For manufacturers in today's fast-paced, fiercely competitive business climate, winning customers and increasing revenues depends on much more than simply providing high quality products that meet a customer's specifications. More than ever, the race to close sales and fulfill customer orders is won by manufacturers capable of operating with the speed and agility required to produce and deliver the right products to the right customers - when, where and how they are needed.

Often this race comes down to a battle of supply chain effectiveness and customer responsiveness. Many companies do not have the large sales and customer service teams required to respond effectively. As a result, their business processes and transactions with material suppliers, as well as communication with customers may become inundated with excess paperwork, multiple phone calls, and unexpected delays due to lack of timely information or the right materials.

Fortunately, advanced manufacturing solutions and the Internet make it possible to change all that. In this paper, we will take a closer look at how manufacturers can leverage the power of real-time, end-to-end supply chain portals to create leaner and more efficient operations with supply chain partners and, at the same time, achieve new levels of customer responsiveness and satisfaction.

The Need for Speed and Efficiency Beyond the "Four Walls"

Many manufacturers have discovered that they can deploy deeply functional enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in a convenient pay-as-you-go Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model. With an integrated SaaS ERP system in place, they gain greater control and visibility across a broad range of internal business process actions - from product management, inventory control and manufacturing, to financial, accounting and performance analysis and reporting. In virtually all cases, these internal improvements have delivered measurable operational benefits and return on investment.

What has often been lacking, however, is the manufacturer's ability to extend this interaction and collaboration beyond the four walls of the enterprise - from material and component suppliers at one end of the spectrum, to customers at the other end. The solution is to select and deploy a Web-based portal, or intranet, to serve each of these critical constituencies.

With today's technology, browser-accessible supplier and customer portals can be integrated at key touchpoints with the existing SaaS ERP system, thus providing manufacturers with a safe and secure interactive tool that enables authorized users to communicate key information, automate numerous processes, and perform business transactions in real time.

No manufacturer striving to compete globally in the 21st century can deny the urgent need for increased speed, innovation, and customer service. With the continuing trend towards lean production, demand-driven supply chains, and just-in-time (JIT) delivery, manufacturers are constantly pressured by customers to respond faster, shorten product life cycles, speed up time to market, and deliver more product customization and packaging options than ever before. The value of Web-based portals lies in their ability to facilitate two-way communications and collaborative workflow in real time so that these goals may be met.

How can Web-based portals help in achieving a leaner, more efficient, and more customer-focused supply chain? And, what kinds of functionality should manufacturers look for in evaluating and selecting supplier and customer portals?

Evaluating Supplier Portals: Real-Time Communication and Materials Synchronization

Many supply chains do not perform as efficiently as they should because manufacturers and their suppliers do not always have the means to communicate as quickly and effectively as they need to. Complex global supply networks, vastly differing time zones, excessive paperwork requirements, multiple levels of approval - all of these can cause delays in communication, which can hinder a manufacturer's ability to meet production schedules and timely order fulfillment.

As a result, many manufacturers are forced to expedite supply orders or carry costly safety inventory to respond to unexpected or rush orders. With a portal solution giving both the manufacturer and supplier a real-time view of order and materials management, both parties would be working from the same demand information and timetable and could synchronize their activities accordingly.

A richly functional supplier portal would improve communications and collaboration between manufacturers and their suppliers by providing the following capabilities:

• Status Overview to present a performance dashboard summarizing the status of critical activities, with the ability to drill down into details and action required. For example, an effective dashboard would provide critical information regarding open orders, overdue shipments, upcoming shipments, order changes requiring acknowledgement, and re-order/replenishment point requirements.
• Supplier Message Boards to enable manufacturers to create and publish messages that would be automatically seen when the supplier logs on. Recipients could be targeted with user-definable attributes, such as all suppliers, individual suppliers, specific types of suppliers, etc.
• Alerts Portal to ensure that suppliers have read messages and to establish dates for alert acknowledgement and/or response.
• Inquiries Capabilities to enhance visibility regarding key issues such as purchase or blanket orders, material receipts, returns to vendor, and payment information.
• Collaborative Order Management to enable manufacturers and suppliers to work together in real time to ensure that materials are shipped and received in a timely way to fulfill customer demand. This capability would provide suppliers with visibility into the manufacturer's production plans, required items and dates, so they could plan their own production to meet actual demand.

With the help of a secure supplier portal, manufacturers would be able to reduce sourcing and inventory costs and manage their materials inventory more efficiently and cost-effectively. An electronic portal would also open the door to the creation and deployment of demand-driven material management strategies, such as Electronic Kanban signals, supplier-managed inventory, consigned inventory, and blanket orders. Manufacturers could also use the portal to quickly and efficiently execute spot buys to fulfill critical or unexpected orders.

Through the portal, suppliers would gain better insight into their customer's production plans and material requirements and thus be better prepared to meet them. A well-designed portal would also provide suppliers with easy, ready-to-use tools for preparing required documentation, such as packing slips, advance ship and ship notices, carrier information, expected delivery date, Bill of Lading number, and similar electronic and printed documents.

