B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

430 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
of raw materials and transportation of raw materials to the production
plant. Storage and movement of products within the plant itself are
taken care of by the stores department (in the stores) and by the
manufacturing department (in the plant). The distribution department
is responsible for the movement of finished products from the plant
to the customer while the marketing department works out the sales
predictions.
Flow of information within all the departments concerned in many
cases is not smooth and timely. Although SCM aims to integrate these
functional departments within an organization, the fact is that it is a
daunting effort.
14.6.8. Integration challenge with supply
chain partners
The enormous heterogeneity makes transition from an enterprise strategy
to a supply chain system quite challenging. The most difficult facet in
implementation is linking trading partners because it needs systems to
reconcile disparate business models, data contexts and notions.
14.6.9. Inter-company business
process synchronization
Reluctance and resistance of chain partners to share information and
switch over their respective business processes may be the greatest
stumbling block. The reasons for hesitation may be manifold, e.g., lack
of faith, unwillingness to change the long existing business processes
and apprehension regarding secrecy.
14.7. SCM Techniques
Methodologies for implementing an SCM solution within an enterprise
include Quick Response, Vendor Managed Inventory, Just-in-time,
Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment and Collaborative
Order Processing.
Here is a brief summary of some of the major techniques: