Ford finally said goodbye to two of their automotive brands on 26^th March 2008, the Indian conglomerate TATA took control of the two luxury British car brands in a deal estimated to be around $2.3Billion. Jaguar and Land Rover were the cornerstones of Ford’s premier automotive group, however due to tough economic conditions Ford has been forced to sell. Ford have owned Jaguar for nearly 20 years now and in that time they have struggled to turn Jaguar around, mainly due to changes in consumer demand and a general decline in the luxury car market in some regions of the world. Meanwhile Land Rover was actually a profitable business and has been so since Ford bought the company from BMW in 2000.  Ford had developed numerous joint business and engineering processes between Jaguar and Land Rover and for this reason trying to split and sell the brands independently would have been an expensive and lengthy process. In addition, both brands use a similar set of suppliers in the UK where Jaguar and Land Rover cars are manufactured and so rather than try to develop new supply chain strategies for both companies it was felt that both companies should be sold as a going concern to one buyer.  So who exactly are TATA and how have they got into the position of being able to buy two famous British car brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover? 

TATA is a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India and they are the largest private company in India.  TATA has interests in steel, cars, information technology, communications, power, tea and hotels.  TATA bought the former British Steel company called Corus a few years ago and their TATA motors division is the largest domestic car manufacturer in India.  TATA Motors was established in 1945 when the company began making trains.  In 2004 TATA bought Daewoo’s truck manufacturing unit.  In January this year TATA announced the NANO, the world’s cheapest car at $2500 which is intended to be sold in the Indian market.  Given that most of the population of India is using two or three wheeled vehicles, a low cost four wheel vehicle will be quite a revelation and hence why TATA feel that they have to make the NANO cheap enough for this market.  If TATA can bring the car to market for this price then they stand to corner a lucrative part of the Indian automotive market.  In addition, the NANO has been designed for sale in other markets as well.   

In addition to the NANO, TATA have also funded the development of the world’s first vehicle to run on air.  This offers the ultimate zero emission vehicle which in this day and age could again bring TATA significant revenue opportunities, if they can bring the engine to market at a reasonable price.  Both the NANO car and the development of the air engine car were announced over the last couple of months during a time when TATA were preparing a bid to take over Land Rover and Jaguar.  From a marketing perspective the NANO car has propelled TATA onto the world’s automotive stage and many of the OEMs are now revisiting their own car strategies to see if they can also develop their own low cost NANO vehicle.  On the same day that TATA announced their acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover, BMW announced plans to launch a successor to their Isetta micro car.  TATA has not been the only one to demonstrate their engineering prowess recently, Jaguar has been busy launching the new XF saloon to rave reviews from the world’s motoring press. Land Rover recently launched the LRX concept vehicle for a new ‘baby’ Land Rover which will incorporate hybrid engine technology. So TATA have got the attention of the world’s automotive industry but what will they do with Jaguar and Land Rover now?

Given that many companies around the world are lowering costs by outsourcing parts of their business operations to specialist offshore companies based in India, you would think that TATA would be looking to move production of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to India to significantly reduce costs and boost the profit of every car produced.  However this won’t happen any time soon, Jaguar and Land Rover employ 16,000 highly skilled personnel between them, they have state of the art production and engineering facilities in the UK and most importantly they have an extensive supply chain infrastructure which is primarily based in the UK as well.  TATA have committed to retain the ‘Britishness’ of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands and they will also invest significantly in their respective manufacturing infrastructures.   In addition, TATA have committed to retain all workers from both Jaguar and Land Rover and they have signed a deal with Ford to continue sourcing engines and other key components from them over the next few years.   However further down the line there could be an opportunity for Jaguar and Land Rover to set up an engineering facility in India, this could be to leverage the highly qualified engineers in the country and to possibly provide valuable engineering experience to help bring the NANO car and air powered vehicle to showroom reality. 

TATA are no strangers to the UK manufacturing industry as they have an engineering research facility at Warwick University.  Interestingly Jaguar and Land Rover also had a research facility at this University, as do Corus.  So you can see that, possibly, TATA have been sowing the seeds to have a larger presence in the automotive industry for a few years now.  Corus of course are owned by TATA and they provide the raw steel from which some of the Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are manufactured. In addition, having  a presence at this particular university has helped TATA to understand the dynamics of the many automotive suppliers that are based in the West Midlands region of the UK where Jaguar and Land Rover are based.   This is an extremely interesting way for an Indian company to learn about how UK based suppliers operate and interact with major OEMs.  There could of course be opportunities for parts or sub-assemblies for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to be manufactured in India, but the infrastructure for manufacturing components for luxury cars would have to be significantly improved from where it is today. 

