SCM (Supply Chain Management) systems are inevitably and despite various objective difficulties making their way into the Polish economy, increasingly playing the role of components in company management support systems. For now, this is the domain of the largest market players, but it is they who set the dominant trends in the computerization of domestic enterprises.
A significant obstacle to the implementation of complex SCM systems is the unsatisfactory level of computerization of Polish enterprises. Large buyers and producers generally have advanced IT solutions – often ERP systems. However, the vast majority of small suppliers or buyers still carry out their processes based on fragmented, independent, and autonomous programs, once developed by friendly IT professionals or bought off the shelf at a computer store. Therefore, any compatibility in cooperation within an open supply chain is impossible. There will always be a need to build special interfaces dedicated to each solution, which directly translates into an increase in the operating costs of the SCM system and does not contribute to the openness of such a solution.
According to SCM Review, the sluggish pace of SCM solution adoption by the Polish market so far will significantly accelerate upon our country’s entry into the European Union. It can be assumed, however, that these will be corporate solutions to which Polish enterprises will have to adapt. This does not mean, however, that the imported foreign solutions are always excellent and error-free.
ECR Poland Club, by establishing the SCM (Supply Chain Management) Working Group, has the ambition to introduce solutions into the practice of the Polish market that will allow for the effective cooperation of all supply chain links not only in a vector perspective, but also in a network perspective. The EDI Group, which has been operating for several months now, is consistently agreeing on the format of electronic messages that will be commonly used in SCM systems. Thanks to this, it will be possible to quickly – electronically – agree on the subjects of exchange between trading entities.
And what’s next? Then the goods must be delivered: exactly the goods that were ordered, in exactly the quantity that was ordered, to exactly the recipient or beneficiary who ordered, which means harmonizing electronically agreed deliveries with their physical execution.
Harmonization of logical and physical flows can be achieved by organizing the supply chain (vector or network) in such a way that data physically transmitted along with the logistics unit can be automatically downloaded into the IT system at every link. Therefore, there is a need to place appropriate logistics information on the products themselves. And this requires the existence of an exchange standard that will be “understood” by various IT systems operating in the supply chain.
Such a standard has existed globally for 25 years and in Poland for 10 years. It is the EAN.UCC system – a single, international, and cross-industry set of standards enabling effective management of global supply chains through the unique identification of products, shipping units, assets, locations, and services. This system streamlines e-economy processes, including the possibility of full tracking of material flows.
The activities of the SCM Group naturally complement the work of the EDI Group. Its intention and task is to lead to the harmonization of information and physical flows. Responding to the needs of ECR Club members and other interested cooperators, we direct our actions at solving specific problems rather than signaling the need for their solution.
The intention of the SCM Group is not only to promote systematized knowledge about the use of identification standards, but to implement agreed solutions allowing the use of global EAN.UCC identification standards in the phase of physical movement of materials that have been or will be implemented in IT systems functioning in enterprises operating on the Polish market, both Polish and foreign systems.
I invite everyone who is interested in creating an integrated logistics chain, in which various IT systems correctly interpreting EAN.UCC standards will cooperate in solidarity, to cooperate. Our shared Clients will benefit the most from the results of our synergistic actions.
Accession to the group can be reported to the ECR Club secretariat:
anna_polczynska@ilim.poznan.pl
justyna_lewandowska@ilim.poznan.pl
At the beginning of September, after the holiday period closes, we will resume the group’s activity by organizing the 1st informational meeting.
Jerzy Majewski – Moderator of the SCM Group
Jerzy Majewski is a graduate of the Poznań University of Technology with a specialization in Technological Process Design, and a certified IT systems programmer. He has significant professional experience gained during many years of work in industry and during the design and implementation of IT aspects therein.
At the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, he deals with the issues of implementing logistical tasks in IT systems. In particular, these are issues of IT system implementations in logistics modules for Polish enterprises and their cooperation with departmental systems supporting specific areas of their activity, mainly in the area of supply chain IT infrastructure.
This is related to the applications of automatic identification systems operating on the basis of global EAN.UCC identification standards and cooperating with various IT solutions in order to best adapt them to the requirements of global supply chains.
He is the manager or main executor of consulting projects, the creator of proprietary methodologies regarding the selection of IT solutions appropriate for the requirements reported by the Client and preparing enterprises for their implementation. In addition, he is the author of numerous articles describing implementation issues, published in various logistics and IT journals.
He is the deputy head of the Logistics Knowledge Center, a lecturer at the Logistics Education Center and the Warsaw School of Logistics, and a guest lecturer in Postgraduate Studies at the Warsaw School of Economics. He manages the logistics portal www.logistyka.net.pl He deals with the design and implementation of logistics systems supported by an appropriately selected IT solution.