The software also allows buyers and suppliers to simultaneously change, manage, and collaborate on purchase orders and MRP suggestions. Through ClearOrbit's unique "prevent control" system, PO Change Management also automates data reconciliation and reduces errors by barring shipments with mismatched data records.
"ClearOrbit's clients demand more visibility and control over their purchase order management than is available in their current systems," said Tom Dziersk, ClearOrbit president. "We can now 'layer-in' a comprehensive, web-based purchase order change management tool that enables significant new collaborative capabilities while avoiding the massive integration costs associated with alternative approaches."
PO Change Management reduces the time buyers and suppliers spend communicating by providing shared, real-time visibility and control over the entire purchase event history. All the purchase order data can now be displayed in front of the right people, when they need it, without requiring that they manually look up data in disparate systems. Suppliers can access the system via standard web browsers, by uploading/downloading spreadsheets into the system, or via a Web Services XML interface.
The original collaborative module is ClearOrbit's PO Collaborator. This provides suppliers with online visibility and control over orders so they can meet their customers' production schedules.
The new PO Change Management module extends this capability by bringing a manufacturer's MRP output into the same closed-loop replenishment system. This eliminates a key disconnect between MRP and purchasing systems, as it provides suppliers with visibility to both systems at the same time. As a result, the buyers now have configuration rules that give them greater flexibility in dealing with supplier responses to shipment requests.
Since 1994, ClearOrbit has assisted more than 250 clients in automating and controlling their supply chain execution processes. ClearOrbit extends enterprise systems value with Supply Chain Execution (SCE) and Collaborative Supply Management (CSM) software solutions that allow customers to fully leverage their investment in enterprise applications while also gaining additional value by incorporating their trading partners into their supply chains.
Stringent legislation, consumer concerns about food safety and growing pressure from retailers have forced food manufacturers to look at every possible means of ensuring traceability and efficiency throughout the supply chain. Out of this has emerged the concept of a Supply Chain Execution (SCE) system, which describes what the industry needs to put in place to achieve all this.
The importance of the concept is that it recognises the interconnectness of the food industry. It suggests that that closer collaboration between every aspect of the food supply chain is inevitable.
Legislation has been a significant driver. The recent US Bioterrorism Act and forthcoming EU legislation on traceability have added to the pressure on manufacturers to get their house in order and be able to trace products right through the chain. The problem traditionally has been a lack of investment in the food production sector; technical upgrades have tended to be carried out on a one-off basis and there has not been a strategic approach to SCE as yet.
This is now beginning to happen on the manufacturing side, through tracking and tracing and through closer collaboration with retailers. Industry experts believe that over the next few years, manufacturers will have achieved significantly tighter control over their processing and packaging operations.
Ultimately, it is in the manufacturer's long-term interest to invest in a system that can trace and organise operations from start to finish. The cost of compensation or a product recall means that the cost of installing an SCE system is less of a factor than it ever was.