Once the dust settles on this acquisition I will take a closer look at the future supply chain strategies for TATA and how they could leverage the experience of Jaguar and Land Rover in developing their automotive supplier infrastructure in India.

So after a brief sabbatical, I thought it was time to start blogging again

In recent weeks we have been running a series of Executive Briefings across Europe to showcase a recent study that we conducted with Stanford University.  Late last year we completed a research study with Stanford which looked at the area of B2B outsourcing and why companies look to outsource their B2B infrastructures.

Last week I presented at two Executive Briefings in Paris and Munich, the feedback we have received from those companies that attended was that they found the briefings very informative and that it had changed their perceptions as to why they should consider outsourcing their B2B infrastructure.  The briefings were very interactive with a good mix of companies from a variety of industries talking openly about the challenges they faced with managing their B2B infrastructures on a daily basis. These briefings, held over dinner in exclusive hotels in the heart of Paris and Munich, provided the ideal informal environment to discuss B2B best practices and it also provided a chance for the guests to learn from each other as to how they manage their respective B2B environments.  I certainly found the events useful to understand, at first hand, why companies consider going down the outsourcing route and the challenges they faced in today’s tough economic climate.  Based on both the feedback from the attendees and the results from the research, I believe B2B outsourcing will pick up more momentum across many different industries over the next 12 months. 

B2B outsourcing is no longer reserved for large global corporations, many mid market companies are also starting to take an interest in B2B outsourcing as well.  In fact, nearly 25% of the respondents to the Stanford research were from mid-market size companies.  The research confirmed that these smaller companies are keen to leverage the B2B outsourcing services that have been used by the larger companies for many years.  The research showed that many of the smaller companies were able to implement new B2B technology very quickly,  provide connectivity and support to global trading partners and more importantly significantly  improve customer satisfaction. 

The research with Stanford was conducted by Dr. Hau Lee who heads up Stanford’s Supply Chain Management Forum.  He is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on developing supply chains.  He is famous for developing his ‘Triple A’ theory that says that nearly all supply chains are made up of three key characteristics.  He says that supply chains need to be AGILE, in other words they need to be designed in such a way that they can be flexible to certain market conditions.  They need to be ADAPTIVE, in order to change according to differing supply chain patterns and they need to be ALIGNED to the incentives applied to all trading partners involved in a supply chain. Recently, Dr. Hau Lee suggested that his theory could be extended by the addition of a further ‘A’ and that is ensuring that supply chains are ARCHITECTED properly to ensure that maximum value is obtained from the supply chain management process. 

For me, as part of my preparation for presenting at these events, it was a great opportunity to take a more in depth look at the results from the Stanford research.  For example, of the companies that took part in the research, just under half had only been using B2B outsourcing for the last year.  This was probably due to tough economic conditions, a need to globalise their supply chains or possibly a need to update their B2B infrastructure to support new connectivity standards or electronic document formats.  Whatever the reason, B2B outsourcing is here to stay and GXS expect many more companies to go down the B2B outsourcing route over the next few years. 

If you would like to find out more about why companies are looking to outsource their B2B infrastructures then please feel free to download a copy of the Stanford report from our website. Alternatively if you are based in Europe and would like to join us at one of our Executive Briefings in the near future then please keep a close eye on the events section of our UK website , as we will be running a number of other briefings over the next few months.

Today’s automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers  are trying to find ways of simplifying B2B infrastructures, make them easier to deploy on a global basis and at the same time ensure that all suppliers are able to use the same B2B solution, no matter what their B2B expertise may be or where in the world they may be located. 

In recent years, hosted supply chain management solutions have been seen as a possible way of simplifying B2B infrastructures, but how will this be achieved?  Software as a Service (SaaS) based environments have been around for a few years now but they have really only been used for specific functions within a company, for example in customer relationship management or human resources applications.  SaaS based environments have many advantages over traditional software implementations, for example  

• there is no upfront capital cost in purchasing software, it is delivered via a monthly or annual subscription model
• there is no software infrastructure to manage, all you need is a web browser to access the hosted SaaS application
• as the software is managed centrally you can be assured that all users of the SaaS application will be using the latest version

In order for automotive OEMs to expand into new geographically dispersed regions around the world and to ensure 100% involvement from their trading partner community, they will have to find new ways to support their supply chain. SaaS has the potential to transform today’s B2B platform used within the automotive industry, providing companies with access to the same information, anytime, any place and anywhere in the world at a lower cost using a simpler, easier to manage infrastructure.   

