Press Report

Nowadays value chains can only be planned and adapted to market requirements by means of information technologies. However, in case of complex transport structures a purely technical integration quickly reaches its limits

(dispo Sondernummer 10.2007) In practice IT-solutions which can be used by all participants independently of the ERP-systems of the individual supply chain partners establish themselves increasingly. Here, the idea of a joint platform plays a more and more important role. However, in case of a truly integrated information flow what matters is much more than the exchange of data alone. In fact, it is for example necessary to define continuous process chains, tasks and responsibilities. In the interplay of global relationships it needs to be clarified unambiguously where one person’s responsibility stops and where it starts for another person. Thus, the question of who will be running the central platform and consequently will assume responsibility for updating the contents and maintaining the functionalities comes up automatically. Here it is for example a matter of managing the master data and continuously maintaining the various freight rates.

Comprehensive platforms vs. harmonisation

Instead of harmonising the master data management between the supply chain partners in a time-consuming and expensive manner, solutions which can operate across platform-, system- and manufacturer boundaries offer a true added value. Such specialised solutions provide all supply chain partners with fully developed and easy to use functionalities in the field SCE. In this way manufacturers and suppliers as well as the number of globally operating logistics service providers are really connected to each other with little effort.

The software house inet-logistics from Wolfurt, for example, started to specialise in the development of a web-based standard software for supply chain execution several years ago. By now, the company has integrated nearly all of the relevant logistics partners and counts approximately 120 leading companies from the automotive industry, trade and industry, and the pharmaceutical industry amongst its customers.

In this company the standard software logistics-server forms the basis for the optimisation of cross-company logistics processes. This higher-level integration and communication software can increase transparency over goods flows significantly. The goods and information flow gets synchronised during cross-company transport processes. SAP-users can access and make use of this solution together with all partners who are involved in the transport process via a certified SAP-interface from their own IT-landscapes with little effort. As the companies’ ERP-systems get supplemented with special value-added functionalities in the field SCE it is possible to exploit saving potentials rapidly which haven’t been tapped until now.