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e-Technology Project Delivers Results
A project focusing on the chemicals and processing industry is illustrating some of the commercial benefits available to the chemical supply chain from e-technology.
The project arose following discussions between the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and key industry trade associations. The British Coatings Federation and the BCDTA welcomed the project and, on behalf of their members, took proactive steps to secure the funding for consultancy support offered by the DTI. The other associations involved are the British Association for
Chemical Specialties (BACS) and the British Colour Manufacturers Association (BCMA). The Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence (PICME) is also supporting the project.
Consultants Strategem are implementing the project that aims to deliver real competitive benefits to fifteen companies participating in e4C. The project also assists the trade associations involved to implement e-technology initiatives.
Strategem’s Manuel Fenty said of e4C, “It’s all about improving the competitiveness of the UK chemical supply chain by cutting costs and boosting efficiency”. So far, audits have been completed on the fifteen participating businesses and specific projects are underway in ten of these companies. These range from the creation of an ecommerce web site to establishing a global alliance extranet; and from the introduction of a customer relationship management system to the development of an information technology strategy. Through its involvement with e4C, BCDTA members, Stort Chemicals and Brenntag have been able to focus on extending the applications of e-technology in their businesses. Brenntag is using the project to develop and integrate its information technology strategy across a range of business functions.
Stort Chemicals is using the project to create an e-commerce interface with a chemical industry trading hub. “We manage our invoicing and stock control system using proprietary software. The e4C project has helped us to explore the development of an interface between this software and an e-business purchasing hub, such as Elemica Buyer Direct,” said Stort Managing Director, Richard Gilkes.
Currently, Stort use a combination of telephone, fax and post to receive orders from customers and transmit them to its principals. The new system creates two new software interfaces. The first allows the order to be entered using EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) software. The order is then passed on to Stort’s current system. The second interface then links Stort’s existing software to the Elemica e-commerce hub. “When it’s operational, the new system will give us important improvements in speed and efficiency,” said Richard Gilkes. “Importantly, we will also have laid the foundations for the further development of the system which, in time, could offer the benefits of a fully integrated e-commerce environment,” he added.
BCDTA intends to use the e4C project to cover advice on the further development of its website, the creation of an integrated membership database and common information management systems.
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