Strategic Solutions Case Study
BSCL305-T105 Principles of Supply Chain Man (2171-1)
Group 1
Sept 25,2016
Names of students in the group: Vincent, Hugo, Eugene, Daisy
Executive summary
In this case, the way like LTL, telephone, and e-mail are outdated, which they can’t
meet customer’s needs. Now, the EDI and TMS are new power of company
development today. EDI ensures real-time information and the TMS makes Strategic
Solutions more fast and effective to identify potential routes. So, we believe that in
the new market competition environment, Scott should have integrated EDI and TMS
into the Strategic Solutions.
Introduction
Strategic Solutions started from the small-scale third-party logistics provider Scott
Crash. The strategic centers on the benefits of all important organizations in business
transaction chain and focuses on the resources optimization based on the core
competitiveness as well as coordinated development in an all-round way. Nowadays,
Scott faces various limitation of information technology, for example, the information
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transferring method of telephone and e-mail cannot come up with the development
speed of supply chain. As a result, it is difficult for customer to communicate on
Strategic Solutions. Therefore, EDI and TMS are needed for Scott to solve the
problem and reduce custom churn
“Body” of the paper
1. Identify the characteristics of an ideal information system for this logistics
environment. Gather information on both EDI and TMS and compare their suitability
for this environment.
In this Case, Strategic Solutions(SS) have two main problems. First, they used
telephone and e-mail to do information exchange, it is hard to coordinate each
logistics links and communicate with the customers. Second, they are losing
reputation and customers. Base on this two problems, we can Identify three
characteristics of an ideal information system, which is the customers can easy to
communicate with logistics serve supplier; the information of logistics must be
accurate and not delay between each member; can reasonable to arrange each part of
logistics. DMI and TMS exactly is what they need.
DMI (Electronic Data Interchange) is transfer electronic data from one computer to
another computer with standard format and without the human intervention.
According to the article “Analysis of the Market Economy” (Shuo Yang, 2011), there
are three similarities in EDI: 1. the unified standard of information materials; 2.
passing information by electrical signals; 3. the connection between computer
systems. Most of the enterprises are both suppliers and vendors in the whole trading
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chain, so that improving the transfer speed and processing speed of business file
became common needs to all the members in the trading chain. A number of company
can use DMI to exchange the documents on the Internet. It is make sure the
information can be share between multiple company on real-time, to strengthen the
coordinate and communicate between company and customer. The only down side of
DMI system is the expense and system failure.
TMS (Transportation Management System) is a software system designed to manage
transportation operations, it can strengthen the interactions between an organization's
order management system (OMS), warehouse management system (WMS), and
distribution center (DC). Usually, TMS used for the specific management of the
transport links in the logistics links, including vehicle management, the management
of goods in transit and so on. TMS can carry on the real-time tracking to all vehicles
of the logistics company (combined with GPS) and keep the information flow and the
logistics unobstructed. TMS can help the logistics company more fast and effective to
identify potential routes. Down side of TMS is that it would leave out non-contracted
carriers.
So, DMI and TMS would help the Strategic Solutions to solve the problems. The DMI
can made Strategic Solutions have ability to coordinate each part of logistics links and
communicate the customers in first time, improve customer satisfaction. TMS can
make Strategic Solutions have ability to better operate each logistics system and fast
to identify a more effective logistics project, increase the company ' s benefit.
If use DMI and TMS at the same time, that DMI with provide fast information
transfer between each part of TMS, and TMS with help DMI to provide timely and
accurate logistics information to customers. Also, when DMI system failure, TMS can
make sure everything under control; when certain time or route wasn’t available,
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DMI’s real-time information can help TMS immediately to find other ways to
schedule the transportation of their customers’ goods.
2. Help Scott decide if he should invest in either EDI or TMS, or both. Is there
another Type of system that you would believe would be better? What kind of benefits,
including performance and customer satisfaction, can Scott expect by making these
proposed changes to the business process?
According to the case study, the major problem of Scott’s company is the information
technology constraints. To be more specific, Scott’s company does not have the real-
time information because their current method of information sharing is outdated. In
addition, customers are not satisfied because they are hard to communicate with
Strategic Solutions. Therefore, it is important for Scott to invest both EDI and TMS.
One of the greatest benefits of implementing EDI is that EDI enables real-time
information sharing, which can help Scott’ s company share the information with all
of their customers as well as potential carriers. The information is also available
online so customers can check them with access codes. In this case, customers always
know the real-time information, so their satisfaction will not drop.
TMS is also really important to Scott’s company. TMS is beneficial to the
transportation systems. By using TMS, they can efficiently identify and find the
potential routes which are good for the movement of cold and frozen food products.
What’s more, they don’t need to arrange shipments through telephone or e-mail so
outdated information is not an issue anymore.
In one word, implementing these two systems can make sure Strategic Solutions get
real-time information and improve the transportation system. As a result, the process
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of transportations becomes visible and more efficient, which meets customers’ needs
greatly. Thus, customers will be satisfied with SS and then SS can make profits.
3. What are the key considerations for Scott when deciding on the best possible
systems to implement?
Scott knows that logistics depends on accurate real-time information, but he is not
sure what type of system will fit for his company. We do have two different types of
systems here that would be beneficial for his company. electronic data interchange
(EDI), which is the computer-to-computer exchange of business documents in a
standard electronic format between business partners, and transportation management
system (TMS), which is a software that facilitate interactions between an
organization’s order management system (OMS) and its warehouse system (WMS) or
distribution center (DC).
The key considerations for Scott when deciding on the best possible systems to
implement are diverse. Communication is one of them because he has to
communicate or share information with its customers, or suppliers because
information can be available online with proper access codes so that scheduling
arrangement involving shipment equipment, and time schedule can be made with a
single point of contact.
Expectation can be another factor for Scott to take into consideration because in
today’s technological environment, visibility to shipment and communication of any
in route deviation should be given.
Conclusion
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We believe that in the new market competition environment, Scott should have
integrated EDI and TMS into the Strategic Solutions. Because Scott can make use of
EDI to exchange data with customers by network system and quickly solve
customer’s problems. Then the company can use TMS to monitor and track the whole
logistic process in real time. It can not only ensue the unobstructed of logistic
information, but also satisfy customers’ requirement of checking at any time. When
the utilization of these systems can make the Strategic Solutions get information and
orders in time, their advantages such as large quantities, many varieties and fast
delivery can improve the degree of customers’ satisfaction, which finally leads to
company’s profits.
Sources
1,
Rouse, M. (2014). Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Techtarget. Retrieved October
15, 2014, from http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/EDI
2,
Rouse, M. (2015). transportation management system (TMS). TechTarget. Retrieved
August 15, 2015, from
http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/Transportation-Management-
System-TMS
3,
Sanders, N. R. (2012). Logistics. In L. Johnson (Ed.), Supply Chain Management: A
Global Perspective (pp. 201). Hoboken, NJ: George Hoffmann.
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4,
Yang, S. (n.d.). Analysis of Market Economy. Retrieved May 8, 2011, from
http://zhidao.baidu.com/link?
url=ayBwdL3zLW4xwAWaEwLNO0YDjb66MzYTxap9PxWJPE_qIsrMbLDf4iy850
lXwjxOfqFAqjRmzOa22EA0DtYQTFM1xLfuJwv_0zoPPcCTNy
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