packaging, ingredients and items, known as stock keeping units or SKUs, for all of the Company’s core businesses. For example, in South Africa, the overall number of SKUs was reduced by 23%.