Just-in-time production is the standard in automotive production today. This is no less true for passenger cars, but also for caravans and motorhomes. Several European manufacturers in this vehicle class are united under the umbrella of the company, which is a DATAGROUP customer. Numerous suppliers of the company deliver vehicle components directly "to the assembly line" at various production sites.
The manufacturer prefers to connect suppliers with a large number of order and delivery items fully automatically to its ERP backend. For many suppliers, however, such integration via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is not practical due to low order volumes or a lack of IT resources. A simple, intuitive portal solution was therefore sought for communication with such partners. This was found in DATAGROUP's digitization platform.
The core brand of the motorhome and caravan manufacturer has put the portal into operation as a pilot for the group. It complements the existing B2B solution and enables other suppliers to exchange orders, order changes and delivery notifications electronically with the car manufacturer.
The partners are informed by e-mail about new forecasts, orders or order changes in the supplier portal. They then create a shipping notification in the portal at the touch of a button based on the most important order data, which is automatically imported into the ERP by the portal. With this new type of supplier communication, the company ensures constantly updated production planning. The shipping notification also significantly simplifies goods receipt for the manufacturer, as only any delivery deviations need to be posted manually for large deliveries. Everything else is done automatically by barcode scan with the MDE device (mobile data capture).
The portal is operated in DATAGROUP's high-availability data center. The summary after more than a year: The automated communication contributes significantly to more precise production planning.
DATAGROUP's solution now enables the company to communicate without paper. Forecasts can be provided to suppliers and the company receives electronic shipping notifications. The uniform labeling of goods, including barcodes, has significantly increased process reliability in logistics and goods receipt. The scheduling department can agree or request individual rules and transparently view the change history thanks to the notification systems that have been set up.
As just-in-time and just-in-sequence processes were previously only possible via the B2B platform, the new portal even offers the company the opportunity to establish and expand further business relationships. Since its launch, the portal has been successively expanded to include additional suppliers, locations and purchasing document types.