CRC upgrades with e-communications

"With the paperless system, we can save Bt2 million to Bt3 million a year by not using faxes in contacting and making transactions with our suppliers. We expect our overall logistics costs will be reduced by Bt10 million a year in reshuffling our system into a Web-based application," Danai Galassi, vice president for CRC's supply chain, said yesterday.

"The new electronic application will allow suppliers to deliver their products to CRC one or two days faster, which means higher sales opportunities and better satisfaction of shoppers. The human error from transmitting sales and inventory information via faxes will be reduced by 5 to 10 per cent," he said.

The solution from Thai Trade Net, a leading service provider for electronic commerce, employs electronic data interchange to allow the structured transmission of data and documents - such as invoices, purchase orders and financial reports - between CRC and its suppliers by electronic means.

CRC can connect and share information with suppliers at higher efficiency and less cost, and its executives can make quicker decisions. CRC's more than 3,000 suppliers will each have to pay Bt6,500 a year to subscribe to the electronic logistics service.

Central Retail Corp is a US$2-billion (Bt68.4 billion) local enterprise that has developed Thailand's most successful store formats and brands.

The group operates three department stores (Central, Robinson and Zen), one supermarket (Tops), and five specialty retail store brands (Power Buy, Super Sports, B2S, HomeWorks and Office Depot), besides Central Online.

Thanin Tankitibutr, general manager of Thai Trade Net, a unit of Samart Telcoms, said the new electronic system would help CRC boost efficiency and effectiveness in its supply chain. Beyond just basic transactions, it also will cover other value-added applications such as vendor-managed inventory (VMI) and collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment.

The system will be rolled out in three phases.

The first phase, taking place this quarter, will process all basic transactions, including the placing and cancelling of purchase orders, sending of remittance advice, returning of products to vendors and issuing of invoices.

The second phase, which will focus on soft-token security, financial reports, sharing of master data, credit notes, and sales and inventory management (optional), will be completed by next quarter.

The third phase of development will be conducted further and completed by the middle of next year, including debit notes, VMI, KPI/Scorecard, and collaborative projects.