CONVERGE

Collaborative Communication Driven Decision Management in Non Hierarchical Supply Chains of the Electronic Industry

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The European electronic industry faces strong competition with far eastern and US manufacturers. European companies have to respond with improved flexibility to changing requirements and collaborate across the supply chain effectively capitalizing on collaborative decision making, shorter distances, high skill levels and shared cultural understanding. To do so in the electronic industry a number of non-hierarchical networks are forming The new collaboration level requires a higher level of coordination on tactical and strategic management level and therefore a new level of data and information sharing with network partners. Managers have to distinguish in a new manner between shareable and non shareable information. As they weren’t obliged to do this in the past tools and methods are missing. The CONVERGE project closes this gap by providing a framework and tools for exchanging tactical and strategic information for decision making in non-hierarchical supply chain networks. CONVERGE delivers a de-centralized decision support system for production planning and resource optimization based on 1) a new reference model for inter-organizational decision taking, 2) deployment methods to adapt the generic reference model to application fields, networks and companies and 3) existing software supporting customer and supplier relations. Besides scientific and technological experts the CONVERGE consortium involves a) four manufacturing companies addressing directly their network problems and b) a supply chain interest group (non funded) representing the companies’ network partners. This ensures a high industrial impact and dissemination level. In about 5 years the expected cost saving is in the order of 180 Mio. € just assuming a diffusion rate of 10% of the 600 European Electronic Manufacturing Service companies.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

EU sponsorship has supported the development of a secure networking tool to simplify the sharing of information between electronics companies. Better communication along the supply chain of European electronics will keep the industry internationally competitive.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe have to keep up with the pace of global electronics markets. To do this, a strong network of information exchange is needed, starting from product development right through to manufacturing and, ultimately, the customer.

Converge is an EU-sponsored tool that enables such sharing of strategic information between customers and suppliers along the entire supply chain. It is a portal that allows reliable data to be exchanged securely and confidentially.

Although the portal's main use is for decision management and access to policy information, a few other tools have been integrated as well. The 'knowledge explorer' helps users to share their knowledge with each other and an 'execution flow viewer' can graphically monitor live processes.

A prototype of the Converge tool has been evaluated by end users for its functionality, customisability and impact within their businesses. The portal shortened the response time of electronics manufacturers to changing markets and it increased the tactical decision-making capacity of industrial SMEs.

Converge is poised to simplify networking between European companies along the electronics supply chain. This improved communication should enhance the ability of SMEs to plan and adapt to rapidly changing global markets.