E-Commerce Implementation
Customer Overview
Elmer's Products, a Berwind Group company, has become the most trusted name in consumer adhesives. Elmer's markets over 2000 products from School glues, Office products to Home Repair and Woodworking products. Elmer's products can be found in most major department stores and grocery stores like Wal-Mart and Kmart, Safeway.
The Challenge
As with any consumer goods company, having the right product at the right location, at the right time, in the right quantity at the lowest possible cost is a perpetual challenge.
To large extent most Mass merchants rely on the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) based processes to exchange critical business information such as Orders, Order Status, Shipment Notices, Invoices etc with their suppliers. Accurate and timely access to the information is important for both retailers and Elmers. The information allows Elmer's to capture orders and make sure the right products reach the shelves on time and in the right quantity. Retailers use the information to schedule resources to receive goods and merchandize the goods. Some retailers have very strict policies towards the accuracy and timeliness of the EDI information. Wal-Mart is known to blacklist suppliers for not complying with their policies.
Several years ago Elmer's had outsourced their day-to-day EDI maintenance to a third party. The "partner" was not very responsive to Elmer's needs for tracking orders and upgrading to newer EDI versions. In addition, the EDI information was highly fragmented on multiple legacy systems. The result was lost orders, missed shipments, and Elmer's also faced the chance of being blacklisted by one of the retailers if the situation was not resolved.
The Solution
As part of streamlining their supply chain operations, Elmer's partnered with ERP Logic to bring their EDI operations in-house and phase out legacy systems. ERP Logic helped in strategizing a solution that would provide better control and accurate/timely access to the critical information and setup an organization structure that would focus on improving customer service. The solution consisted of:
Strategic System Planning:
Developed the "to-be" model, assisted with EDI package selection, and developed an implementation plan.
Organization Design:
The customer service group was re-organized to better serve customers using the new processes and tools.
Customization and Integration with ERP
The SAP system was customized and enhanced to meet the business requirements as defined in the "to-be" model including tight integration with the EDI subsystem.
Trading Partner Setup:
Trading partners including retailers and logistics providers were engaged to test the newly developed system.
Data Mapping:
Data maps were developed with the GENTRAN tool using the ANSI X.12 standards.
The following EDI transactions were implemented at Elmer's:
- 214 - Get shipment status from carriers
- 810 - Send Invoices to customers
- 820 - Remittance advise to/from banks
- 830 - Forecast and planning schedule sent to your suppliers
- 850 - Sales orders from customers
- 852 - Retailers advise suppliers of sales and product activities
- 864 - Free format text messages - sort of like email
- 865 - Purchase order change acknowledgement back to your customers
- 875 - Sales orders from grocery chains
- 880 - Invoice to grocery retailers
- 940 - Shipment order to warehouse
- 945 - Shipping advise from warehouse
- 996 - File transfer
- 997 - Acknowledgement from your business partners indicating they have successfully received the data
