SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
transport chains and can be used to define not only the consignee but also intermediate consignees , such as the departure or arrival airport . It also automatically assembles the various freight documents , so the relevant documents are sent to every service provider involved in the supply chain .
Managing and supporting diverse logistics processes In addition to standard shipping operations , Volkswagen uses AEB ’ s software to control the movement of its containers around the world . It generates the appropriate transport documents and draws all the information about the empties from the container management system . After the delivery note data has been entered , it is shared with ASSIST4 . The ASSIST4 user then generates the necessary waybills to ship the materials . Transport management is largely automated , and once the data has been captured , it can be used and re-used without the danger of errors being introduced . VW also uses shipping data to manage its freight costs , operating a self-billing procedure : instead of the carrier calculating the shipping costs for performed services and issuing an invoice , VW calculates the freight costs and issues a credit to the carrier . This reduces the administrative overheads for VW ’ s freight billing . ASSIST4 supplies the necessary delivery note and shipment data to the company ’ s billing system in the form of a customer record , which is compared to the carrier ’ s electronic transport record in VW ’ s billing system . If the contents of both records match , a credit can be issued .
At its Wolfsburg headquarters , VW uses ASSIST4 to send steel scrap by train to steel plants or dealers . Space is precious in the plants , and only very limited storage capacities are set aside for scrap , so if the scrap disposal process runs into problems , it can bring production to a standstill .
VW ’ s procurement department , which sells the scrap , is the start of the sensitive scrap shipping chain . A contract is created in SAP ® specifying , for example - that a buyer has purchased 40,000 tons . SAP ® sends this information to ASSIST4 and before the shipment goes out , ASSIST4 checks whether the customer actually has enough credit with VW to pay for the goods . If so , the loaded
10 April 2016