The new version of SaaS, version 2.0, includes capabilities to integrate seamlessly with other back office systems, and this could see more widespread adoption of SaaS based environments within the automotive supply chain. There are a number of building blocks that make up a SaaS based environment and GXS Trading Grid infrastructure provides the ideal platform to deploy a SaaS based environment.  The highly available and reliable nature of our Trading Grid  infrastructure means that applications can be deployed and used simply by using a web browser.  For a small supplier with no internal IT support or skills to deploy their own B2B infrastructure, SaaS has the potential to provide a new level of interaction with an automotive manufacturer’s supply chain. 

Moving forwards, Integration as a Service, (IaaS), will also grow in importance and you can be assured that through our partnership with Software AG and their webMethods solution we will be able to provide hosted integration solutions as well.

SaaS will form the basis of a presentation I will be giving at the Odette show at the end November in Prague, which will look at ‘Next Generation B2B Trading Platforms’.  For further information about this event please visit www.odette.org.

In recent months we have seen an increased interest from Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers wishing to outsource the management of their B2B infrastructures. Automotive OEMs are asking their key Tier 1 suppliers to take on more solution based work, for example producing entire transmission, drivetrain and suspension systems for delivery to their customers. As a result, a shift of responsibilities is occurring in the automotive supply chain where the original Tier 2 suppliers are now being asked to undertake work previously carried out by the Tier 1 suppliers. In order to manage this shift in the supply chain, many of the lower tier automotive suppliers are having to re-evaluate their B2B e-Commerce strategies so that they can remain competitive and support their customers with their global expansion plans.

Many of these suppliers will have never implemented a B2B platform before, or know how to manage their B2B environment effectively. In addition, these suppliers may be in a different country or located in a region where B2B expertise is limited and IT infrastructure cannot support global trading partner relationships.  These smaller suppliers are expected to embrace new B2B technologies and at the same time change business practices in order to implement these solutions and services. Also, they will not have extensive inhouse expertise to run a complex B2B environment and more importantly they must be allowed to focus on their core competency, manufacturing automotive components for their customers.

GXS hosts its Managed Services environment on GXS Trading Grid®, GXS’ secure, scalable, high-performance B2B integration services platform that spans best in class data centres around the world. If required, GXS can provide a web form based trading environment, community enablement programs and support for a multitude of communication protocols and document formats.

So if you are an automotive Tier 1 or Tier 2 supplier and you want to stop pulling your hair out trying to think about how you will implement a best in class global B2B trading environment, simply visit our Managed Services microsite for further information.

Just in case you think I am about to review a new Star Trek movie!, I am actually going to draw comparisons between old and new generation car models and how some of the characteristics of these cars are similar in many ways to how GXS has evolved over the years.

The automotive industry has many examples of companies that have stood the test of time, not only in terms of how long they have been producing cars but also how long a particular car model has remained in production.  In 1967 the Chevrolet Camaro was introduced to compete with Ford’s Mustang, an era that saw many ‘muscle’ cars take to the streets in the US.  In 2007, Chevrolet introduced their vision for what the next generation Camaro would look like, taking strong design cues from its 1967 predecessor.

In 1967, Porsche was one of the leading producers of high performance sports cars. Today’s 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo stays true to the original and contains many styling cues from its early predecessor.  Porsche are one of the industry’s most profitable car companies and they have partly achieved this by sticking to a ‘tried and tested’ design.

The final example I want to refer to is the Mini. This car, when it was introduced in the late 1950s by the British Motor Corporation, completely changed how small cars were designed and packaged. It was also very affordable meaning that more people could take to the road for the first time. Today’s Mini, albeit produced by BMW, stays very close to the original design concept and because of this has seen strong sales growth in all major car markets around the world.

The interesting thing about all these cars is that the external shape of each has changed very little over the past four decades. Each generation or evolution of the afore-mentioned cars has seen significant improvements in terms of performance, economy, quality, reliability and even service levels at garages has improved considerably over the years. Like a fine wine, these cars have become much better with age but still manage to remain true to the original concept.   

