Page 276 - Electronic Commerce

Business-to-Business Activities: Improving Efficiency and Reducing Costs

reduced the amount of inventory Dell must keep on hand from three weeks’ sales to two
hours’ sales. Ultimately, Dell wants to see inventory levels measured in minutes. By
increasing the amount of information it has about its customers, Dell has been able to
dramatically reduce the amount of inventory it must hold. Dell has also shared this
information with members of its supply chain. This kind of cooperative work requires a
high level of trust. To enhance this trust and develop a sense of community, Dell
maintains discussion boards as an open forum in which its supply chain members can
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share their experiences in dealing with Dell and with each other.
For Boeing, Dell, and other firms, the use of Internet and Web technologies in managing
supply chains has yielded significantly increased process speed, reduced costs, and
increased flexibility. All of these attributes combine to allow a coordinated supply chain to
produce products and services that better meet the needs of the ultimate consumer.

Materials-Tracking Technologies
Tracking materials as they move from one company to another and as they move within
the company has always been challenging. Companies have been using optical scanners
and bar codes for many years to help track the movement of materials. In many
industries, the integration of bar coding and EDI has become prevalent. Figure 5-10 shows
a typical bar-coded shipping label that is used in the auto industry. Each bar-coded
element is a representation of an element of the ASC X12 transaction set number 856,
Advance Shipping Notice. Five of the 856 transaction set’s elements are bar coded
(including Part Number, Quantity Shipped, Purchase Order Number, Serial Number, and
Packing List Number).

FROM: ABC Vendor TO: XYZ Company
123 Main Street 456 Front Avenue
Anytown, IA 50010 Chicago, IL 60628
SUPPLIER # A0000 DOCK A3 DELLOC XL 12
PART NO. 91654-010000000000 REV. LEVEL
(P) C
PART DESC.
RT RISER

QUANTITY 50000
(Q)
PURCHASE ORDER # R-0000009876000
(K) Learning

SERIAL NO. 12345678
(3S) Cengage
PACKING LIST # 12345678
(11K) 2015
©
FIGURE 5-10 Shipping label with bar-coded elements from EDI transaction
set 856, Advance Shipping Notice

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