Collaborative integration in e-business through private trading exchanges (PTXs)

Abstract

Collaborative integration is e-business process integration with supply chain partners such that there is a tightly-coupled collaborative relationship among all partners, deep visibility across all tiers of the supply chain, and near-real-time information exchange and knowledge sharing around supply chain processes. Enterprises seek to implement collaborative integration in order to realize the value-added benefits and cost savings of superior supply chain management, while enabling intelligent action and faster response to environmental variability. Increasingly, supply chain leaders are building private trading exchanges (PTXs) in order to more effectively enable and manage such collaborative integration. This paper examines the value proposition and the spectrum of solutions and services around collaborative integration through PTXs. The paper first identifies the challenges of collaborative integration in near-real-time supply chains. It then describes the building blocks of a PTX solution. It develops a comparative value proposition for collaborative integration. It then provides an illustrative case example from Viacore Inc. The paper ends with an examination of the future of collaborative integration in lean e-business environments.