| dc.description.abstract | Many manufacturers in Taiwan have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in dealing with the Y2K problem and the pressure from the major international customers. Due to the advances in information technology and the ever-increasing industrial competition, contemporary businesses must focus more the coordination of business activities within the internal operations and interaction between the enterprise and its upstream and downstream partners in the supply chain, than on the transaction management and process automation. It is a strategic necessity for a company to set up its supply chain management (SCM) strategy and pursue the optimization of SCM processes through the business process reengineering and the integration of underlying information systems.
This research is to study how a PDA manufacturer in Taiwan is pursuing the optimization of its SCM processes upon the foundation of an implemented ERP. We adopt the case study approach and take the number one OEM/ODM PDA manufacturer in Taiwan as the case company. To cope with the rapid growth of the market for PDAs and smart phones, together with the shortened product lifecycle and the increasing industrial rivals, the case company reengineered its internal SCM operations, customized its installed ERP system to resolve the problem of traditional MRP with the substitutable material, and reengineered its procurement process, henceforth is able to improve the efficiency of its SCM processes. This study is concluded with a six-step optimization process, which starts from the setup of business strategies, followed by the establishment of SCM strategies, the initiation of the implementation project, the planning of business process reengineering, the development and integration of information systems, and the assessment of the project performance. Through the iterative process during the execution phase of the entire process, the case company has achieved early successes in the visibility of material information, reduction in time spent in sales forecasting, lowering the inventory level, and quick response to customers’ demand change. | en_US |