Yokohama Tyre Canada was using manual processes to create and approve custom quotes, despite having several line-of-business systems deployed. Spot Solutions connected these systems via Microsoft SharePoint 2010, improving visibility into business processes, cross-company collaboration, competitive advantage, and profitability.
Business needs
Established in 1984, Yokohama Tyre Canada sells and distributes 2 000 tire products across Canada through 3 800 dealers. Their parent company, Yokohama Rubber Company, has been a world leader in the development of outstanding tire designs and technology for over 90 years, since its establishment in 1917.
Cumbersome and manual processes
When Yokohama Tyre Canada agrees to special price concessions to its dealers, outside the standard pricing agreements, they do so via a special quote. The challenge was that they created approximately 400 custom quotes per year via a manual, stand-alone process, ie a PDF form circulating via email and physical routing to collect information and approvals.
Slow decision making
Quotes need to be approved with full understanding of profitability and inventory turns and stock levels for that product, and the impact of special pricing on the business. Overall it was difficult and time consuming to manage all the items as they progressed or stalled at various stages in the process.
Disparate information systems
While they had information systems in place, retrieving data was still cumbersome and somewhat manual. Various pieces of information had to be gathered from many different sources to complete the quote form. Their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne from Oracle, contained all the information needed for a quote. However, it had to be retrieved manually. Furthermore, little to no information was pushed back into their IBM Cognos Business Intelligence (BI) system during the approval process.
Siloed information
Account managers often worked with their customers in Microsoft Excel to gather and list the requirements for a quote. This siloed process required manual re-entry of the data, making it cumbersome and prone to errors.
Systems not fully leveraged
While Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition was already in place, its use was far from its potential. Yokohama Tire Canada only leveraged its basic internal collaboration capabilities.
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