Connecting with suppliers
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 12, 2001
Morganton, N.C. — By hooking its powerful SAP ERP system to the Net, Century has already slashed a quarter of a million dollars off its annual phone bill, savings enabled in part also through a renegotiating of its phone fee structure. President Bob Maricich said the full-line producer is all of a sudden "seeing some hard returns on all of our IT initiatives."
The initiatives include SupplierNet, an extranet connecting Century to most of its suppliers via the World Wide Web beginning Nov. 1. SupplierNet will reside on the Web next to Century's extranet for dealers, which helps the manufacturer provide its dealers with 24/7 service.
Recently revamped, the dealer site offers detailed order status, stock availability, shipment summaries, information on monthly specials and product specifications. Online ordering, which is being delayed by the complexities of custom upholstery, might be added as early as first quarter 2002.
The extranet for suppliers, already up and running, is "a big breakthrough," Maricich said. "It will further drive down costs and eliminate error. It's a big step toward readying our supplier base to go completely paperless."
Located on the Web at centurysuppliernet.com, the new extranet so far enables suppliers to download packing labels, post invoices, and process payments, among other applications.
