[ Solution Finder ] Retail & CPG High Tech Aftermarket Service

 

Introduction

AMR Research, Aberdeen, Gartner, and other leading analysts agree — after decades on the back burner, aftermarket service is now a key differentiator and a major source of profitable revenue. Best-in-class companies are capitalizing on the ability for excellent field service operations to drive margin, top-line revenue and customer retention. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, third party service companies (3PSCs) and equipment operators understand this, and are now competing heavily for their share of the business. One such company is Univar USA.

Univar USA is the leading chemical distributor in the United States, providing more chemical products and related services than any other company in the marketplace. Univar USA’s wide distribution network, with more than 110 locations coast-to-coast, helps guarantee fast, reliable service to Univar USA's customers.

 

The Challenge

Univar understood that efficient inventory and logistics management was essential to a streamlined sales and fulfillment process and to forge closer ties to its large network of third party service companies (3PSCs), dealers, and pest control operators (PCOs). Rather than build their next-generation platform from scratch, Univar partnered with One Network to offer their dealer base a Univar-exclusive version of ONE Service; initially concentrating on automating its vendor-managed inventory capabilities. The first dealer to subscribe to the offering was ABC Pest Control, the largest family-owned PCO in Texas.

 

The Solution

The ONE Service VMI platform allowed both Univar and ABC to view and manage installed base, stock inventories, and spare parts in vans, warehouses, and even customer sites from anywhere in the world. Online ordering and parts procurement became automatic with pre-set replenishment points that immediately sent reorders directly to UNIVAR. Through real-time access to stock information, ONE Service enables Univar sales managers and ABC technicians to capture and transmit vital details from the field to the dealership, then to Univar’s regional warehouse, and (by extension) to the entire Univar service operation.

The Univar-version of ONE Service has since evolved from VMI into a complete field service and supply chain management platform designed specifically to serve the needs of Univar’s PCOs. It manages the entire PCO service delivery process on a real-time basis, addressing the needs of every member of the network, including Univar, its dealers, PCOs, their customers, vendors, employees, and partners.

Although ONE Service has been customized especially for Univar, it also provides the outstanding support capabilities such as search and navigation facilities, access to PestWeb (Univar’s www site) collaboration utilities (such as chat, forums and customer feedback), external business intelligence, and knowledge bases.

ONE Service – Value Networks for Service

A team of the industry’s leading service and supply chain visionaries founded One Network Enterprises (ONE) specifically to solve the problem of delivering outstanding service within the competitive Aftermarket arena. With decades of experience in field service automation and supply chain applications, the ONE team understood that no conventional point solution would ever meet the needs of the modern Aftermarket Services environment. Taking conceptual cues from AMR’s Demand Driven Value Network (DDSN) and BearingPoint’s Synchronous Demand Network (SDN) initiatives, and combining them with their own technical expertise and real-world experience, the ONE team designed the first system to deliver on the promise of value networks.

One Network Enterprises, Inc. is proud to introduce ONE Service. ONE Service is a single collaborative platform for managing the entire end-to-end service network and all its activities; including service calls, orders, inventory, shipments, returns, technician schedules, and other service transactions. ONE Service business process templates allow network partners to create shared, flexible processes that easily cross the gaps in systems, silos and companies. They include inventory planning and logistics (parts order management, fulfillment and reverse logistics), workforce management (advanced scheduling, dispatch and routing), service management (customer management, contract and entitlements, product catalog and call management) and mobility management.

While business process templates leverage ONE’s unique enabling technology to deliver connectivity, visibility and actionability in extended value networks, value networks are actually managed, executed upon, and designed using the ONE Service Managers — Command Center, Intelligent Execution Manager and Studio, respectively.

• Command Center is the network desktop for launching business processes. It provides end-to-end visibility — and more importantly, control – of the multi-company service processes.
• ONE’s unique Intelligent Execution Manager (IXM) bridges the gap between planning and execution, creating a sense-and-respond value network. Constantly monitoring real-time execution activities, IXM detects issues as they arise and automatically triggers corrective action.
• Studio is a service design kit (SSK) that lets companies easily configure and extend ONE Service to meet the specific requirements of their value network. All aspects of ONE Service are configurable within Studio, from the transaction and process flow through the layout of the user interface.

Summary

ONE Service is the first end-to-end service solution designed to serve the entire value network, not just a single company within the larger whole. ONE Service is the only value network solution for service organizations. It encompasses processes for workforce management, service management, inventory planning and logistics — all in a multi-company networked environment. All participants have full visibility into real-time information throughout the entire network; share connected business processes; and benefit from integrated transaction management, execution and real-time planning.

About One Network Enterprises

One Network provides the value network infrastructure and Web applications as hosted networked services. Demand signals reach all parties on the network simultaneously, faster than traditional point-to-point EDI or batch communications. ONE's Intelligent Execution Manager creates and adjusts orders automatically at any “echelon” in the network - stores, distribution centers and suppliers - based on real-time demand and available supply at all echelons. Users improve service levels and same-store sales by accelerating the movement of inventory and data through the value network. One Network created and hosts internet-based value networks with many-to-many connectivity, built on next-generation technology delivered in a flexible on-demand model. Rather than simply accelerating point-to-point data exchange along a traditional linear supply chain, the One Network is a highly distributed value network where any participant can see and react to what is happening at any point in the network. Beyond visibility, the solution integrates transaction management with execution and real-time planning. Network participants create and share multi-company business processes, and can quickly adapt them in response to changing conditions. Incremental decision support allows partners to resolve issues as they arise in real-time, and automatically guides operations towards business objectives.

For more information, please call +1 866-302-1936 or visit www.onenetwork.com.

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