Procurement and Supply Chain Management Essay

Executive SummaryBoeing Australia bound (BAL) is relatively forward-looking family and a global extension of the US firm, the Boeing Company. The BAL substantial capabilities in the argonas of pose and communication, site instruction and the upgrade and maintenance of military aircraft and equipment. As BAL grew, it had unquestionable various organizations to support the procural operations at four list divisions and 12 sites that made up the organization. However there is no user interface of these organizations and they operated autonomously, resulting in a lot of administrative redundancies, low productivity, and high impact time for the procural processes.The dilemma exists in whether to continue to sit on the fence and seek a long-term improvement tools for integration with the catamenia systems, or to invest in a newborn system that would change the procurement processes across the different divisions and support complex interfaces with suppliers? As Russell Menere , matter Procurement Manager, I recommend to pursue a cost good e-Procurement system, which would integrate with the various legacy information technology systems currently in place. The e-Procurement tool should simplify theprocesses across the different divisions and support the multiple suppliers. ply IdentificationImmediate IssueThe immediate issue BAL facing is the demand to find an e-Procurement system that would link the BAL, the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and the study suppliers. Following are the requirements to the e-Procurement system High process efficiency (to ease reduce the manual(a)(a) processes, which create errors) Decreased path times represent savingsCompliance with ADF standards for procurement, which support the provision of services for the ADF.Systemic Issues1. profound administration with decentralized procurement processesBAL had made a strategic transport to establish in the organizations head office the next departmentsCentral Administrati onFinancePurchasingEngineeringLogisticsTechnical printManagement Information SystemsProject ManagementThese departments supported 4 detect divisions1. The Military Aerospace2. The Commercial Aviation3. The Knowledge System4. The Space and communication theoryBy relocating 4 divisions under one roof BAL achieved synergies through more(prenominal) centralized and standardized operations. Although, the 4 divisions were still autonomous they executed their receive work, reported the same measuringcriteria in financial dollars, meet movement and product quality terms, as well as range of other(a) measures for the BAL fit scorecard.2. Systems Architecture IssuesThe information systems architecture encompassed 12 different BAL sites, which were strategically located close to major BAL customers. And at multiple sites the numerous programs and use were apply by employees to meet their operating(a) objectives. The following applications were used1. ProPricer statement for proje cts2. OPP project scheduling, innovationning and labour hours3. COBRA cost performance4. eMatrix data managementThe work packages form the above systems were fed into the ERP system, and then became KPIs for the balanced scorecard.The main problem associated with the above systems architecture was that these were buy-in off-the shelf applications, and were non developed in house to meet the specific inevitably of the BAL various sites, and did not always interfaced with the other applications.Environmental and Root Cause Analysisqualitative Analysis1. BAL is relatively new company with multiple divisions and sites that do not use one integrated procurement system 2. Redundancy in processes for staff through using multiple system applications 3. Slow manual processes for data management (manually entering data) 4. Deficient operations due to fastidious requirements to suppliers 5. High cost of systems getable on the market, which would provide systems integration settlement 6. Unknowns not enough analysis done to guarantee that the new bargain ford system would meet all the working(a) requirements for the integration of system application already in place 7. Staff resistance to change in end new procurement system exit be implemented.Key Assumptions reckon ready(prenominal) for the setup, implementation, and training and interface and service of e-Procurement system and BAL legacy system. BAL suppliers are flexible with changing their existing procurement processes. E-Procurement system of choice is docile with the ADF standards.Alternatives and OptionsA1. BAL implements a sophisticated e-Procurement system, which integrates all parts of the current BAL legacy system already in place. Pros There are average expenses associated with purchasing e-Procurement resultant role. futurity lower costs, and cost savings long-term. Integrates with current legacy system. Based on the integration of current systems, which staff is already using no dump lea rning curve and less resistance to change. Cons Adding another system to the legacy system provides temporary problem fix until more budget available to purchase an ERP system.Major suppliers may not all meet the requirements of the new e-Procurement system. A2. Upgrading and redeveloping the existing ERP platform, and building new ERP system, which would include e-Procurement system to serve the needs of suppliers and end-users. Pros Provides visibility and transparency of all the steps of the full cycle procurement process. Cons High cost, long implementation time.A3. Continue with the existing system, and wait until low-cost e-Procurement system is available to be purchased off-shelf (should be compatible with the BAL legacy system). Pros This will save money short term.Cons the risk of waiting for the low- cost solution will involve losing current suppliers and not having correct data available for current state analysis and reporting. The low-cost e-procurement tool may not be sophisticated enough to provide the necessary technical wages and solve the current issues.Recommendations1. Gap analysis on what will be needed to implement the e-Procurement systemorganization wide. 2. Identify mandatory, technical and functional requirements for the e-Procurement system. 3. Research of e-Procurement systems on the market.4. E-Procurement system purchase and implementation.5. Develop Processes internally (staff/end-users) and outwardly (suppliers) to sustain e-Procurement system. ImplementationImplementation PlanRecommendationActivityWho primary quillBAL Admin, Finance, Purchasing, Engineering, IS, Logistics, ADF, major suppliers Who Support and InputBAL Admin, Finance, Purchasing, Engineering IS, Logistics, ADF, major suppliers WhenImmediate (I) little run (S)Medium (M)Long run (L)Duration/weeksMonitor and check overThere are two shots to the monitor and control functions of the above recommended BAL procurement process improvements. The first aspect is the successful implementation of recommendations listed above. This process freighter be completed by continuous monitoring of what had been completed, developing project plan with all the dependencies and timelines indicated, assigning resources to tasks, and verifying the project deliverables. The second aspect is the controlling process, which measures and monitors progress after all the recommendations are implemented. This process identifies variances from plan and highlights when corrective action is required.Following is the list of inclusions that may be used to measure the performance e-Procurement system1. Operational staff efficiency manual entry /error decrease2. Cost Savings3. Decreased lead time4. Increase in suppliers cooperationConclusionThe alternative solution for BAL is to purchase the cost efficient new e-Procurement system, with would be ADF compliant and will pay off the technical capacity to interface with the existing legacy system. The anticipated results of implementing new e-Procurement system will be cost savings, decreased lead times, operational efficiency and enhanced relationship with major suppliers and main customer (ADF).References1. Boeing Australia Limited Assessing the Merits of Implementing a Sophisticated e-Procurement System Case. HKU271. Centre for Asian Business Cases.