SONIC MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES
doing that by hand ’— he pauses —’ I ’ ll send it over to you , and you tell me how long it takes for you to get through that stack .’ He smiles . ‘ Our accounting department wasn ’ t happy processing 30,000 invoice lines either . So we automated that one . Now we are connected to most of the North American electronics distributors .’
But why is Sonic , a company admittedly ahead of the digital supply chain curve , sharing secrets ? Letting the world in on how to compete ? David tells us . ‘ First , we ’ ve put in so much time that we can protect our edge ,’ he says . ‘ More importantly , billion-dollar companies won ’ t make new APIs if Sonic is the only one pushing for them . But if all of Sonic ’ s peers and competitors want these APIs , they ’ ll be developed . They ’ ll be more feature-rich . New capabilities will come out . Sonic benefits from this collective transformation .’
GOING GLOBAL
Though Sonic started with US distribution , it ’ s a global market . Over the next few years , David intends to move beyond the shores of the States and develop access to the international economy . If everything goes according to plan , Sonic will start to expand its connections to Asia and Europe . This way , if it can ’ t find a part it needs in the States , its computers can start a global hunt , check the specs , and buy it . Once the supplier is ready to ship , they ’ ll send the equivalent of an ASN ( advanced shipping notification ), pull the product , send over a tracking ID , and there you have it : your dock date and final part .
What ’ s Next ? Just as Sonic had to wait for the industry to transition from EDI to APIs in order to build its digital supply chain , David now needs more API features to automate and integrate even further . ‘ We need to get the word out there that the time for digital supply chains has arrived ,’ he tells me . ‘ Our large suppliers are telling us that the demand for APIs in the marketplace is growing almost exponentially .’
Now , what David wants is for the electronics and supply chain community to get on board . He wants suppliers to hear that a hundred large customers want to build digital supply chains so that they invest time and talent in providing APIs . ‘ We need others saying that this method saves money ,’ he says . ‘ That it ’ s a lot more accurate . That there ’ s nothing faster . If we all ask for the same thing , we ’ re going to get it .’
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