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YCL spins success with e-jing SCM solution on IBM WebSphere and DB2

Also found in IBM Case studies series.

HONG KONG, June 2005 -- YCL Manufacturing Ltd spun its success on quality and customer service. As a leading garment manufacturer in Hong Kong, YCL was hard pressed to handle shortening lead times and rising demands of overseas customers, while maintaining quality of its products. After an exhaustive search, the company eased their worries when they bought into a Java-based e-jing supply chain management (SCM) solution from e-jing Technologies Ltd by using IBM's robust WebSphere Application Server and DB2 Universal Database server.

To meet customer demand, YCL has factories and offices in China, Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. Manned by over 3,000 employees, the company is well-known by international buyers for its customer service and its quality of products—two key issues that constantly plagued the garment manufacturing industry. This allowed the company to gain prestige and attract buyers representing the world's leading fashion labels and brands. The company is now looking to delicately balance future expansion of its horizons without sacrificing its strengths.

Yarn of Challenges

To set itself apart from its competitors in the garment manufacturing industry, YCL established standards and improved customer service. "These strengths made YCL a leader in its own field," said Alan Yeung, YCL's general manager.

However, to continue its success and maintain its helm, YCL realized that it needed to adapt to the changing demands of the garment industry. Overseas demand has grown exponentially and, with competition rising and more choices on the plate, buyers were making last minute changes and confirmations that required manufacturers like YCL to predict their preferences in advance.

Profit margins have also thinned from double-digit to single-digit numbers. Last-minute delays, which meant pricey penalties and expensive air-freight delivery, could no longer be written off as opportunity costs.

YCL could not dismiss the influence of the Internet on the garment manufacturing industry, either. Manual tracking of orders were becoming obsolete and counter-productive as international buyers were opting for Internet-based options. It also meant that transactions were now done in Internet time, and not in human time, and needed up-to-date information on materials.

To YCL, this meant an overhaul of their entire system. In the past, the company had built a heterogeneous infrastructure and in-house applications to automate most of these tasks individually. "Now we needed an over-arching SCM solution that tied in together the entire infrastructure and allowed for future expansion," said Mr Yeung.

After a meticulous search, the company finally decided on e-jing SCM solution based on IBM's WebSphere Application Server and DB2 Universal Database server and implemented by IBM's Business Partner e-jing Technologies Ltd. (www.e-jing.net) and ELM Computer Technologies, IBM's first Value Added Distributor starting from 2002, provided product and technical support to e-jing. e-jing is a spin-off company from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, providing SCM system implementation and consultancy services.

Threading Java for interoperability

The innovative IBM WebSphere Application Server lies at the core of the e-jing SCM solution. Based on Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), the award-winning solution gave YCL the flexibility and the required interoperability to integrate the e-jing SCM solution with its own heterogeneous environment while providing a robust platform for mission-critical applications.

The WebSphere Application Server also doubles as the main engine to drive performance and scalability. It furnished YCL with an On Demand e-business environment that easily scales for high volume secure transactions and dynamic Web services.

Collating all the information in a robust and scalable repository is IBM's DB2 Universal Database server. Beyond traditional database abilities, it provided YCL with new levels of integrated information by leveraging federated Web Services and XML to help solve critical business problems.

Being self-configuring, self-optimizing and self-managing, it raised productivity and efficiency of the e-jing SCM solution, and allowed YCL to concentrate on their business and less on IT. The integrated business intelligence also allowed YCL to easily organize stored information to perform faster and more insightful queries that positively affect their bottom lines.

In addition, the e-jing SCM solution included e-jing's Sense-and-Respond? feature, which increased responsiveness to orders. "It is well-observed that the garment industry needs to systematically and dynamically respond to the changes in the environment, especially from the signals received from the customers," said Mr Mark Lee from e-jing. The Sense-and-Respond?feature allows YCL to handle changes in materials, styling, colours, production quantities and even delivery schedules, he added.

Overall, the e-jing SCM solution tied together the sales order, production, material and shipping systems and information together. "All execution along the supply chain is considered," said Mr. Lee. In the near future, e-jing is also looking to deploy MQ Series and IBM's premier management platform, Tivoli, for added management and analytical capabilities.

Clothed for success

Already YCL is reaping the gains of the e-jing SCM solution.

The e-jing SCM solution essentially centralized, automated and coordinated the supply chain processes for YCL, especially on the Internet. It improved inventory visibility around the world, reduced errors in production and delivery scheduling, and encouraged greater collaboration between the buyers on its external supply chain, and YCL's own staff within its internal intranet.

With vital information streaming across the digital superhighways of the Internet, YCL's offices around the world could now share vital information. They could also have better situational analysis.

"This helps YCL face the hurdles of fulfilling orders globally with a short selling season, a long lead-time, a high quality expectation and a lower cost," said Mr Lee.

With vital information on their fingertips, YCL's management can now make decision on potential issues proactively before they become a costly headache for the company. It also improved productivity by allowing YCL's own staff to better negotiate with potential buyers by analyzing their needs and their options. This, in turn, reduced the time needed to close a potential deal and allowed the company to procure the right materials as samples.

Lastly, the e-jing SCM solution provided YCL the edge over its competitors by allowing for optimization. The e-jing SCM solution deployed intelligent agents throughout YCL heterogeneous environment to monitor and report on potential bottlenecks and problems in the supply chain. This allowed the staff to tackle issues proactively, before it even surfaces as hurdle for manufacturing. It also improved productivity by reducing the time needed for staff to do problem resolution, and keeps the management up-to-date on the status of their business.

Centralizing the solution such, allowed YCL to handle any technical issues almost immediately and to keep the supply chain greased for efficiency.

Conclusion

Overall, the e-jing SCM solution reduced the supply risk for YCL.

By accelerating the procurement process, it improved the cycle time of product development. Using a Java platform based on reliable IBM solutions, the solution also reduced procurement costs and overall risk.

"This allows us to deliver our orders on time, to the right place and with the right place," said Mr Yeung.

"This allows us to profit greatly from an increasingly thin profit margin-- a key pillar of strength to maintain a distinct competitive edge in a highly competitive clothing industry," he added.

Source: Hi-Tech Weekly

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