ProNet

State-of-the-art and analysis of the needs in industry for standardized software for Supply Chain Management in logistics and production networks

Researchers:

R. Hieber, R. Alard, Prof. M. Bärtschi, Prof. P. Schönsleben

Partners:

Academic:

Institute of Work Psychology ETH Zurich
Zentrum für Prozessgestaltung (ZPA) der Fachhochschule Aargau
ICAP of EPF Lausanne and several industry companies

Industrial:

IBM
Huber+Suhner AG
DiverseyLever AG
Peka Metall AG
Folag AG
USCO Sarl

Software:

Software AG
JD Edwards/Numetrix
Manugistics

Financed by:

CTI 4209.1

Motivation:

In today's global business arena, competition is marked by volatile demand, decreased customer loyalty, shorter product life cycles, and mass product customization. As a consequence, tight interaction and coordination among the members of the supply chain is one of the most critical success factors. Information Technology (IT) should enable companies to support these vital de-cision-making processes. However, most of the standard Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) cover mainly the internal structure and processes of the enterprise only.

The objectives of the project are:

Analysis of the needs of organizations in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) area for IT-support
Reduction of inventory and lead time along the whole supply chain as well as improving the agility and the partnership within logistics and production networks by using new organizational and IT-solutions
Demonstration of the potentials of the new generation of SCM Software solutions and revealing the consequences for the business organizations within the network

The following activities have already been completed:

Analysis of logistics- and production networks
IT-market study: Analysis of standard software packages in the area of SCM
Survey of SCM activities in Swiss and European industries
Identification of network characteristics
Design and evaluation of supply chain metrics for network management
Development and implementing of IT network information platform and network forecasting information system in cooperation with industry project partners