Back to basic: Managing supply chains collaboration by continual improvement in over- The-net operation meeting

Abstract

In the last two decades, enterprise solutions like Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP), Supply Chain Analytics system (SCA), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and e-Service have been greatly improving the productivity and operational efficiency in manufacturing. However, a new survey found that, when it comes to the integration of enterprise solutions across the boundaries of enterprises such as the case of supply chain collaboration to support e-Manufacturing, the successful rate of such implementation is extremely low. This paper argues that, while the million-dollar, fancy enterprise solution such as SCA and other e-Manufacturing supporting systems may gain success within an enterprise, it may not be extendable to external organizations due to the complexity of implementation involving different business processes and workflows, different systems and different culture of people. The recommended solution to this problem is to focus on the nature of the integrated business process and workflow instead of fancy software solution. We need to come back to the basics, the nature of the business. A newly created Operation-Over- The-Net (OOTN) architecture, which is a multi-dimensional gateway transmitting events therefore actions along the supply chain horizon and from end-customer directly, is introduced in this paper as a back- To-basic Operation Management (OM) tool. It is demonstrated that a highly effective Operation Meeting Solution (OMS) can easily extend internal OM to manage supply chain collaboration. The solution has been proven by a million-wafer global supply network in semiconductor industry since 2000. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.