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Rheem gets supply chain flowing with integration technologies
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28/08/2007
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Water heaters maker Rheem Manufacturing says that implementing Gentran Integration Suite (GIS) and Sterling Collaboration Network (SCN) has enabled it to automate most of its supply chain interactions.
With 69% of all orders coming through EDI, Rheem needed a solution that it could trust to handle that flow of information. It says that GIS and SCN now provide flexibility through a hybrid approach to hosting integrated business processes, and allow strategic processes to be prioritised while others are managed in the network.
For example, Rheem can automatically and securely expose dynamic order information from key customers, such as Home Depot, to internal decision-makers and external partners across its value chain without IT involvement.
GIS manages the infrastructure required to capture, manage and display customer information across Rheem’s supply chain, order entry, accounting and credit departments – freeing IT resources from time-consuming, low-value activities.
Meanwhile, SCN gives the company end-to-end, business-to-business connectivity that simplifies real-time collaboration with customers and partners regardless of their technical capability.
“By replacing our complex and unstable IT process routing system with the new Sterling Commerce B2B solution, we can instantly put critical, time-sensitive customer order information directly into the hands of the Rheem business,” says Jay Palmer, system development manager for Rheem.
“Now we can seamlessly connect our business units to our customers. This leads to better customer service and partner collaboration. At the same time, SCN enables secure data movement across multiple platforms, reduces operational risk and reliably supports customer-service-oriented business initiatives behind the scenes.”
Implementing GIS has allowed Rheem to reduce the amount of staff needed to manage EDI files while taking the business process of researching orders and invoices out of the hands of IT. The solution gives Rheem the ability to cost-effectively scale revenue-generating processes and adapt to diverse order formats and protocols, in addition to adapting order entry and call center processes for rollout in various countries, including Mexico.
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Author
Brian Tinham
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