GXS has been around for forty years as well, hence why I highlighted these particular car models, and it is interesting to draw comparisons between how these cars have evolved over time and how GXS has evolved over the same time period.  Each of the afore-mentioned cars was brought to market for a particular reason, similar to GXS who in a former life was responsible for setting up one of the world’s first private email networks.  GXS has successfully transformed itself from being a mere provider of Value Added Network services to becoming a leading provider of On-Demand B2B solutions and services. GXS provides global coverage and with the introduction of our Trading Grid Ultra infrastructure, customers and their respective trading partners now have access to a high performance and highly available B2B trading platform. 

Today’s cars also contain relatively complex engine management systems and they are not as easy to maintain as their 1960s predecessors.  For this reason you will probably use an authorised garage to undertake any repair or service work.  Similarly, GXS know that there are many companies out there today that do not wish to look after their own B2B and EDI platforms and so they think about outsourcing.  GXS Managed Services, as discussed recently by my colleague Mark Mixter in his blog, offers the complete solution for companies wishing to outsource their B2B infrastructure. 

There are many other companies and products out there that have ‘reinvented’ themselves over the years and GXS are a great example of this. Our Trading Grid infrastructure will continue to evolve and our next release will contain some exciting new capabilities, more about these in the near future.  So what will the next generation B2B trading platform look like?, well this is an area that I will be discussing at the Odette conference in Prague in a few months time, I will post some thoughts on this in the very near future, but in the mean time do you have any thoughts about what you would like to see in the next generation B2B platform?

This was the first time I had visited AutoTech so I didn’t really know what to expect, but as it turned out, the format and presentation subjects were very similar to the Odette conference that I attended in Munich last year.  AIAG claimed that there were around 1000 registered for the event but in a large venue such as the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Detroit, it felt as though there were less attendees than this. 

The event was split into two main areas, an exhibition hall where the software and services vendors could showcase their solutions and a number of presentation rooms where attendees could listen to the latest trends in Automotive related IT and supply chain management initiatives.  GXS did not have a booth at the event, we decided, from a networking point of view, that we would sponsor the first night cocktail party and also the internet booth.  The internet booth was actually quite a large space, more like an executive lounge with about 20 PCs, wireless connectivity, leather sofas and coffee served throughout the day. We were able to hold a number of informal discussions with both existing and new customers. 

Another interesting exhibit was from Microsoft who showed their Ford Sync car concept.  This was a great example of how Microsoft wish to see their products integrated or embedded with car entertainment systems.  In short, the Microsoft system within this car was a fully integrated, voice activated in-car communication and entertainment system for your mobile phone and digital music player.  As a demonstration of the theme of AutoTech, co-opetition, the Sync system offers support for both the Apple iPod and Microsoft’s own Zune music player.  A good example of a company listening to what the customer wants rather than forcing only one option, ie the Zune integration upon the Sync’s potential customers.  Further information about the Sync concept can be found HERE

During Autotech, six OEMs, GM, Ford, Chrysler,Toyota, Honda and Volvo gave a presentation on the work they are currently doing to improve their supply chain management processes.  This blog will describe what GM, Ford and Chrysler had to say, the others will be covered in another blog entry.    GM talked about the car industry as a whole. They highlighted a number of misconceptions about the automotive industry, none of which were true, namely that it was a stagnant / non growth sector, it was unprofitable, receding in importance to customers and the 20^th century technology used in the cars was old fashioned. In fact, did you know that the global market for the automotive industry was $1.2 Trillion and growing, the U.S market alone was estimated to be about $500Billion, the market was increasingly consumer driven and technology such as GM’s Volt and Microsoft’s Sync concept were leading technological change.  They also highlighted that China was one of the leading manufacturers, with 50% of all worldwide cameras manufactured there, as were, 25% of toys, 60% of bicycles and now 9% of cars.  GM also highlighted that they were now a true global manufacturer with a manufacturing presence in nearly every region of the world.  They presented some incredible statistics from their daily, global logistics operation.  Every day they use 8600 trucks, 750 rail cars and 1400 shipping containers for the delivery 160,000 car components to their 81 assembly plants, 97 manufacturing plants around the world.  In addition they also distribute 21000 vehicles, 14000 via rail and 4000 via sea, every day as well.  These figures are astounding and when you think the other U.S based OEMs have similar operations, you can understand why supply chain and logistics management is such an important area for them. 

