Partner Case Study
/ Leading Shipping Company Reduces Administrative Overheads by 25 Percent
Overview
Country or Region: Germany
Industry: Shipping Distribution
Customer Profile
Fr. Meyer's Sohn GmbH & Co. (FMS) is a worldwide leader in the transportation of half-finished paper products. From a shipping office in the port of Antwerp, it books freight space through agencies, which arrange for shipping on sea carriers.
Business Situation
Every time goods are shipped a Bill of Lading is made out for the customer. The interactions between the customer, the shipping office and the agencies largely happened through phone, fax or e-mail. FMS wanted to automate this process by integrating its shipping system with that of the agencies.
Solution
Two years earlier, FMS implemented Microsoft® Business Solutions—Navision® with a shipping package, NavImpEx, developed by Young & Partners. An additional communications module was added to NavImpEx by integrating with Microsoft® BizTalk® Server, and business processes and documents were modified.
Benefits
n Telecommunication cost savings
n Twenty-five percent reduction in administration
n Enhanced partner communications
n Customer relations strengthened
n Increased productivity / “By utilising BizTalk integration tools, we have a new approach and infrastructure, which also provides us with a foundation for further developments.”
Jeroen Verhaert ,Information Communications Technology Manager, Fr. Meyer's Sohn GmbH & Co, Antwerp
Fr. Meyer’s Sohn GmBh & Co is one of the world’s leading shippers of half-finished paper products. Supplying customers with a Bill of Lading, which confirms ownership of shipped goods, is central to its business. But the process was manual, time consuming and prone to error. The company automated the process by integrating a communications system based on Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2002 to its existing Microsoft Business Solutions—Navision® enterprise resource planning system. The result is an electronic link to agents who authorise the Bill of Lading, a 25 percent reduction in administration, strengthened customer relationships and a foundation for the future integration of other critical processes.
Situation
Shipping agent, Fr. Meyer's Sohn GmbH & Co (FMS) is a worldwide leader in the transportation of half-finished paper products. Each year it ships approximately eight million tons of paper. The company has an annual turnover of €400 million
(U.S.$514 million) and 370 staff spread throughout 26 offices. Its main office is in Hamburg, the subsidiary in Antwerp employs 25 staff.
Like every shipping agent, the company books sea transport through specialised agencies, which in turn book space on freight ships. Shipped goods are represented by a unique document known as the Bill of Lading (BL). The client is given his goods at the place of destination on presenting a BL.
In the past, interactions between FMS’s shipping offices and agencies were conducted through phone, fax or e-mail. But FMS had initiated a modernisation process and a central component within the drive was automating delivery and printing of the BL.
Jeroen Verhaert, Information Communications Technology Manager, FMS Antwerp, says: “The shipping agent rings the customer for instructions on preparing the BL. The document is sometimes modified again following consultation with the customer. The data is then entered into the FMS enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which produces a document that is e-mailed to the agent.
The agent then returns a proof of the BL to FMS. Only when the customer approves the proof, can FMS phone the agent to request the final documents but it can only be collected once the ship has departed with the cargo. It can then be sent by post to the customer.”
Verhaert says: “The information was exchanged up to three times and in different formats. This resulted in a lot of time wasting and moreover, created a greater chance of mistakes happening, which could have an adverse impact on the business.”
The company wanted to create an electronic communications system that would avoid the need for agents to input the data from the FMS ERP system again into their own ERP system. Ultimately, it also wanted to build an Internet application for customers to enter their own BL instructions from anywhere in the world.
Solution
FMS began talks with a number of agents in the port of Antwerp with the aim of communicating in the new Extensible Markup Language (XML). But several agents had already invested in Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT). FMS then had to look for a joint solution, in which different languages could be used.
To save time and effort it collaborated with two Internet entry portal sites for the shipping industry, Inttra, which still works with the older EDIFACT messages and GT Nexus, which works with XML.
FMS’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution already delivered automated processes for its shipping requirements. The solution, NavImpEx, was developed by software integrator, Young & Partners, using Microsoft® Business Solutions—Navision®.
Young & Partners decided to add an additional communications module to NavImpEx by integrating with Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2002. This would ensure smooth data transport. At the same time FMS streamlined its processes and developed a new series of documents for the ERP system. BizTalk Server translates these documents and sends them to the agents in the format they were using.
BizTalk Server is designed to help companies integrate applications, systems, and technologies from a variety of sources by delivering best-of-breed integration technology.
Benefits
Telecommunication Cost Savings
Agents are now electronically connected with FMS NavImpEx through the communications module. FMS not only made the processes more efficient by linking its systems to agents, but is also making savings on telecommunication costs because of the direct link.
Enhanced Partner Communications
A particular challenge for FMS was automating the supply chain processes and making this path clear for the customers. Verhaert says: "We play a mediating role between customers and suppliers. Because of this, it is critical to pass on information as efficiently as possible to the next player in the process. We have achieved this by connecting systems together.”
Twenty-Five Percent Reductions in Administration
Creating the BL now requires much less time. This means the shipping agent can perform more transactions within the same time period. Further, an interim check is no longer an essential step. The system takes care of checks itself and automatically produces an alert if data fields are not filled in.
Verhaert says: “In the long term our administrative workload will be reduced by a quarter. The consistency of our data has also improved considerably, and now each document exists in just one version and the data only has to be entered once.”
Customer Relations Strengthened
FMS is essentially a service company and good customer service is central to its continued success. Verhaert says: “By utilising BizTalk Server integration tools, we have a new approach and infrastructure, which also provides us with a foundation for further developments.
“Thanks to BizTalk Server we can integrate with scores of other systems. We are considering integration with our warehouse to give customers an online insight into their supplies, integration with paper factories, and online booking options for our customers.”
Microsoft Business Solutions offers a wide range of integrated, end-to-end business applications and services designed to help small, mid-market and corporate businesses become more connected with customers, employees, partners and suppliers.
For more information about Microsoft Business Solutions, go to:
www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions