EDIFICE warmly welcomed two new member companies: TIBCO and Software AG. We are looking forward to a successful and long lasting collaboration with both.

Member representatives and all Plenary attendees may request a login to access the presentation material posted here.

Some extracts from the Discussion Forum session:

Is the Electronics Industry prepared for the EU Import Control System (ICS)?
Ulrich Schlummer of Bosch clarifies that as of March 1st, all imports into the EU have to be declared to the customs authorities prior to shipment. This enables the authorities to in case of issues, block the import before it crosses the border. The information required by customs (ICS message) has to include all Product data, packaging Data, Shipment Data, etc... The challenge is that these data come from different sources. A standardised cross industry business process needs to be put in place.

The audience is not aware of specific implementations within their respective companies around this topic. People interested to address this ICS in an EDIFICE Task Group are welcome to step forward.

FAQ on ICS can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/ecip/help/faq/ens7_en.htm#faq_1 

What do you think about B2B outsourcing strategies versus enhanced customer-centric Supply Chains? Isn't it a challenge for the protection of know-how, flexibility & responsiveness to execute customer-centric processes?
A good balance must be found between parties so the flexibility and responsiveness towards the customer can be provided but the know-how stays with the companies. It are the mechanics that can be outsourced but the data content, quality and ownership will always remain a matter between Supplier and Customer.

Is it relevant to try to provide a 'Control Tower' approach to provide multi-tier supply Chain visibility (not only visibility between two parties, but across the entire supply chain), or is this a step too far for most companies?
This questions triggers quite different views. e.g. a Specific Supply chain in the Telco industry that already has it in place and has visibility from point of production to point of consumption; an Automotive Supply Chain that is asking about an integrated Supply Chain visibility system down to the lowest tier in order to shorten the product change cycle.
Another point of view is that the factor of confidentiality will play: will all partners be willing to share all this information with all partners in the Supply Chain? What will the costs be of making the information available. Who will pay for the cost? Who will be liable for the provided information?

Is it possible to define a standard way of measuring Forecast accuracy.
Accurate Forecasts depend on the capabilities companies have to calculate Forecasts, the ownership a company has to be able to be liable, the motivation the company has to share an accurate Forecast. The fact that Forecasts are often Customer driven, and the company wishes to secure supply, the Forecast will be an over Forecast.

EDIFICE Organisation: 

Eric Pannekeet of Fairchild has been the EDIFICE Secretary since 2006. He has left his company to pursue a different career away from B2B and therefore had to step down as

Secretary. Eric has contributed extensively to the organisation. EDIFICE thanks Eric for all his dedicated work over the past years and wishes him a successful further career.

Franziska Kraus of Motorola Mobility who has been a Vice-Chair since 2009 informed EDIFICE that she will step down as Vice-Chair due to internal company priorities. EDIFICE thanks Franzi for her support and contributions as Vice-Chair.

• Boudewijn Janssen of Amkor Technology is re-elected Chairman.

• Tony Nisbett of IBM, is elected Secretary. 

EDIFICE calls for nominations for the functions of Treasurer and three Vice-Chairs.
The nominations already received for both functions are: Denise Oakley of GXS for Vice-Chair and Juergen Linkens of Freescale for Treasurer.
Other nominations should have arrived at the secretariat on June 14th 2011 latest

EDIFICE Directorate contacts

During the member session a number of additions the MoU and proposals to attract membership were discussed. The details will be sent out to membership shortly.

Request to help with the promotion of EDIFICE!

In order to secure a successful organisation, the membership needs to grow more and faster. Market research shows that the awareness about EDIFICE needs a boost. All members are asked to invite their Trading Partners to join the Network and to promote the organisation's activities both internally and externally.

Membership is asked to post the EDIFICE logo on their company website and link it to the EDIFICE FlipBook! 

