GlobalSupplier - Daimler

6
Global e-Business
Global e-Business Activities within GP&S
Good Results
Purchasing decisions establish long-term supplier relationships, directly
determine product costs and have a significant impact on the level of quality
and innovation of DaimlerChrysler products. DaimlerChrysler’s objective is
to optimize the core tasks of purchasing using web-based technologies.
In 2001, together with the purchasing divisions, e-Extended Enterprise as
a global e-Business organisation within Global Procurement & Supply was
able to successfully develop various e-Business tools.
“We need the support and feedback from
our suppliers in order to continually
update and improve our e-Business tools
and to install them successfully,” says
Harold James Carleton, Director
e-Extended Enterprise. “You cannot simply
introduce e-Business systems from one day
to the next. You have to have the courage
to test new systems and to draw on the
experiences of all parties involved in the
process.” e-Business will change business
processes considerably and expand communication
and collaboration opportunities.
Electronic exchange of documents with
Supply Partners. The e-Business application
eDocs has been in operation
since September. Via the DaimlerChrysler
supplier portal and the Internet, eDocs
provides electronic purchase documents,
* Materialeinkaufssystem =
material procurement system
namely inquiries, orders and sale
agreements. Business partners can also
send proposals and order or sales
agreement confirmations via eDocs to the
sales organisation. eDocs is fully integrated
in the MES* procurement system, and
will also display electronically internal
procurement authorisations in the next
realisation phase, thus facilitating a
consistent workflow via the Internet and
beyond corporate borders.
With a volume of more than 500,000
document shipments per year, the introduction
of eDocs is expected to bring
significant economic benefits. In addition
to a substantial reduction in document
flow-through times, a substantial decrease
in administrative expenses is also
expected.
Initially, 11 pilot suppliers are working
with eDocs in the first stage, which has just
started. The functionality of eDocs will be
further extended in the course of a further
release next year. After that it will also
be possible to send separate attachments
(e.g. text specifications or drawings). It
is planned that up to 20,000 business
partners will be supplied through eDocs by
the end of 2003. In a further development
step, procurement documents are to be
made available in an XML format; such
documents may be directly transferred by
the business partners to their order or
materials management system.
First global online bidding events a great
success. In September, the purchasing
organisations “Purchasing Services” and
“Materials Purchasing for Passenger Cars”
held the first global online bidding events.
Within Purchasing Services, the demand
for PCs and laptops from locations in