Chrysler gave a very upbeat presentation after their recent acquisition by Cerberus.  They presented a very positive outlook which was going to be driven by what they call their Recovery and Transformation Plan (RTP).  The recovery part of their plan would sharply focus on cost, revenue management, material and fixed costs, capacity and efficiency and finally employee retention.  The transformation part of the plan will improve focus on customers and brands, increase global presence and increase the number of partnerships. They mapped out a 3 year plan for how they would return to profitability, which included bringing 20 new vehicles to market and spending nearly $3Billion on new powertrain systems. They were also keen to explore global growth strategies including forming a new joint venture partnership with the Chery car company in China.  Chrysler also talked about their supplier management program and how they use a process called Value Stream Mapping to improve efficiencies and reduce waste in their manufacturing process. 

Ford decided to talk about their Global Product Development System, GPDS, this system was developed from two AIAG standards, namely PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) and APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning).  The resulting GPDS includes 31 elements covering everything from quality processes, change management processes and revision control.   The intention is that Ford will adopt their GPDS across all their brands and across all car platforms by 2009.  The intention is to have a global car development process and all suppliers that wish to work with any Ford related brand must be able to use and comply with this process.  In addition the GPDS also includes a single, common reporting tool for suppliers, and a standardized management reporting tool for Ford execs.  The GPDS will help Ford to improve the quality of design and engineering related information that is sent to them by their suppliers. 

Overall the presentations were very positive and on the last day of the event all of the purchasing directors, from each OEM present, attended a joint panel to discuss future purchasing strategies.  They all agreed that moving forwards, one of the only ways to help reduce costs still further was for the OEMs to try and work together and try and share sourcing programs between them.  This would ultimately mean that the OEMs could eventually end up sharing parts sourcing strategies between them.  The aim of this would be to help share production and logistics costs.  Many OEMs are already working together on joint engine development programs already but significant cost reductions can be realized still further by sharing component sourcing costs.  This strategy comes back to the theme of the event, Co-opetition, working together and creating supply chain value.  So here is a question for you, if the OEMs are willing to work together on joint strategies such as this, how long will it be before we see software and service vendors working together more openly on joint projects?

The second part of my AutoTech 2007 review takes a look at some of the presentations that were made during the event.  In addition to the presentations made by the various OEMs, there were also presentations from numerous AIAG project teams, reporting back on the progress made on their projects.  In addition there were also presentations made by the various software and services vendors that were in attendance at the event.  These vendors also had a chance to demonstrate their solutions on the final day of the event, but I decided to skip those demonstrations as trying to get into some of them, bearing in mind some were competing companies to GXS, was like trying to get into Fort Knox!.  So this blog entry will focus on some of the key AIAG project reviews that took place and as there were multiple presentation tracks I can obviously only provide a review of the ones I attended.  This will hopefully give you a flavour for the type and breadth of projects that AIAG gets involved with.  I will provide a summary of others once the presentations are posted up to the AIAG website. So where do we start, OK, how about…

Interoperable Electronic Business Messages in the Enterprise - the first presentation I attended.  This session looked at the progress being made in the area of web services, which has been around now for about 7 years.  There are about 180 companies that are working together as part of the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) organization.  This is an open industry effort, from both companies and vendors, with a common aim of achieving interoperability and where possible work with bodies such as OASIS, W3C etc to ensure that the web services being developed are compliant with global standards.  The WS-I value proposition is to reduce complexity and risk, improve productivity and accelerate time to market, and simplify web services buying decisions. The OEMs are interested in web services as they can realize significant cost savings, improve supply chain communications with more, if not all, companies in their supply chain, and many of them require secure asynchronous processing of information.

Supply Chain RFID International Standards Effort -  The aim of this presentation was to try and provide an update on the standardization efforts being made in the area of RFID technology.  The first slide of the presentation highlighted that there were five areas of RFID technology that needed to be standardized, namely: Technology, Data Content, Conformance, Network and Application Standards. The ISO TC122 project looks at a standard for packaging which includes bar code labeling, linear bar codes and a range of 2D symbols to represent the contents of packaging.  ISO TC 104/SC looks at a standard for sealing shipping containers, three tags have been developed, a supply chain tag, an electronic seal tag and a container ID tag.  The container ID tag provides automatic identification via RF technology, allowing easier location of a container at a port or distribution center. Finally the ISO TC 122/104 Joint working Group project is looking at supply chain applications for RFID.  This covers RFID tracking of shipping containers, transport units, pallets, packaging and products.  The final area presented was on EPCGlobal which is looking at Active tagging, sensors and long life battery developments, item level tagging and UHF / HF air interfacing.

