Special technology report Supply Chain Management
franchise (and the added value service they can provide – such as configuring a product) will make franchise operations more relevant in a multi-channel retail world.”
Integration
And have ways of best integrating SCM- related solutions with other systems developed to any notable degree over the past year or two? Turner points out that ByBox is continuing to see a much more open approach to real-time data sharing; mainly through the availability of web services. “This low overhead development approach is driving more innovative use of the data on both sides of the transaction,” he said. For Bursa, advances continue to be made in the realm of visibility. “For example, Logility’s built- in performance management capabilities allow you to tap into critical data across the enterprise and ensure the entire company is working from the same, consistent set plan,” she said. “These features are inherent in the Logility Voyager Solution suite and can extend to include data from other enterprise applications to further boost visibility and responsiveness to customer and supplier needs.”
One common misperception, believes Bursa, is that supply chain capabilities from ERP providers are ‘fully integrated’. “We often find supply chain modules from ERP providers are more challenging to integrate than leveraging a best-of-breed provider,” she commented. “For example, 90 per cent of Logility implementations (including integration with existing systems) occur in less than 9 months. Compare that with the industry average of 70 per cent of deployments taking greater than 9 months.” For Campbell, the biggest developments related to integration are in web visibility to demand and stock situations, as well as real-time information related to transport; for example, where vehicles are located.
Shaun Phillips Gaurav’s view is that 14
MANUFACTURING &LOGISTICS
IT October 2011
integration between SCM solutions and other software has notably improved. “Previously, bringing together various IT systems was a major challenge,” he said. “For example, perhaps certain parts of a manufacturer’s mobile computing solution were incompatible with its inventory management software. However, as the need to bring all areas of the supply chain together became increasingly important in the recession, vendors worked to improve this situation. Now, for example, manufacturers can integrate their ERP system with planning, analysis and execution software for an extremely responsive supply chain that adapts to consumer demand. This helps drive more precise forecasting and lowers inventory costs, positively impacting to the company’s bottom line. Although integration of supply chain management solutions is not yet perfect and there may still be issues, we are in a far better position to fix any problems that do occur.”
Speed
Phillips considers that as speed has become the dominant facet of business and survival of the fastest has become a reality, software integration has been a real focus over the past two years. “SCM has traditionally relied on point-to-point
“
The ability to tie tactical and strategic objectives together with multiple scenarios will offer even greater flexibility and better decision making for global operations.”
integration leading to a lot of rigid and restrictive systems that cannot be easily
upgraded or improved,” he said. “Because the application communicates with other applications in its own proprietary ‘language’, the custom-written integration code that translates from one application to the next breaks with each modification or upgrade. On top of this, the development of the integration itself can be a huge project as it distracts from core business activity.”
– Karin Bursa, Logility.
To get around these problems, Phillips points out that one approach is the ‘loose coupling’ as found in Infor ION. “This is lightweight, unbreakable middleware built on open standards,” he explained.
“Building on just the connectivity, ION enables reporting & analysis, workflow and business
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