V. Electronic workflow collaboration
Internet allows companies to further strengthen cooperation between each other by coordination, integration, and even pass automatic control of key processes. Workflow coordination includes activities such as procurement, order execution, engineering changes, optimization design, and financial transactions. The result is to form a more efficient cost, faster speed, more reliable and less wrong supply chain operation. Below, we provide a lot of cases that are related to how different companies have become a workflow adjustment activity in these or other fields.
purchase
A typical manufacturing company needs to purchase thousands of products from a wide range of manufacturers. Internet helps them manage complex procurement processes. Numerous companies include Ariba and CommerceOne provide web-based enterprise procurement solutions that allow the purchaser to stay in real time on the Internet and traders. At the same time, they achieve automatic operation of the internal procurement process from the need to the next order.
These solutions reduce operational cost by automatically controlling the entire supply chain of indirect goods and services, which reduces operational costs and improves operational efficiency. In fact, most market transactions, Covisint, an aerospace industry, such as the automatic industry, and E2Open, TRANSARE, and E2Open, and the food industry, for their supply chain, providing electronic procurement solutions.
Enterprises are also increasingly relying on scientific replenishment software to achieve decision making of time and quantity during procurement. For example, a Longs pharmacy is a drug retail chain, which uses uninterrupted solutions, which effectively manage orders and replenishment processes in their distribution centers and stores. This makes the company's inventory turnover is significantly lower than competitive enterprises in the same corporate strength. Longs's supply chain was awarded the title of "high efficiency drug demand chain".
Order processing and capital flow
Slowly, a Silicon Truck startup creates Internet-based services that help operators in the food service industry (such as restaurants), distributors, manufacturers more convenient to handle orders, adjust rebate discounts, and other financial transactions . Its task is to develop easy-to-use services, which can reduce costs and provide valuable information for all members in the food service supply chain. Solution On the web, with a secure, friendly user program replaced the traditional time-consuming, easy to buy the wrong purchase system. In addition, the Web site has played the function of the information center, which is closely linked to the purchaser and suppliers in the food service market.
New product procurement coordination
The resources required for new products can become the main obstacle to the new product favorable to launch the timing. With Internet, companies can handle complex procurement tasks in a few hours, such as part list management, quotation, decision development, classification, order change, order determination. The Internet also allows companies to approach a larger supply base to ensure reliable supply and backup resources. Supplier selection, order quotation, and acceptance of purchase decisions, and enterprise resource planning system integrated timeliness are especially important in new product launch, especially valuable.
SoleCtron, a leading contract manufacturer and unprecedented American Marcm Blairkin National Quality Award, which uses Digital Buyer (Based on the Internet-based purchase software application, provided by Digital Market, is part of the Agile software) It is possible to achieve a number of supplier prices and effective quotations at the same time. In its airline in it and the Digital Buyer, six-second suppliers can respond to 55 people who need quotes within a short four-hour. Within two days, the company received a total of 156 quotes and has great improvements in the traditional approach.
The last major advantage is to greatly reduce the cycle of new products that support SoleCtron's new product launch process.
Engineering and product changes
When the product life cycle is getting shorter, the management product upgrade - from a version of the product to another - now has become a routine challenge facing many high-tech companies. The wrong management may enable the company to face the huge loss of market share, so the process of upgrading the product is also a period of intercourse. The main risks are time to prepare all new parts for product upgrading. Engineering changes may result in upgrade to replace new suppliers, new materials or new essential conditions. In a rapidly changing market environment, companies such as Dell, Pairgain, WebTV and Flextronics have used the Internet-based Internet solution from Agile to realize the process of engineering changes. Product Change - Updates between Different Versions of Products, Improved and Patch Introduction - It is also very common in the high-tech industry. These variations may be due to the cost of some parts, the product is improved, the process has been modified, mass feedback, material shortage, and product time. Product changes include cooperation between design engineers, procurement, suppliers, manufacturing and process engineers, contract manufacturers, service support and product management. Here, it is again emphasized an important role based on the Internet solution, providing an ideal platform for coordination and process of complex activities in product changes. VI. New business model
Once the company began to recognize the commitment of e-commerce to make the supply chain intended, they often find a new way to pursue business goals, develop strategies, and business models, and these methods have not appeared or impossible before Internet. These new business models and opportunities are unlimited imagination. The following example illustrates a lot of such possibilities.
Real resources
The Internet promotes the information search, so that the resource that has been alone in the supply chain can now be developed at the same time to meet the specific needs. Including cases in stock, unused productivity or even unsubstant, all of these cases are used to create a secondary market for "real resources". These secondary markets can create the highest value by minimizing the imbalance between supply and demand as participants, reducing the possibility of stock outdated.
In many examples, Internet-based secondary markets can benefit every member in the supply chain.
A typical case of real resources is World Chemical Exchange, which provides a global market for chemical and plastic manufacturers and buyers by ChemConnect.