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EDIFICE Activity Updates by the Task Group Chairmen 

• BPA - B2B Process Adoption by Jan Fuchs of Godiva, on behalf of Dane Manes of GXS
  
  One of the focus areas of the BPA group is to look into SME enablement for which agile B2B solutions are required. The group looked into ways to simplify the B2B processes. Based on the business case presented by Godiva at this Plenary, they engaged in creating a range of Business Process Integrators (BPI) which are user friendly CSV (comma separated value) based messages. The top 5 business processes for which these BPIs will be created are: 1. Ordering 2. Billing 3. Logistics 4. Forecasting & Inventory Management and 5. DCM processes.

The BPI functional message definition is based on actual utilization derived from membership. This utilization will be stored in a BPI Schema following the BPI syntax. Upon agreement of the BPI content, the message will be modelled in UML using the GEFEG FX tool (i.e. the EDIFICE documentation and UML modelling tool) BPA aims to have the Ordering & Billing process model and BPIs ready by June 2011 Plenary.

BPA meets every other week on Wednesday 10-11 AM. Membership is invited to join the activity and to share their actual utilizations in any format they have available.

 

• DCM-Distribution Channel Management by Juergen Linkens, Freescale Semiconductor
  
  The DCM group is finalising the upgrade of its EDIFACT Message Implementation Guidelines to the latest UN/EDIFACT Directory D10A. They are investigating the requirement to raise official Data Management Requests to UN/EDIFACT with regards to the Ship from Stock & Debit area messages and specific EDIFICE codes.
  
  DCM holds monthly conference calls on the 1^st Friday of each month starting at 10 AM CET.
  Membership is invited to join the DCM activities and to table their topics of interest.
  
   
• BILL - eInvoicing by Tony Nisbett, IBM
  
  The BILL group held a session on the previous day and received an update on the EU Commission around the new VAT Directive 2010 that will go into force on Jan 1st 2013. The Commission's role is to advise, monitor and control its implementation in the member states. The Commissions communications goes via the FISCALIS conferences and One-to-One discussions with tax authorities.
  Communication from the Commission, Dec 2010: "Reaping the benefits of electronic invoicing for Europe"

Tony reports on the work of CEN/ISSS where he represents EDIFICE. The forum continues its work on eInvoice Guidelines and the development of the website at www.e-invoice-gateway.net

The Country Update on eInvoice Compliance related to Germany, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Mexico, Brazil.

The EDIFICE BILL-eInvoicing group will meet again on June 14th in Munich, adjacent to the 114th Plenary meeting.

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Thank you


Front LtR: Jean-Luc Estienne, Luca Palermo, Sepideh Girault of ST, our Hosts
Back LtR: Mark Morley & Denise Oakley of GXS, Chairman Boudewijn Janssen, Ulrich Schlummer of Bosch

Boudewijn Janssen thanked Luca Palermo and Jean-Luc Estienne of ST for the initiative to host the 113^th Plenary meeting at their premises in Paris.  Special thanks go to Sepideh Girault for coordinating the overall logistics provisions at ST. More thanks go to Denise Oakley of GXS for the sponsoring of the Dinner and the Paris by night Bus Tour.  

The 113th Plenary audience was surprised with a continuous flow of 'chocolate indulgences' provided for by Godiva. Peter Stevens and his colleagues herewith thank EDIFICE for giving Godiva the opportunity of presenting their B2B case that will make a difference to SMEs who wish to engage in agile B2B without having to make major investments.

EDIFICE wishes to thank all the speakers for their outstanding performance and the EDIFICE membership and Observers for their participation and great support.  

ST and EDIFICE welcomed 55 Participants from 22 different organisation.

We herewith encourage the Observer companies present in Paris to envisage taking more active part in the EDIFICE activities and also help support the organisation financially by signing up as a member.
How to join EDIFICE as a member is explained on-line: Click here 

Picture by Jouni Elomaa - for more pictures visit the Picture Gallery on Collaborate

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 Next Plenary  

25th Anniversary of EDIFICE

The 114^th Plenary is being hosted by Siltronic and co-sponsored by SAP on June 15-16 2011. The Theme will be around "Integrated Supply Chains: Achievements and look to the Future"

Member companies with interest to present a case study around this theme are asked to get in touch with the secretariat.

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The EDIFICE Directors