DCS Consulting and the Plastics Industry

We Know The Plastics Industry

DCS has compiled a list of plastic companies’ customers that are currently EDI-active. View our list to see if any of these companies are a key customer of yours. Contact Data Communication Solutions (DCS) today and we can ask the company’s I.T. department (not the buyer) for their EDI guidelines to get the process started.

As an AIAG member, DCS knows your industry and it’s specific requirements. We bring you the most up-to-date knowledge with our weekly blog post, best paired with our years of experience.

Proper Configuration Benefits

With the Plastics Pipe Institute contributing to the development of standards, EDI helps molders, extruders, and other plastics manufacturers solve customers’ requirements. Unfortunately “back office” problems are knotty because you serve numerous industries such as automotive, electronics, defense, packaging, and others with widely varying demands. As this can be a major headache, few have focused upon the problem. The improvements in ERP systems allow cost-saving process automation to be done more economically. For example, all large customers send Purchase Orders, but your order fulfillment procedures are different for each customer.

Your customer’s expectations will always increase and you will be required to pay the cost of improvement. Second, you know you must continually look at improving process automation to boost your quality and response times. It is time these two perpetual problems are looked at together. With DCS EDI experience, gleaned from other manufacturers, these knotty challenges can be solved economically. Your next step is easy, e-mail us for our no-cost assessment.

Overview

You regard the PO as the mere confirmation of a job already bid and accepted. Conversely, the large customer regards it as the complete description of the costs they will pay. This means INbound PO must be suspended for a thorough order check until the match to the bid is complete. The solution then is to automate the match process: alert customer service of discrepancies with ample time to obtain a waiver. Automation allows customer service to focus upon problems instead of doing tedious, time consuming data entry. This means fewer last minute changes, expedited shipments, and later surprise deductions from your invoice.

At the time of invoicing the same challenges occur. The special charges must meet those expected or a satisfactory explanation must be included within the EDI invoice sent. Since there are nationally recognized codes for all special charges, the key to process automation is then to adapt the accounts receivable module so that they are properly embedded. Additionally, training that motivates users to meet the level of detail is needed.

After these basics are solved, other challenges can be met:

  • Inventory Reporting (846)
  • Shipment Notices (ASN, 856)
  • Knowing if your invoice has been approved for payment

Another effective use of EDI is to automate Accounts Payables.

Your customer’s expectations will always increase and you will be required to pay the cost of improvement. Second, you know you must continually look at improving process automation to boost your quality and response times. It is time these two perpetual problems are looked at together. The perspective is clearer because DCS knows the EDI protocols of automotive, mass merchant, electronics, and more. With DCS EDI experience, gleaned from other manufacturers, these knotty challenges can be solved economically. Your next step is easy, e-mail us for our no-cost assessment.

Avoiding Costly Surprises

Customer documents such as Purchase Orders and Forecasts (Releases) are too often manually printed, order checked, and marked-up before data entry. Because part-numbers were frequently confused, prices incorrect, and ship-to addresses unknown costly human review and then data entry was necessary. Fortunately, today’s ERP systems can bring in erroneous orders and forecasts and suspend them for correction. An alert is issued to customer service to correct the part-number, etc. Orders do not flow in automatically without scrutiny. The result: you avoid costly last minute changes, expedited shipments, and later surprise deductions from your invoice.

Utilizing our proven DCS PROCESS™ is a cost saving way to implement your process automation. Your business is unique: yet your best methods must be aligned to customers’ requirements. Incremental improvements in process automation have a large bottom line impact in total. The challenge is how to economically make those improvements. DCS can help you convert as it is thoroughly familiar with these challenges. Here are the steps:

  • DCS quickly analyzes all of the EDI Guidelines of your customer trading partners
  • DCS closely interviews all of your staff who will be impacted
  • After development, DCS tests with your customers until approved. Production data flow is not interrupted.
  • Training includes are large motivation component.