SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Executive Summary - Case: WoodSynergy Inc.: Integrating IT into the Supply Chain
Submitted by
Sidheshwari Chouhan (067), Pratyush Prateek (139), Pulkit Bhatnagar (140), Tony Thomas (170)
Group#6 | PRM 36
The case offers a remarkable account of the so-far effective application of an information technology setting
in WoodSynergy Inc. and how the CIO implements a two phase strategy to enhance suppliers and
distributors-customers integration using IT.
Out of the three available strategies, the CIO decided on the "Remediation" strategy, which involves
working closely with existing middlemen in the supply chain for more transparent data and information
sharing. His team and he work on a two phased approach of integrating the supply chain entities through IT.
The idea behind executing the project in two different phases is to reduce the financial burden on the
organization. Further, time constraints also force the team to divide the project into phases.
He assembled a project team which observed the standard best practices of SCOR - Supply Chain
Operations Research to find a way to identify performance measures and prioritize improvement
opportunities. They built a gateway prototype aimed at data synchronization and real-time interface. This
constituted Phase - I of the IT integration and took nearly 5 months of effort to put the gateway in action.
The cost of implementing this gateway was approximately $400,000 and the benefits were quite reasonable.
The Regional Distribution Managers (RDMs) gave highly positive feedback indicating that their efficiency
had increased manifold and there was a significant reduction in the order preparation time. Further, there
was enhanced access to company information and simplified navigation to all sorts of information and
applications. There was a net cost saving of $1.5 million as well.
Further, the CIO now plans to take up Phase-II of the project through which the integrity and timeliness of
the overall reporting system can be improved. The Phase-II of the project also aims to achieve the
integration of suppliers and distributors into WoodSynergy's supply chain. It is expected that this phase of
the project would take about seven months with an estimated labour cost of $150,000 per month and an
additional system cost of nearly $500,000. This takes the total cost of the phase to $1.55 million
With the second phase implemented, the CIO hopes to enhance the supplier-distributor integration which
would ultimately increase revenue and achieve profit growth by having access to new process innovations
and accelerating time-to-market cycles. Further, on the supplier side, a seamless integration would assist in
exchange of BOMs and component performance data.
A point to be noted is that similar strategies may not work in different parts of the world. The case is based
in US where involvement of political parties is limited and the blue-collar jobs are mostly held by Mexicans
and other immigrants from South America. However, in a country like India, achieving this would pose
barriers which would imply that choosing the third strategy would be the wiser choice.