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VSEL ... LPDUsing Electronic Product Definition andmaximising concurrency of activities in theVirtual Enterprise.Compared with similar-sized vessels, LPD hadto be achieved in 25% of the man-hours and50% of the project lead time.BOMBARDIER-SHORTSUsing Electronic Product Definition and andshared databases with suppliers.Delivered 50% reduction in development cycle,80% reduction in first article re-work and firsttime fit for wing to fuselage connections.ROVERUsing Electronic Product Definition and linkswith suppliers through the RED-X programme.Delivered 6 month reduction in productionintroduction time and 75% reduction in buildproblems, mainly attributed to supplierintegration through e-business.Box 3.4Transformation ofexisting business models3.14 As well as merely improving theefficiency of existing structures, e-commerceenables the transformation of thesestructures. Some examples of this can alreadybe seen. Wal-Mart, the major US discountchain, is already carrying more than tentimes as many product lines on its Web siteas in its largest store. In financial services,an estimated hundred-fold cost saving(see figure 3.5) is driving dramatic growth inInternet banking. When taken together withthe extensive move to telephone banking,this is already having a major impact on thenumber high street retail bank branches.3.15 By lowering traditional entry barriersand ignoring national boundaries,e-commerce also has the potential toenhance sharply the value of strong brands.It seems likely that brands that inspireconsumer confidence and trust in one sectorwill increasingly be leveraged into entirelynew sectors. An example is the move byCharles Schwab from on-line share tradingto selling insurance on-line.3.16 It seems likely that such major changemay occur in sectors as diverse as:travel – a reduction in the value, whichcan be added by conventional travelagents, as passengers increasingly purchasetickets direct from airlines. Easy jet, forexample, now sells all its seats over theE-commerce@its.best.uk13