Their main conclusions were that RFID, at the moment at least, is an evolutionary technology rather than a revolutionary one.  Bar code labeling has its place and will work alongside RFID technology as a backup and EPC global will require a complete change in the infrastructure of a company for it to work effectively. It was also interesting to hear that Walmart and the U.S Defense Department were the leading users of RFID technology with the Defense Department having the largest RFID network in the world.  RFID is a very effective technology for container and pallot tracking, but item level tracking still appears the most difficult to achieve.  Tracking a spare part, such as a gearbox, for a tank may be worth the effort of RFID tagging as it is a relatively expensive component, but tracking a can of tuna through Walmart’s supply chain network may prove a bit more difficult to achieve!

Materials Offshore Sourcing: AIAGs Long Distance Supply Chain Project – The MOSS project was interesting as it ties in very well with GXS Logistics Visibility solution.  This project was essentially looking at improving the visibility of shipments around the world, initially focusing on two ‘trade lanes’ Europe to the U.S and China to the U.S.  The project is developing a recommended best practice to enhance the use of electronic communications across all trading partners using standardized, reliable data based upon international standards.  One statistic quoted during the presentation was that nearly 15% of all inbound ocean freight is delayed in route due to data deficiencies.  Many of these deficiencies are as a result of extensive use of paper, documents, e-mails, faxes and phone calls involved in these complex movements.  This project involves ocean shipping companies, logistics providers, U.S customs and a number of automotive OEMs looking to improve their global shipment of cars and spare parts.  This project is currently in the ‘demonstrator build’ phase.

Global Recommendations for B2B Messaging in China – This project was conceived two years ago and the final report findings were given at this presentation.  China still represents the fastest growing car market in the world and with many domestic and joint venture car companies being established there, the need for a common B2B messaging format has become very important for this region.  This project has been a true global project involving a number of industry organizations including AIAG, JAMA, JAPIA, ODETTE and STAR.  The project undertook a couple of extensive surveys to find out the current ‘state’ of B2B / EDI adoption across China and the conclusion was that EDIFACT was by far the most popular EDI format in use today.  However due to implementation and cost issues it was felt that an XML based messaging format would eventually become a standard for use in China.   The report however recommended, due to the infancy of the XML standard, that UN EDIFACT and / or OAGIS XML BODs based on the Joint Automotive Data Model are the recommended standards.  Ultimately the JAIF will eventually recommend the UN / CEFACT XML standard, however this is still in development but will, in a few years time, provide the B2B standard for conducting business in China.   The presentation also highlighted from their surveys that GXS were one of two B2B service providers who had a well recognized presence within the Chinese automotive industry.

Developing the Joint Automotive Data Model – This joint AIAG, ODETTE, JAMA and STAR related project is an attempt to try and standardize on a model to allow for true global data exchange.  This model will not only be able to carry standard supply chain messages but also engineering type data traditionally associated with the ENGDAT format. ENGDAT is widely used as a format for transferring engineering computer aided design (CAD) models. Given that the car industry has become so globalized, there is a strengthening need to be able to exchange supply chain and engineering related data seamlessly around the world.  This project is an attempt to try and combine and enhance many existing formats into one common messaging format that can be used in any region of the world.

Global Automotive Update from Europe (Odette) and Japan (JAMA) –  The final session that I attended was an update on the work being carried out by Odette and JAMA.  During this session the most interesting development was about the new OFTP v2 standard that Odette are working on. The current OFTP standard has been in use within the European automotive industry for many years now, OFTP v2 is an attempt to bring the OFTP standard up to date and embrace the internet as a viable communications platform.  OFTP v2 looks promising and will offer a number of key features to allow companies to exchange information via the internet.  These include secure authentication via digital certificates, data confidentiality (whereby the file is encrypted before being sent to a trading partner), use of digital signatures, file compression, SSL session security, signed receipts and finally, support for international file descriptions.  These enhancements will mean that a company does not have to have a permanent internet connection, it will support large file transfers, reduce transmission times, it is ideal for emerging markets and it will become the chosen method for EDI and CAD data transfer over the internet.  Only time will tell if this last statement will be true as many car companies still prefer to use secure private networks for engineering related message / data transfer, there could for example be great hesitation in sending car related design information across the internet.

In addition to OFTP enhancements, ODETTE are also working on expanding the reach of the Global MMOG / Logistics Evaluation project.  KPI4GMML will look to improve materials management, particularly focusing on six key performance indicators for improving how parts / materials are shipped between a supplier and customer with a particular emphasis on improving the performance of logistics and 3PL providers.  KPI4GMML essentially measures the effectiveness of the logistics processes between parties. This project is in its early phase at the moment but is being built on the tools developed already as part of the MMOG/LE project.