Representing 80% of the world's 25th strong chemical enterprises, more than 2500 employees can manage all chemistry and plastic trading all day. Coverge trading of the secondary market for electronic components.
Due to the shorter product life cycle with high-tech industries, excessive inventory of parts can lead to huge invisible wear costs, however, suppliers and manufacturers are not often produced in the end of the product life cycle.
CONVERGE minimizes this possibility by providing an open real market for the purchaser and the seller.
Supply chain structure reconstruction
With the arrival of information technology, companies can reconstruct the logistics structure of the product to achieve higher efficiency. The material stream no longer has to follow the information: Internet allows information flow to replace some inefficient logistics. Cisco has become one of the most successful companies involved in using Web. 74% of sales are completed on the Internet, and the company has outsource most manufacturing activities, while concentrating on selling, attracting new customers. Web-based specific information systems can contact Cisco and its suppliers and pay attention to all necessary information flows. However, logistics can be relatively simple - 55% Cisco sales is done directly from a subcontractors to consumers, but not stay in the Cisco distribution center. The result is lower inventory, faster and more accurate order execution, and reduces costs in large-scale.
product upgrade
Most people in us have completed the upgrade of software products using the Internet. However, some innovative companies are also exploring how to use Internet upgrade hardware products.
Large-scale customization
Internet allows many companies to use web, allowing customers to specifically order according to their taste and preference settings. Therefore, the network promotes large-scale customization. This is the main characteristics of online retailers, but now has expanded to many mainstream services and products. From a personalized greeting card to a computer, from bicycles to the car, there is such a case in each area. Although large-scale customization is not suitable for each product or industry, it may become a powerful method for connecting customer relationships through personalized services. service support
Services and support For many companies, it may be time consuming, cost-driven. The use of Internet to complete long-distance measurements and diagnostics have proven to be highly cost effective solutions.
Observe the PC support field, a software company named TuneUp.com has developed a remote maintenance service to help individuals and companies maintain the normal operation of the PC. The contract signing party allows the service center to collect remote data on his computer, check the virus and other abnormal phenomena, send a signal to the customer to provide online solutions.
They also recommend and help contract signed a policy to install upgrade software, hardware drives, and programs. Later, Symante and NortonWeb have also begun to provide these services, and this approach to the remote service is used by many terminal users and corporate service companies.
In the Auto Detector project, Cisco's supply will perform software for quality testing in the local test environment. The test data is transferred to Cisco via the Internet, so that Cisco's engineers can remotely monitor and control the test environment. This is what they can solve their problems that they cannot diagnose themselves.
The standardized test results run through the entire supply base, allowing Cisco to quickly measure actions, gain valuable information about their products, and this information may be difficult to obtain if there is no such arrangement.
From product to service
Intuit development and trading a series of web-based financial instruments in the market, and also sells the best personal financial, small business, and tax preparation software. In the past few years, the company only provides software products and is mainly sold through retail stores. Due to the arrival of the Internet era, Intuit may have an Internet-based service for individuals or businesses. These are derived from online tax preparations, while also bring salary books, office supplies, mortgage brokers, insurance, electronic bill payments, and other more services.
In addition, due to Intuit and many major banking agencies have established contacts, it can also result in data such as dividend and interest payment, and incorporate them into electronic tax files. Achievements from Internet, the income from the service is stable, and a certain percentage of Intuit's overall income is increased. These services are only available to customers through the Internet to the customers only in the entire strategic plan. Behind this, Intuit uses a large number of Internet tools and solutions to build contacts with a large number of suppliers, from the bank, brokerage to an independent mortgage broker, from insurers to office suppliers like Staples. No Internet, intuit is impossible to transform to service-based companies.
Multi-channel online amphibious implementation
For online retailers, the high cost of order execution has been considered to prevent the main obstacles from enterprises from obtaining success. Japan's 7 Dream.com is a major case in the multi-channel model of the network.
Japan 7-11 (Sej) is the largest and most successful convenience store in Japan. In 2000, Sej created 7 Dream.com, a joint venture including Japan 7 major industries - SEJ, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), MITSUI, SONY, JTB, NEC, and KINOTROPE. 7 DREAM offers a large product column on its website, allowing customers to order, and pick up in the local SEJ store after two to three days. In this way, the Internet-based channel value and the power of SEJ vast chain stores and logistics infrastructure are closely combined without exaggerated storage costs.
Another new Internet-sized amphibious multi-channel execution case is CVS, a major pharmaceutical chain in the United States. At the CVS Web site, CVS allows customers to order, and pick up in their local stores, eliminating the customer waiting time. In another case, TOYSRUS can use Amzon.com's logistics infrastructure, and customers can order directly through its web site. In many other cases such as GAP and Lands'END, companies are developing similar network-sized amphibial execution and distribution strategies.
(Endlessly)
