The automotive industry, a pioneer in just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, is known for using E-Business technologies to streamline supply-chain processes. This industry has been so successful in reducing excess inventory that auto manufacturers today typically have fewer than five hours of materials on hand for their production lines. They've been able to achieve this reduction through fast, accurate electronic communication with suppliers, which ensures that inventory continues to flow smoothly through the supply chain.

"Because of the importance of JIT and efficient supply-chain management in the automotive industry, our customers require electronic communication capability as a condition of doing business," observes Tracy Connor, network administrator at ACK Controls, Inc. "We must be able to send and receive various electronic business documents, while maintaining a high level of fast, accurate and reliable customer service."

To meet these customer demands, ACK has implemented solutions from Sterling Commerce and its alliance partner, Edibar Systems, Inc. With 250 installations in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Edibar Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of integrated bar-code inventory tracking software for the auto industry, as well as solutions designed to integrate E-Business technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI) with bar-code printing.

Through their alliance partnership, Sterling Commerce and Edibar Systems, Inc., jointly provide ACK Controls with offerings tailored to meet the needs of automotive OEM's for integrated software, bar-coding capabilities and value-added E-Business services in a JIT environment.

Solutions from Sterling Commerce provided as part of the alliance include GENTRAN:Director, PC-based software for E-Business message management, and COMMERCE:Network, Sterling's E-community management and E-Business processing service. Offerings from Edibar Systems, Inc., include the Automotive Release Management System (ARMS), which performs numerous functions such as managing daily shipping schedule applications and producing data for an electronic advanced ship notice. Edibar Systems, Inc., is also delivering automotive OEM template kits designed to be used with GENTRAN. These kits provide suppliers such as ACK Controls with the print and screen templates required by their E-Business partners in the automotive industry, and they include sample automotive partner profiles and communication scripts.

"We recognize Sterling Commerce as a leader in its industry, and so do automotive OEMs," explains Wayne Metcalfe, president of Edibar Systems, Inc. "Because of Sterling's reputation and name recognition, this alliance assures our OEM customers that we are providing reliable, leading-edge solutions, and that we are positioned to pursue the direction the industry takes in the future. For example, Sterling Commerce is making a dynamic presence with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) to promote the Automotive Network eXchange® (ANX®)."

Thanks to the solutions provided by Sterling Commerce and Edibar Systems, Inc., ACK Controls is able to meet its customers' requirements and support their JIT operations. Connor reports that his company manages a total of seven E-Business transaction types with various customers, for hundreds of documents a month. These transactions include the planning schedule, shipping schedule, invoice and advance ship notice.

The advance ship notice is a key document for ACK Controls because it is vital to the support of customers' JIT programs. Edibar Systems, Inc.,' ARMS package takes data from purchase orders, forecasts and shipping schedules, and feeds this information to Sterling's GENTRAN's E-Business message management solution. In conjunction with the Edibar Systems, Inc., template kits, GENTRAN creates an electronic advance ship notice that may be sent to COMMERCE:Network, to another service, or directly to the customer. The data in the advance ship notice alerts the customer about what is coming and when, and can be used in place of an invoice as part of an automated receipts settlement process.

The fact that advance ship notices are created automatically through ARMS, GENTRAN and the template kits is a great time savings for ACK Controls. "If we had to key in this information manually, it would be a full-time job," reports Connor. "That means that we are saving one full-time staff member with the automation of advance ship notices alone."

Automated processing for outbound invoices is another area of time savings for ACK Controls. "It used to take us more than an hour a day to create the invoices for just two customers," says Connor. "Now, thanks to business process integration based on the Sterling and Edibar Systems, Inc., products, we've dropped that time from 60 minutes a day to five minutes maximum."

The company has also substantially reduced the number of errors it used to experience from re-keying. "For example, we've integrated the invoicing process," Connor says, "As a result, our errors have dropped by 95 percent. That translates to a savings of time and money for us, and better service for our customers."

Connor feels that he has become more valuable to his company as a result of implementing the Sterling Commerce / Edibar Systems, Inc., system. "The time I personally save allows me to use my hours more productively," he observes, "so I can improve my job performance, and enhance my value to the company."

He has great praise for both Sterling Commerce and Edibar Systems Inc. "Sterling and Edibar Systems, Inc., do a very good job of meeting our needs," he notes. "The ARMS system is great, and Edibar Systems, Inc., did an excellent job of developing the template kits. They came through for us very quickly once they knew what we needed, and the implementation went quite smoothly."

He continues, "Sterling's GENTRAN solution has been easy to learn and easy to use. I like it. And it performs well with COMMERCE:Network, where we get a connection the first time, all the time, and where the transmission speeds top the competition."

He sums up his experience with the two companies this way: "Together, Sterling Commerce and Edibar Systems, Inc., help us get the job done."