IT support for the procurement process at Zakłady Samochodowe “Jelcz” SA

An indispensable condition for the survival of companies in highly competitive markets is the ability to react efficiently to changes occurring in their environment – both near and far. Therefore, the thesis that effective management of logistics processes is possible through the use of IT tools seems correct.

Characteristics of Zakłady Samochodowe “Jelcz” SA
Jelczańskie Zakłady Samochodowe were established in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise. The factory is located about 25 km southeast of Wrocław in the town of Jelcz-Laskowice. In January 1995, the company was transformed into a single-shareholder joint-stock company of the State Treasury, entered into the commercial register under the name Jelczańskie Zakłady Samochodowe JELCZ SA and – thus – ceased to function as a state-owned enterprise. The final stage in the ownership transformation process was the change in March 1995 from state ownership to private ownership with the participation of a strategic partner, which became, after acquiring 51% of the company’s shares, the company Zasada Centrum SA (current name: ZASADA SA). In the same year, the introduction of organizational changes began. Further areas of activity not directly related to the implementation of the production process were separated. Subsequent stages of restructuring enabled the Company to adapt to operating in market economy conditions. In July 2001, as a result of restructuring, two companies were separated from Zakłady Samochodowe JELCZ SA:
JELCZ-Samochody Ciężarowe Sp. z o. o. (production of heavy vehicles, including fire and military vehicles) and JELCZ-Komponenty Sp. z o. o. (production of components, both for own needs and for external customers).

The goal of Jelcz SA’s activity is comprehensive service for bus buyers in the scope of: design and engineering, production, delivery, warranty and post-warranty service. On July 1, 2002, companies grouped around the Zasada Group formed the company Polskie Autobusy Sp. z o. o. The shareholders of the company are:
• ZASADA SA – 60%
• Zakłady Samochodowe JELCZ SA – 20%
• AUTOSAN SA – 20%.

The subject of the company’s activity is conducting all marketing, offering, promotional, and sales activities for the products of two Polish bus manufacturers from the ZASADA Group, i.e., Zakłady Samochodowe JELCZ SA and AUTOSAN SA. Currently, Polskie Autobusy Sp. z o. o. is the exclusive commercial representative of Zakłady Samochodowe JELCZ SA and AUTOSAN SA.

PRODIS System
Currently, most IT systems implemented in Polish companies can be classified as recording and control systems. Most often, these systems fulfill the function of partial accounting data processing, less often – comprehensive data processing. The desire of managers is to operate information-decision systems, i.e., those that, in addition to recording, implement broadly understood support for economic decisions.

As K. Lysons states, utility computer programs that can be used in procurement include:

• spreadsheets, which can be used both for designing and developing any issue (from a simple spreadsheet of new product costs to a large and complex financial model of a new venture)
• expert systems – computer programs used to solve problems in a specific field by drawing conclusions from a knowledge base created and developed by specialists in a given field
• decision support systems, whose task is to facilitate decision-making by a person or a group of people by summarizing all available information from a given field.

All employees of the Logistics department are users of the PRODIS system, however, each of them has specific permissions regarding navigating the system in terms of viewing, modifying, printing, deleting, copying, and adding new data. These permissions are a reflection of the scope of duties.

The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka”, No. 3/2005.