There were many other sessions over the two days, and some of the more notable developments were in the area of Plant to Business (P2B) communications, a number of projects looking at how companies can improve communications between their HQ offices and their various manufacturing plants around the world.  I will post a separate blog entry about this development at a later date.

Overall, the presentations at AutoTech were very good and informative, they managed to cram a lot of presentations into the two days and I still have a lot of reading to do of sessions I didn’t get to attend. Further information about AutoTech can be found at the official site at autotech.aiag.org and www.autotech.org

So no sooner do I get back from a two week holiday, I fly out to Detroit to attend the AIAG Autotech 2007 Show.  AutoTech is one of two major B2B related Supply Chain Management shows this year, the other major one is Odette which is taking place in Prague in late November.

This year’s event is being held at the new Rock Financial Showplace just outside Detroit. AutoTech is one of the leading B2B related shows for the U.S automotive industry and as GXS has many North American based automotive customers we decided to provide sponsorship to the event.  AutoTech is run by the Automotive Industry Action Group, a body set up to help automotive companies improve how they do business with each other.  In fact the theme of this year’s show is Coopetition, now this is a term that I had never heard of before and therefore I had to do some Googling (other search engines are available!) to find out exactly what it meant! 

In essence it means cooperative competition, a way for competing companies to work together to achieve a common goal.  The best example of coopetition between automotive companies is when they work jointly on a new car or engine programme that will be sold by both companies. From AIAG’s perspective they are encouraging coopetition between North American automotive companies to try and solve complex business problems, improve supply chain efficiencies and help develop global supply chain strategies.

The event itself has two parts, firstly an exhibition area where various B2B software and services vendors can showcase their solutions and secondly a twin track set of presentations delivered by OEMs, suppliers and B2B solution providers.  The aim of these presentations is to provide education in the latest B2B industry trends, provide updates from the various industry standards bodies and allow the OEMs to discuss their latest supply chain strategies.  More importantly it provides a great opportunity for networking and discussing business issues with both automotive companies and B2B solution providers.

I will be attending both days of the event and I will provide further updates and key highlights from each day of AutoTech via this blog.  I will also highlight GXS involvement with the event and hopefully get round to posting up some pictures over the next couple of days.  So hopefully you will find it useful and if you are interested in finding out more information about this event then you can visit the AutoTech 2007 official website

Over the last decade we have seen immense progress in the development of handheld computers.  One of the first ones I owned, way back in 1996, was the Psion5.  In its day it was being used by many companies for running basic office applications and allowing employees to keep in touch with the office via email whenever they were on the road.  The thing that made it appealing for me was the combination of full QWERTY keyboard  and touch screen interface.  The Psion range of handheld computers was actually a major achievement in packaging and in terms of usability it was up there with anything that Apple had to offer at the time.

Over the years we have seen a number of different handheld computers hit the market including the Palm, BlackBerry and various Windows Mobile based computers.  Each model has seen progress being made in CPU performance, screen resolution and increased hard drive capacity.  In fact many of today’s handhelds are nearly capable  of running full blown office applications.  One of the more significant developments to come out of Psion was the Symbian operating system, this was a joint venture with Nokia and Ericsson in 1998 with the aim of developing customised applications to run on mobile phones.  The only problem was that Symbian was way ahead of its time and unfortunately the mobile platforms back then were not able to fully utilise the powerful features of Symbian.  Symbian was very much regarded as one of the key enablers to allowing companies to develop their own mobile applications and allow integration with back office systems.

Today, both BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices dominate the market and these handhelds are starting to allow the ‘mobilisation’ of enterprise systems. These devices have excellent ergonomics and perform very well, but there is a new competitor about to enter the market, a company that has a strong reputation for developing excellent user interfaces and stylish portable devices, Apple.  Apple developed the first graphical user interface running on their Apple Lisa computer, but more recently their iPod music player has become an industry leader.  Now, Apple are looking to repeat this success with their iPhone.

The iPhone has only just hit the streets in the U.S, but already we have seen a press release from Netsuite saying that they are going to port their enterprise applications to the iPhone.  This is significant as it means that users of the iPhone will be able to get access to enterprise solutions such as CRM and ERP packages.  Key to this is the delivery of applications via the iPhone’s Safari web browser and the ability to use these applications through a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model.  I will discuss SaaS in another post but it essentially allows you to use software via the internet or private network without having to have the application actually loaded on the computer.  Delivering applications in this way now means that handheld computers or ‘multi-use’ devices such as the iPhone can be used to integrate to back office solutions.

