Zumtobel Improves its Purchasing Processes with crossgate’s Help
Project is expanded: Web-based EDI is launched for small suppliers
Starnberg, 14 June 2007 – Zumtobel Lighting recently has outsourced all of its EDI processes to crossgate. As of now, even small suppliers who are not directly linked up for electronic data interchange (EDI) can send messages via Web-based EDI. Zumtobel Lighting, which consists of two brands, Thorn and Zumtobel, is offering this optional service to its business partners in Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Sweden. In return, its supplier processes will become more transparent and the company will be able to respond to changes much more quickly. All in all, some 40,000 documents are exchanged every month.
Lighting awakens emotions. Zumtobel sees its mission in developing customised lighting concepts that not only make rooms usable, but turn them into places to be experienced. Its products enhance the interplay between light and architecture. An global player for over fifty years, Zumtobel has made a name for itself as the leading producer of holistic lighting systems for a wide range of uses and locations, including art and culture, industrial use, office environments, hotels and hospitals. Originally based in Vorarlberg / Austria, the company now maintains over fifty sales organisations of its own and has channel partners in a total of seventy countries.
In June 2006 Zumtobel made a decision to employ crossgate’s Business Integration PlatformTM (B.I.P.) for the purpose of communicating electronically with its most important suppliers. This step was due to its wish to stop investing its resources in the EDI converters it had installed and run in its offices. No additional expenditure on new hardware or software was necessary since the B.I.P. leverages the firm’s existing IT infrastructure. Step by step several hundreds of Zumtobel’s business partners got connected to the system. The service provided by crossgate is charged on a per-transaction basis, with the customer only having to pay for the documents that are actually transferred via B.I.P.
For the next phase of the project, linking suppliers with smaller transaction volumes, Zumtobel chose to implement Web-based EDI. This involves the use of a Web interface for data exchange in processes such as procurement, order management and logistics. The entire work flow from purchasing to invoicing is carried out electronically. Even partial orders and part deliveries are possible in the event of deviations from planned schedules. Whatever the case, Zumtobel always receives an e-mail notifying it about the expected changes. This logistical step has put an end to paper-based business correspondence once and for all. From a central location, crossgate is even adapting the global solution to Zumtobel’s corporate design and enabling its business partners to use the system in three languages.
“Thanks to crossgate’s Web-based EDI solution, our processes are now much more transparent, and we can plan more accurately, too.” says Hans-Achim Quitmann, CIO of the Zumtobel Group. “That’s the reason why I expect the number of partners, who are linked up, to increase in the future, just like the volume of currently 40,000 messages sent each month.”
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