An analysis of Telkom's SAP R/3 adaptation strategy.

Thesis (M.B.A. -University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.This study set out to ascertain whether or not Telkom's SAP Rl3! process modification adaptation strategy resulted in improved supply chain performance. For Telkom who have struggled, at great expense and with great frustration, with incompatible information systems and inconsistent operating practices, the promise of an off-the-shelf solution, in the form of SAP R3, to solve its problem of supply chain integration was too great to resist. There are two alternative approaches to implementation of packaged software: Package adaptation to organisational needs and organisational adaptation to the package. This research revealed that typically, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors recommend process adaptation and discourage ERP adaptations for the fear of potential performance and integrity degradation as well as maintenance and future upgrade difficulties - however, enterprises often find reasons to stray from that directive. Telkom decided to use the process modification and enhancement ERP adaptation strategy for its SAP Rl3 implementation, because management believes that by enhancing the speed and effectiveness of business processes before implementing SAP Rl3, the full benefits SAP Rl3 will be realised. Telkom redesigned 489 processes to take full advantage of the new system's capabilities, in particular its ability to simplify the flow of information. Taking a broad look at the results and comments made regarding Telkom's SAP Rl3 implementation, it was found that Telkom's SAP Rl3 implementation strategy resulted in quick achievements of a positive return on investment (ROI) when comparing pre- and postimplementation performance. Inventory levels, receivables, operating costs, order cycle times, stock turns, labour and distribution expenditures have all improved. On the other hand, fifty percent of the peer group benchmark baselines were not matched or exceeded by Telkom's measured post-implementation performance. It was found that Telkom's supply chain performance is tightly related to three areas of concern identified in this research: Problems with SAP and c-commerce integration, SAP's forecasting ability remains at a disadvantage, and the issue of Telkom not benchmarking their supply chain performance. It was also found that process improvement emerged as the principal element that enabled Telkom to realise the measured benefits of its ERP implementation. I SAP Rl3 stands for Systems, Applications and Products, Real time, 3-tier architecture

Using ERP as a basis for Enterprise application integration

Architecting and implementing e-Business supply chain solutions across and within the modern day enterprise, is now becoming a necessity in order to maintain competitive and be adaptable to market needs. As such, the integration of information and processes is a vital step, using technologies such as using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and enterprise portal platforms. The effective sharing of resource planning and other enterprise related data across and within the enterprise is typically seen as a facet of a business to business (B2B) platform. However, such infrastructures typically involve a tight integration across intra and inter-organisational systems. This paper examines an Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) initiative taken by a global manufacturer of industrial automation products, which attempted to utilise ERP as an integration tool across its internal B2B infrastructure, to achieve such an aim. This paper discusses those integration considerations and complexities, experienced by the case company upon embarking on an EAI integration programme through the adoption of a core ERP as a catalyst for organizational change. In doing so the authors present an analysis of the inherent risks and limitations of this approach in terms of previously published literature in the field, relating to technology-driven organizational change and EAI impact and adoption frameworks

Information technology and performance management for build-to-order supply chains

En las siguientes líneas se plantea un artículo de reflexión que tiene en cuenta parte del marco teórico que sustenta la investigación titulada “Prácticas pedagógicas que promueven la competencia argumentativa escrita (CAE) en niños campesinos de los grados 4° y 5° del Centro Educativo Municipal La Caldera, Sede Principal de Pasto”, desarrollada en el año 2012. En él se contemplan los aportes de las ciencias del lenguaje y la comunicación, la teoría de la argumentación, la didáctica de la lengua escrita y los géneros discursivos, que dan cuenta de la necesidad de desarrollar la capacidad crítica en los estudiantes a través de la argumentación, lo cual implica transformar las prácticas pedagógicas para que se alejen de la transmisión de conocimientos y den paso a la comunicación, para que la palabra escrita sea apropiada de manera significativa

Reducing the delivery lead time in a food distribution SME through the implementation of six sigma methodology

Purpose – Six sigma is a systematic data driven approach to reduce the defect and improve the quality in any type of business. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from the application of six sigma in a food service “small to medium sized enterprise” (SME) in a lean environment to reduce the waste in this field. Design/methodology/approach – A simplified version of six sigma is adopted through the application of appropriate statistical tools in order to focus on customer's requirements to identify the defect, the cause of the defect and improve the delivery process by implementing the optimum solution. Findings – The result suggests that modification in layout utilization reduced the number of causes of defect by 40 percent resulting in jumping from 1.44 sigma level to 2.09 Sigma level which is substantial improvement in SME. Research limitations/implications – Simplicity of six sigma is important to enabling any SME to identify the problem and minimize its cause through a systematic approach. Practical implications – Integrating of supply chain objectives with any quality initiatives such as lean and six sigma has a substantial effect on achieving to the targets. Originality/value – This paper represents a potential area in which six sigma methodology along side the lean management can promote supply chain management objectives for a food distribution SME

Overcoming Barriers in Supply Chain Analytics—Investigating Measures in LSCM Organizations

While supply chain analytics shows promise regarding value, benefits, and increase in performance for logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) organizations, those organizations are often either reluctant to invest or unable to achieve the returns they aspire to. This article systematically explores the barriers LSCM organizations experience in employing supply chain analytics that contribute to such reluctance and unachieved returns and measures to overcome these barriers. This article therefore aims to systemize the barriers and measures and allocate measures to barriers in order to provide organizations with directions on how to cope with their individual barriers. By using Grounded Theory through 12 in-depth interviews and Q-Methodology to synthesize the intended results, this article derives core categories for the barriers and measures, and their impacts and relationships are mapped based on empirical evidence from various actors along the supply chain. Resultingly, the article presents the core categories of barriers and measures, including their effect on different phases of the analytics solutions life cycle, the explanation of these effects, and accompanying examples. Finally, to address the intended aim of providing directions to organizations, the article provides recommendations for overcoming the identified barriers in organizations

A Case Study Of E-Supply Chain & Business Process Reengineering Of A Semiconductor Company In Malaysia

Penglibatan e-perniagaan dalam rantaian bekalan telah mewujudkan e-rantaian bekalan yang baru (e-SC) di firma-firma tempatan dan global. Due to globalization and advancement in information technology (IT), companies adopt best practices in e-business and supply chain management to be globally competitive as both are realities and prospects in 21st century

A novel framework for the use of workflow system in the integration of supply chain tiers

The global competition has imposed challenges to supply chain integration, mainly, during the process of obtain information to make demand management decisions. This paper proposes an integrated framework for data collection, analysis and results dissemination in the supply chain management (SCM), contributing to research and alternatives for \u201cThe Bullwhip Effect\u201d issue. In this sense, it is necessary to discuss the integration of supply chain management, Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) functionality and others systems, to enlarge this scope to the total supply chain players. The ERP web-based tool and Workflow Systems (WS) can contribute to solve issues related to supply chain management. Starting from a detailed analysis of the research background regarding current SCM definitions and integration problems, Information Technology and Communication (ITC) development and WS in order to map and ensure flow fluency; the paper proposes a model to increase the overall integrations and an application in a case study for supporting the decisions that are aligned with the company\u2019s strategic objectives. This paper is divided in: research background; proposed model of the SC integration; case study, conclusions and future research