The press release from Netsuite, discussed over on silicon.com, is significant as you can guarantee that there will be many more companies out there looking to develop SaaS based custom applications for the iPhone.  So the question is, how long will it be before companies are able to get access to their B2B infrastructure via the iPhone?

B2B and EDI infrastructures are extremely complex and many of the more important applications were never really designed with portable computing in mind, after all a few years ago, who would want to complete an invoice or purchase order whilst out of the office?  A more likely application would be for a logistics or supply chain manager to quickly check on the performance of his trading partners or to check on the number of orders that have been successfully processed in say the last month.  What if you could check on the location of any shipment worldwide by simply using a customised version of Google Earth that could run on the iPhone?, that would have to be the holy grail of logistics visibility solutions.

GXS have a number of B2B applications that could be developed at some point in the future to run within a ‘mobile trading’ environment and we already have a world leading application integration solution to allow back office integration to leading enterprise solutions such as SAP.  So what would an iPhone based B2B trading platform look like?, well here is a mock-up that I produced, not much detail!, but then again it would have to be simple and easy to use to stay in the same mould as other Apple based applications. 

In summary, the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile platforms have transformed the way in which office applications are used on the move. The hardware is now able to run the applications efficiently, the operating systems and applications allow integration to back office solutions, therefore I wonder how long it will be before a B2B trading platform can be fully mobilised?

Every year GXS attends the Odette conference, event website, the leading B2B conference specifically aimed at the automotive Industry.  This year the event is being held in late November in Prague, Eastern Europe, quite a timely event given that this region is one of the fastest growing automotive manufacturing regions in the world.  GXS will have a stand at this event and yours truly will be delivering a presentation during the conference. 

My presentation this year will look at the future of B2B trading environments, and trying to predict what B2B related technologies and services will be used by supply chains in the future.  I will be taking a look at how Software as a Service (SaaS) will impact the deployment of B2B and Supply Chain Management solutions in the future.  As you may or may not know SaaS provides a hosted method of delivering software applications across the internet and this is seen by many as the next big thing to shake up the software industry.  The combination of web based delivery of software applications, subscription based payment methods, ease of deployment and minimal ongoing application management requirements make SaaS a very compelling environment to adopt.  Its success will rely on mainstream adoption by the big companies around the world and of course how quickly the B2B solution providers can provide this type of application delivery model.  SaaS shows strong promise, especially for use in the emerging markets where IT implementation skills are limited and I will be taking a closer look at the implications of running a SaaS based B2B environment in my next blog entry. 

In addition to SaaS, I will also be taking a look at how outsourced or Managed Services environments are likely to affect how B2B infrastructures are managed in the future.  Recently, GXS has won two significant automotive Managed Services deals, one with Mitsubishi Motors in Japan, press release, and the other relating to a global Tier1 supplier.  Cost savings and company restructuring is becoming key to improving competitiveness and GXS Managed Services offering is a proven method of significantly reducing B2B related infrastructure costs.  But just how far can a company continue to outsource elements of their business without compromising the way in which the company operates.  This part of the presentation will address this issue as well as see how Managed Services will evolve over the next few years. 

The final part of the presentation will take a look at the increasing importance of electronic invoicing, or e-Invoicing.  Invoicing and exchanging purchase orders etc has been a key activity of many EDI systems for many years now.  But how do member states of the European Union share invoices across different countries, having different tax laws,  and invoice processing requirements?  How will a B2B platform of the future be able to process all these different invoices electronically having varied regulatory requirements?  This section of the presentation will try and answer these questions and see how they will impact B2B trading environments of the future.  We have discussed the ‘green issue’ a couple of times in my blog and you would think that implementing an e-Invoicing solution would significantly help to reduce paper consumption, saving trees etc.  Well it does, but only if you can get your entire trading community using an e-invoicing solution. 

Yes, there are many other new and exciting B2B trends and technologies out there, but I will only have a 40 minute presentation slot, so this will have to do for now.  In a previous blog I discussed about how the virtual world called Second Life is likely to change how we do business between companies and last week it was announced that a company is looking to develop B2B applications for the new Apple iPhone.  The iPhone, like the Blackberry before it, could significantly change how companies integrate with their B2B platform whilst on the move.  I think this will make another interesting blog entry, so until next time!