Re: [ebxml-dev] RE: [EDI-L] Article on ebXML Core Components ...

[bhaugen <linkage@interaccess.com>]

From: Yader, Mark (GXS)
> This is a really good discussion on ROI and SMEs, I just have to throw
in
> some personal perspectives.
>
> I don't want to make any specific conclusions, but I think the
successes
> (and/or failures) of the MAP project (in the automotive industry) can
> provide some relevant "lessons learned" in the discussions around SMEs
and
> ROI. For those members on this list server who were involved with that
> project, I would be interested in your impression of how the ROI
stated in
> that report ($71 cost savings per car for OEMs) translated into IT
changes
> in the lower-tier suppliers.

From my limited perspective, MAP failed utterly.
I have heard that same sentiments from key players.

I was working with a small supplier when the decree
came in from the Big 3 that the small supplier must
accept EDI orders from the OEM and run the orders
through their internal MRP system and emit
synchronized EDI orders to their suppliers in turn.

What a laugh!

*. The small supplier did have an MRP module in
their internal business system but had never
implemented it.
* They ran the plant off clipboards and spreadsheets.
* Even if they had implemented their MRP module,
most MRP systems are not capable of synchronizing
from customer order to supplier order.

So MAP had the usual set of unrealistic assumptions.

I've since learned how it could have been done better,
but was in no position to change anybody's mind
at the time, and would not have had a better idea
then if I had been in position.

(I now hide from the thundering herd of analogies to ebXML...)

-Bob Haugen