Polaris Blue provides Supply-Chain Management (SCM) and eProcurement systems and solutions for our clients, as and where needed.

SCM is the term used for web-based systems that consolidate the demands across multiple customer purchases and the aggregation of their respective line item purchases, sent to the various suppliers who then receive a single ‘aggregated’ purchase order.

An example of this would be where a wholesaler for clothing receives orders from a range of customers for suits and the wholesaler’s SCM system would consolidate all of the orders. The system would then split up the consolidated customer orders into supplier-specific orders e.g. sending a single order for all of the fabric required from the textiles manufacturer, a single order for all of the buttons required from the button manufacturer, etc.

Another application for this type of system is the implementation of a ‘staged process’ of activity, where the activity of one supplier is necessarily dependant on the activity of the previous supplier. An example of this would be where a building contractor’s SCM system needs to send an activation message and instruction to a Quantity Surveyor to provide details of the materials needed for a project. Only once the Quantity Surveyor has performed his task and submitted his report into the system, would the system acknowledge and record that this stage of the project is completed and would then send an automated instruction to the next supplier component of the project.

At the end of the month, the system would consolidate all of the customer orders and supplier activities and may create aggregated invoices for each party that describe each activity or product in a line item format with date, details, amount, etc. It could also calculate and apply varying discounts according to set business rules (e.g. discounts for different buying groups, promotions that have been offered, volume discounts, etc). The system would allow for a dispute resolution mechanism and can then automate payment, both from the customers and to the suppliers, taking into account the different payment periods applicable to each party.

This kind of infrastructure is incredibly useful to companies in managing their sales and production channels, as they are able to track the levels of performance and response of each of their suppliers and they can then easily determine where bottlenecks occur. The system is also automated to the point that entire projects and orders may be activated, expedited, balanced and payments processed, with little or no involvement from the system owner.

For further information on managing your supply-chain, please contact one of our salespeople, who will be more than happy to give you further information. (sales@polarisblue.net)

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