VendorServer by Visibility Corporation Provides Web-based
Supplier Collaboration
An ETO (Engineer-to-Order) company manufactures highly
engineered boilers and capital energy equipment used by utility
companies. According to Stephen Carson, Executive Vice-President
with Visibility Corporation, "The business process for
collaborating internally and with suppliers prior to
implementing VendorServer needed improvement. A seamless process
to work with engineering, buyers and suppliers to shrink the
lengthy and cumbersome supply chain cycle was imperative. The
need to communicate with design, engineering, sales and
suppliers to quickly turn opportunities into proposals, and
proposals into orders and executable plans, was critical. The
opportunity for miscommunication throughout the entire supply
chain was significant with countless departments and external
suppliers involved in the process and extremely complex
purchasing activities."
The firm faced key challenges including:
* Reduce cycle times for proposals and products
* Uncoordinated and lengthy purchasing process
* Improve collaboration between engineering, manufacturing and
suppliers
* Lower cost of purchased goods
* Tighten integration with the enterprise application
The lengthy and involved designing, buying and building process
is further complicated by time based milestones and the proper
timing of materials that can extend beyond a year. The previous
business process had many manual and disconnected automated
purchasing systems limiting the ability to effectively manage
the supply chain process. There were no provisions for supplier
interaction beyond telephone and fax methods.
Without adopting a more strategic approach, the client was faced
with higher costs, less accuracy, long lead times, higher
carrying costs and lower customer satisfaction. The client
created a 360-degree view of requirements for taking its supply
chain and supplier collaboration to a new level to enhance
business operations in an area with substantial payback.
Visibility Corporation (www.visibility.com) is a leading
developer and supplier of business software solutions designed
for the unique needs of project-based, engineer-to-order and
to-order manufacturers. Visibility's Enterprise Application
solutions help midsize manufacturers of complex products operate
their businesses effectively.
VISIBILITY.net is an integrated ERP solution and more. Offering
unparalleled functionality and integrated workflow, this
browser-based solution cost effectively delivers the power of
.NET-based Web services for use with either a Microsoft SQL
Server