Fall 1998: The ERPRevolution - Reshaping Supply Chains

Speakers:

• Jeanne Ross, Principal Research Scientist, Center for Information Systems Research, MIT
• David Demers, Co-founder and Vice President, The Avicon Group
• Greg Olsen, Co-founder, CrossRoute Software

Morning Presentation Synopsis

The synergistic combination of intense global competition, Year 2000 compliance concerns, and powerful information technologies has led to a rush toward enterprise resource planning systems and intensified efforts to reengineer organizational processes. Although most ERPs are justified on the basis that they can solve Year 2000 issues, integrate disparate organizational systems, or standardize organizational processes on best practice, most companies are finding that in the early stages following an ERP implementation, the risks and costs are significantly more apparent than any intended benefits. But at least some firms have been able to fundamentally transform their supply chain processes as a result of ERP implementations. To generate that kind of value from an ERP, firms must overcome some fairly daunting challenges. This talk will first identify the unique challenges associated with implementing and benefiting from an ERP and the strategies that firms are deploying to address those challenges. It will then describe how some firms are leveraging their ERP environments to fundamentally redefine how they do business.

Afternoon Presentation Synopsis - The Extended Enterprise and the Integrated Supply Chain

Manufacturing companies are continuously searching for new ways to operate more efficiently. Today, instead of handling end-to-end manufacturing processes, they are increasingly relying on business partners to perform important activities, from design to supply to delivery and repair. This collection of interrelated activities as performed by various separate companies is the extended enterprise.

This discussion will explore the emerging relevance of the extended enterprise business model and how leading companies are applying the concept to achieve breakthrough performance. Underlying this model is the need for "cross-enterprise" software. Together, these advances enable the virtual corporation by tightly integrating disparate enterprise systems that must continue to operate autonomously while still sharing information and business processes, resulting in significant productivity increases and decreases in cycle times. Looking beyond ERP, the next frontier will require a new vision, shared business process design and technology to truly leverage our trading partner network potential.

Speaker: Jeanne Ross

Jeanne Ross, Principal Research Scientist at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research, conducts research, develops and teaches executive education courses, and lectures on IT management topics. Her current research focuses on the management of the IT infrastructure and on organizational processes enabled by new information technologies. Much of her work involves development of case studies that describe the human, technology, and IT-business relationship resources of firms that are in the process of implementing technology-based changes. Dr. Ross received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in MIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has served on the faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and St. Norbert College. This will be Dr. Ross’ second presentation at a CMIT program.

Speaker: David Demers

David Demers is co-founder and Vice President of The Avicon Group. He leads their supply chain practice. He has developed a unique understanding of the supply chain management discipline. In addition to his functional expertise, he also brings a broad cross-industry experience base including past positions in government, consumer products, and the technology industry. Dave continues to leverage and expand his expertise through a growing and diverse set of client consulting assignments, including Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, HP, Apple, Siemens and many others. Past supply chain solutions have doubled inventory turns, reduced operating costs by over 30%, and achieved major improvement in service level performance.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Logistics from Northeastern University and an MBA in Business logistics from Pennsylvania State University. He is a frequent speaker at the Council of Logistics Management and serves as a guest lecturer at Northeastern University.

Speaker: Greg Olsen

Greg is a co-founder of CrossRoute and provides the technical and architectural vision behind Cross-Route’s products. He ensures that CrossRoute takes advantage of leading edge technologies to develop a robust and highly functional electronic commerce solution.

Greg is a recognized expert in the field of electronic commerce. Before CrossRoute, he served as a technical manager at the Internet Commerce Division of Verifone (formerly EIT). While at EIT, he led research investigations into the use of the Internet to support manufacturing, procurement, and engineering design activities. At Stanford, his research focused on the computational support for engineering collaboration and methods for information representation.

Greg holds BS and MS degrees in engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and MS in Computer Science in Computer Science from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in engineering from Stanford University.