Operational efficiency was improved toward low-carbon services
Following the establishment of a well-structured enterprise database, which was the Phase I goal of digital transformation, the Phase II kicked off in 2022 to introduce digital tools and technologies for a comprehensive review and analysis of supply chain operations such as procurement, stock and inventory management, customer order and shipment management. Along with relevant digital tools and system development, the trial run of some operation procedures and management reports started in Q4 2022 with the full introduction expected in 2023.
Introduction of RPA, B2B/EDI and automation further enhances operation efficiency
To improve the existing manual handling with RPA and automated procedures. A total of 100 vendor-related operating procedures and management reports, including price request and maintenance, procurement operations, project registration and maintenance, and 273 customer-related operating procedures and management reports, including order and shipping operations, delivery management, and sales forecast, have been automated to meet the customized operation requirements of different vendors and customers. As a result, the working time of relevant personnel was greatly reduced, and the feedback turnaround time and service quality were effectively improved .
Improved Business Dashboard Information
At WT, business dashboards are customized for users in different roles at different levels to meet their individual functions and decision-making requirements. Operational data automatically collected, sorted, and compiled on a daily basis by the system are made conveniently accessible via mobile devices or the Intranet to appropriate executives and employees, so that they are kept well-informed of the up-to-date operation status and trends and thus able to respond to and take action on any abnormality at the earliest possible moment.
Digitization achievements in procurement, stock and inventory management procedures
Information such as sales demand, finished product inventory, and purchase orders from different systems are integrated and analyzed to indicate the health of the inventory level of each material, so that the sales team may quickly and effectively grasp the situation of the materials they are responsible for, address possible shortages or excess, as well as plan for and simulate changes in corresponding purchase orders and sales orders.
With stocking parameters set by the sales team, order plans can be simulated and generated by the system, which supports simultaneous batch simulation with multiple materials to facilitate the operations.
Operation plans set up for different material conditions are analyzed by the system with the built-in management specifications of each product line, and the sales team is prompted to ensure the plans made meet the applicable specifications.
A new function was introduced to the system for the reviewers to check the overall inventory and purchase order status online. Warnings and prompts are given regarding the health of the inventory level in different materials according to the management specifications of each product line to facilitate order review and adjustment.
Sales orders, order changes or other requests proposed by a customer can be quickly interfaced to vendor’s B2B/EDI system for transactions after the integration with vendors’ B2B/EDI electronic procedures.
Digitization achievements in customer ordering and freight management procedures
The order input efficiency has been improved by system optimization, as the time spent on following different order input procedures with different customer online systems can be saved, and the focus can be put on customer order management. After the integration, all customer order-related operations can be performed on the same platform.
The approval procedure has also been migrated online. The system informs the handler as soon as the approval is completed so the handler may proceed to the next steps. A log of changes in sales orders is kept on the system to facilitate tracking and internal audit. In addition, communication is ongoing with the customers to introduce VBA of EXCEL, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), B2B/EDI and other tools to simplify the sales orders input procedures.
For customers who use designated freight forwarders, a power of attorney system was introduced to manage their designated freight forwarders, power of attorney, and period of freight entrustment. The system gives notice before a freight forwarder is about to expire or change, so the employee responsible for the shipment can promptly notify and get confirmation from the customer, obtain power of attorney and other relevant documents, and update the information on the system.
