1. N° and issue date : 130601 - 01/06/2013
Circulation : 26120
Page : 10
Frequency : Monthly
Size : 100 %
Automation_130601_10_3.pdf
624 cm2
Website: www.connectingindustry.com
Industry Focus
Automotive Supply Chain
Holding the
LuNNecTiNoINLIU5TRY.LUM
/
AUTOrvlATION
key to global expansion
Mark Morley director of industry marketing for manufacturing at GXS takes a closer look at how
automotive manufacturers can expand into new markets via the use of global platforms and cloud B2B
,
,
witha growing need
which also helps to reduce inventory
levels but more importantly
global supply chains The only
downside with introducing more
standard parts across multiple car
brands is that
it significantly
increases the chance of more vehicle
recalls if a part fails.
This in turn places more pressure on
the Tier 1 suppliers to increase the
of the parts they supply to their
customers Introducing a cloud-based B2B
platform helps to standardise the way in
which a car manufacturer engages with
its suppliers A centrally hosted suite of
Software-as-a-Service
( SaaS )
can be deployed very quickly
across an existing trading partner
community and they alsohelp to onboard
new suppliers in remote locations.
Deploying a cloud-based platform
can provide a significant competitive
advantage when entering a new
market Companies can also
in other areas such as using
communication protocols such as OFTP2
or even a standard message set The
German automotive industry is
currently working towards standardising
on a new global message set based on
EDIFACT as they find the traditional
VDA message set too restrictive when
supporting their global operations.
to
expand into new markets such as
China India and Brazil and gain
market shareas quickly as
automotive
manufacturers
increasingly need to set-up production
facilities and onboard trading partners
in ever shorter periods of time.
Many manufacturers have turned to
global vehicle platforms to help meet
this demand which sees them sharing
designs components and production
efforts across multiple models and
types This in-turn helps to rationalise
suppliers and standardiseon
components and
other sub-systems used in
the manufacture of the vehicles.
Uniting vehicle platforms naturally
provides an opportunity to
internal IT business and
production systems as well.
Having a standard vehicle platform
that can be used acrossmultiple
markets provides the
most cost efficient
way of undertaking international
expansion projects and Volkswagen
VW has been a particularly strong
example of this The company owns
more car brands than any other car
manufacturer and has achieved a high
level of commonality across their
platforms and parts whilst at the
same time retaining the individual
identity of each car brand.
VW' s next generation MQB platform
will provide a significant competitive
advantage in the market and is tipped
by some analysts to be as significant
for the industry as Henry Ford s
production line and Toyota' s Just-In-Time
production system Even though it has
taken six years and $70bn to develop
the platform it is expected to see a
$19bn saving by 2019.
Rapid global expansion still
presents a number of wider challenges for
supply chain logistics and IT
Faced
possible
simplifies
,
,
,
,
1:
0
Mark Morley
director of industry
marketing for
Above
:
manufacturing
,
,
quality
.
GXS
.
consolidate
.
applications
,
associated
.
standardise
,
(
)
,
,
,
'
.
,
,
.
.
vehicle
.
Below
:
as
atively short period of time.
For example Just-In-Time
has been used for many years
but common vehicle platforms will
encourage more ' Supply In Line
Sequence' ( SILS production to take
place i.e different vehicles being
assembled on the same production
line Cloud B2B platforms help to
remove
the complexity of managing
today' s supply chains From
simplifying the
management of trading
partners to improving end to end
visibility of global shipments cloud
B2B platforms offer many advantages
over moretraditional behind the
firewall B2B software environments.
From mediating between different
communication protocols document
standards or even integrating with a
back end ERP platform such as SAP
cloud B2B platforms help to shield
users from the complexities of both
deploying and managing a global
production
,
)
.
.
.
,
,
,
B2B
platform.
As globalisation continues
production and cloud B2B
many
environments will
share
characteristics consolidation
standardisation and reduced complexity.
Cloud B2Ballows vehicle
to scaletheir B2B requirements to
meet the needs of their global
environments and associated
Increased
supply chain network
adoption of common vehicle platforms
will help to drive further widespread
adoption of cloud-based B2B
platforms
over the next fewyears.
,
automotive
,
,
manufacturers
production
globalisation
continues automotive
production and cloud
B2B environments will
share many
characteristics
,
consolidation
,
standardisation and
reduced complexity
Reduced complexity
Common vehicle
platforms
allow
vehicle sub-systems to be used across
multiple vehicles which helps to
simplify the production
process The
production environment itself can alsobe
significantly simplified allowing new
production lines to be established in
new regions around the world in a rel
,
.
.
GXS
www.gxs.co.uk
T 01932 776 047
:
Enter201
,
infrastructure
professionals supporting
facilities however To address
this manufacturers should
the benefits of a sharedplatform
with cloud-based B2B integration to
provide the flexibility and agility their
expanded supply chains need In fact
cloud B2B integration and global
platforms are remarkably similar
across threekey areas.
new
,
.
,
complement
.
,
vehicle
Increased standardisation
Common vehicle
platforms allow
manufacturers to consolidate parts
and hence
rationalise
suppliers
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