Evaluating Customer Portals: Reduced Service Costs, Higher Customer Satisfaction

When it comes to customer service, manufacturers face a paradoxical challenge: They need to minimize sales and service-related costs, yet make it as easy as possible for customers to do business with them. A Web-based customer portal can make it possible to do both. In fact, a well-designed collaborative customer portal can actually lead to higher levels of customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Some of the major complaints customers routinely voice about the manufacturers they buy from or wish to buy from include:

• Excessively slow response to product or order inquiries, order or engineering changes, and quote requests (RFQs)
• Lack of accurate information forthcoming regarding sales quotes, order status, in-stock inventory and back ordered products, available-to-promise and delivery dates
• Product configuration errors and delivery of erroneous or incomplete orders

Conversely, some of the "pain points" manufacturers point to when it comes to how their sales organizations and customers currently interact include:

• Receipt of complex orders having inaccurate or incomplete information and subsequently requiring multiple hand-offs, thus prolonging the quote-to-order process
• Difficulty associated with proffering accurate quotations, especially on complex orders, leading to inconsistent pricing and often margin erosion
• Customer dissatisfaction due to lengthy sales order processing and response times, which can lead to unhappy customers and lost sales

An effective customer portal can help alleviate all of these situations. With a fully interactive portal in place, customers would gain 24/7, self-service access to sales quote, sales order, and order status information over a secure Internet site. Thus empowered from anywhere on the globe, customers would no longer have to wait for a response to their inquiries from a manufacturer's sales or service representative.

A customer portal could also support product search, selection and configuration guidelines, all of which would shorten the quote-to-order cycle time and enable faster, more informed buying decisions - with less sales or service intervention and fewer downstream errors.

A well-designed portal would improve communications and collaboration between manufacturers and their customers and prospects by providing the following key capabilities:

• Streamline Selling Processes by enabling customers and prospects to search online for specific products and obtain accurate quotes instantly on standard stock items, standard non-stock items, and special order or configured items. Portals also can provide a host of online guided selling tools such as product catalogs, specifications, data sheets, photos, and engineering drawings.
• Streamline Sales Order and Quote-to-Order Processes' by enabling a manufacturer's sales personnel to record and track customer profiles and sales quote information, support flexible pricing structures and volume discounts, and carry on two-way communications with customers via the Internet rather than phone or fax.
• Seamless Integration with key modules in the SaaS ERP solution that would eliminate redundant data entry and minimize data entry errors, as well as provide instant validation of orders and confirmation of product availability. This integration can also enable the sales/marketing organization to run sales reports and analyses, and allow the accounting team to perform instant credit checks.
• Comprehensive Order Tracking and Management which can help identify sales status and predictability, and increase revenues through strategies such as cross-selling, up-selling, special promotions, and product substitution where appropriate.
• Value-Added Service Options including such strategies as consigned inventory arrangements and automated product replenishment triggers, which can help manufacturers minimize financial exposure and keep inventories lean, while providing key customers with value-added, loyalty-building services.

Conclusion: Web-Based Portals Benefit All Participants

Clearly, the deployment of secure and well-designed Web-based portals can be a sound business investment. By putting manufacturers and their suppliers on the same page, so to speak, an interactive Web-based supplier portal can deliver tremendous benefits in time and cost savings to both manufacturers and their suppliers - no matter how complex or far-flung the supply network happens to be. For both sides, the benefits to be gained include: lower transaction costs with fewer errors; reduction of administrative time and paperwork; greater visibility into future supply and demand; and higher levels of mutual trust and satisfaction.

Similarly, Web-based customer portals provide a powerful toolset that benefits both manufacturers and their customers through enhanced real-time communication, self-service, and collaboration. For manufacturers, these benefits typically include: reduced sales and customer service transaction costs; higher quote accuracy; better visibility of customer needs and requirements; improved customer service and satisfaction; and increased revenues due to shorter quote-to-order cycle times and fewer lost sales.

Customer benefits typically include: anywhere/anytime guided access to comprehensive product, pricing and ordering information; easy and intuitive "shopping cart" interface for simplified order entry on standard products; immediate order validation and confirmation of product availability and delivery dates, as well as fast, self-service access to order status information.

Working seamlessly in conjunction with a SaaS ERP solution, supplier and customer portals can increase efficiency and reduce costs up and down the entire supply chain. The result of this relatively modest investment in end-to-end supply chain collaboration can deliver significant returns in terms of greater visibility and agility, measurable cost savings - and gaining an edge over competitors.

Glovia Services, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glovia International, Inc., a subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6702), one of the world's most experienced and solidly backed providers of extended ERP solutions for businesses of any size-from small and midsized companies to global enterprises. Glovia Services offers GSInnovate web-based manufacturing software from pluggable point solutions to a comprehensive on-demand ERP suite that provides for the unique needs of engineer-to-order, make-to-order, high volume and mixed-mode manufacturing environments through comprehensive, end-to-end functionality for the entire product life-cycle. Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Glovia Services has helped manufacturers to cut costs, improve productivity, and meet customer demands for over 30 years. For more information please visit www.gsinnovate.com, or call 310-563-8700 or 877-474-8896 (toll free).

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.3 trillion yen (US$53 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.

Glovia Services strives to equip manufacturers with the expert knowledge and best practices gained from our own manufacturing and technology experience. The GSInnovate Industry Insight Series provides manufacturers with the latest resources to effectively manage their business on demand.