Enhancing manufacturing process efficiency & implementing a B2B portal for an automotive client

For our client, an automotive company that manufactures cables and wiring harnesses for cars, we implemented a B2B portal to streamline communication with contractors and enhance production efficiency.

Challenges

The company struggled with managing an extensive product catalog (several hundred items) dedicated to various clients, collaborating under different trading conditions with our client. Lack of a standard order format — Contractors submitted orders and forecasts in multiple formats (CSV, XLS, EDI, ECOD, email) and from different ERP systems (SAP, IFS, XL). Manual order management was time-consuming and prone to human error, and production orders were not generated efficiently enough, resulting in suboptimal order fulfillment times — production often waited for subsequent orders.

Solution

During the audit of the sales process at our client, the flow of information between the sales department and production was examined. Several pain points were identified, and the solution was an extensive B2B portal as a central system to support efficient communication between contractors, our client, and its production department. The B2B portal performs the following functions:

Contractors can log in to their accounts to access their product catalog to order on their own trading terms. The client has an exposed API, allowing contractors to independently integrate the portal with their ERP system or submit orders and forecasts in various formats (DELFOR, CSV, XLS, ECOD, email). Contractors can also place orders after logging into their account from a web browser and track the status of order fulfillment, thanks to integration with the Nexelem MES, which was previously implemented at our client’s.

Collecting all orders in one place regardless of their source — email, phone call, order sent from another system in the form of an EDI message, and other order generation sources. The ability to aggregate orders and automatically create and prioritize production orders. Implementation of the B2B portal for an Automotive client

Results

Thanks to the implementation of our B2B portal and the earlier implementation of the MES system, our client has increased its competitiveness on many fronts.

• Increased production planning efficiency by over 30%, significantly reducing the waiting time for subsequent production orders.
• Automation of the ordering and production order creation process
• Due to the interdepartmental integration of the B2B portal, the manufacturer efficiently handles orders and automatically generates accounting documents PW/RW.