Budgeting Experience

It was a great experience to budget for the firm, even though it was something nobody in our team had done. It was quite clear considering we were all wondering what the different prices would be (e.g. operational costs, costs for hardware/software). For some things such as printer costs, it was more manageable and easier to decide on due to previous experience. Eg for Alazar and Fotis it was easier to predict Web Server costs, while for Aleks it was easier think about what would be the cost for a warehouse, VAT related calculations. Winnie on other hand bought some things which we did not consider, leading to changes in numbers.
Yet by doing first the Marketing Part and then the Whole firm, some problems arose. For example we included Labour costs in the Marketing budget, leading us to wonder what we should put to the overall budget. If we did it again, it may be a good idea to know what’s included in each budget, so that we would not consider wages for the same worker 2 times.

The experience showed why so much money is given for budgeting firms, and the complexity that comes with budgeting. Yet such division as the exercise would be used by large companies. In Busy Corporation (my parents’), it’s me and my mom who do this work, as the company is small and on top by having the managers do the work, it’s possible to learn more about the business and see how things are going.

IT and the supply chain

The diagram above, by DSC consulting, illustrates how information can be gathered and used in the decision making process.As shown in the diagram, Retailer could make use of arrayed stock, arrayed flow of sales and also delay in delivery when deciding orders and this information would be a good input for the factory along with production stock and production rate which in turn is determined by raw material consumption.


IT can help the supply chain in the following ways:


IT helps to keep track of stock level information at retailer's shelves so that producers are able to forecast retailer's' inventories. In addition, accurate information can be delivered on the point of sales demand.


One of the examples of IT solutions that help supply chain's optimisation is Skillweb, a mobile solution provider that helps to achieve significant cost savings and a reduction in carbon emissions. "Utilising a transport management solution developed and supported by Skillweb. BT has been able to restructure its operational infrastructure over the past 6 months to reduce its transport fleet operation used to supply 27,000 service engineers with parts by over 25 % and remove six sites from its depot network. This technology, known as BT TraX are mobile computers that help to manage and track the goods as they move from the warehouse or collection point through the trunk network for onward delivery to each engineer. It better controls the movement of parts per day to ensure that each engineer is supplied with the right parts at the right time." (Warehousenews, 2009)


Another example of how IT can help supply chain is RLS Logistics, a leading temperature-controlled logistics provider offered to food industry. RLS software helps clients to view their data in real time on a web-based system. Their service is so extensive that it covers a lot of aspect of performance improvement such as accuracy in shipment, quick and effective processing of orders and receipts and reduced transportation costs, backup power and computerized temperature monitors. (Suppl chain Digital, 2009)


The above mentioned examples are both applicable to WOU in order to improve their performance in terms of temperature control of wines as well as keep track of their goods to and from their warehouse and collection point, in line with the transparency mission and vision.


Reference list

BT uses Skillweb [Internet ] Available at: http://warehousenews.co.uk/?p=6132
[Accessed 22 Nov 2009]
Supply chain digital [Internet] Available at:
http://www.supplychaindigital.com/Magazine.aspx?id=1797 [Accessed 22 Nov 2009]

The Beer Game (Supply chain)

(Figure courtesy of DSC consulting)

Our team was playing the Retailer role. As communication between us, the wholesalers, distributors and the factory was not allowed we had to rely on the pattern of flow of orders from the customer side and delivery of beers from the wholesaler, which were unpredictable especially given the unfamiliarity of the market we were put in, and were forced to make decisions based on mere guesses rather than justifiable assumptions, to say the least. what was interesting about this game is the similarity in the resulting consequence between over/under stocking of beers in an organization warehouse and over flow of beer in the human system, especially while driving under the influence of alcohol, both situations maybe characterized by lacking clear sense of direction, being at the mercy of the external environment, and eventually leading to a deadly accident. Hence, at the end of this experience, the question left on our minds was how deadly such a phenomenon may turn out to be for WOU, if it was to be placed in such an unfortunate position.

We believe that the use of IT in the supply chain would help avoid such adverse effects by better facilitating communication, tracking and storing of relevant information and even by predicting consequences for different scenarios.

E-procurement

There are seven main ways of implementing IT in the procurement process:

• Web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Creating and approving purchasing requisitions, placing purchase orders and receiving goods and services by using a software system based on Internet technology.
• e-MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul): The same as web-based ERP except that the goods and services ordered are non-product related MRO supplies.
• e-sourcing: Identifying new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing requirements using Internet technology.
• e-tendering: Sending requests for information and prices to suppliers and receiving the responses of suppliers using Internet technology.
• e-reverse auctioning: Using Internet technology to buy goods and services from a number of known or unknown suppliers.
• e-informing: Gathering and distributing purchasing information both from and to internal and external parties using Internet technology.
• e-marketsites: Expands on Web-based ERP to open up value chains. Buying communities can access preferred suppliers' products and services, add to shopping carts, create requisition, seek approval, receipt purchase orders and process electronic invoices with integration to suppliers' supply chains and buyers' financial systems.

WoU could use e-sourcing to identify new suppliers for wines, thus hopefully increase choice offered to customers. E-sourcing would also be beneficial to potential suppliers due to providing exposure to their wine products to the UK market ie would be a win – win situation.

A study by Aberdeen group (Aberdeen group) has concluded some of the steps for successfully utilising E-sourcing. Some of their strategies include:

• Adopt and validate best-in-class strategic sourcing procedures before investing in e-sourcing technologies.
• Ensure proper executive and stakeholder support for sourcing and dedicate a manager to champion the program.
• Develop systems and competencies to make total spending analysis an efficient and repeatable process.

Another solution for the Wines of Uruguay would be to have a rapid ERP deployment. The advantages earned by this implementation would be:

• Quick integration in the whole process.
• Less time needed to fulfil the implementation.
• No disruption in the procurement process
• Lower cost during the deployment of the system

But there are also some disadvantages in choosing this kind of ERP deployment:

• Difficulty to customize completely the system to match with the needs of the company
• The procurement process must be understood in order for the implementation to be effective.
• Might be a preparation cost.
• The time frame for an ERP could be limited as new needs for the company arise.

Such procedures may be out of scope for Wines Of Uruguay due to high cost, however by understanding them from an early stage, the company can be structured in a way that would help its expansion and growth in the future.

Taken from Wikipedia and

Ravi Kalakota, Marcia Robinson (2000) e-Business: Roadmap to Success Massachusetts: Addison Wesley

http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/other/bp-esourcing.asp

The New E Process

The Redesigned Vinification Method:

One the left side is the generalised old method of how wine was produced by the WoU's partners.
The grapes need to be collected and then crushed. After that Fermentation begins (how the alcohol is created). After a specific period the liquid is checked, filtered and bottled. Or it can be further stored (in oak barrels) for giving a specific aroma to the wine. Next it would be bottled and labelled and prepered for selling.

Generally the grapes are grown where the wine is produced, minimising labour and transport costs. However our group thinks we can bring further value to the wine producers.

The proposed E process will add transparency to vinification. By adding a system to store information about the winemaking process such as:
When the grapes were picked,
how long the wine was stored

Hopefully by displaying the extra information on the label, it will give customers higher reason to trust the company and purchase the wine rather than an offering by other competitors.

Furthermore the proposed E Process compliments our long term strategy of producers to produce Fair Trade wines.

More information would come on future posts.