After only a year of involvement in a web-enabled supply chain management system for private label products, Dillard’s Inc., the Little Rock, AR-based chain of 342 department stores, is sold on the process. “Using an Internet-based collaboration vehicle is the only way to communicate with suppliers,” Mike Hodapp, production director, tells Internet Retailer.
Hodapp says that, until now, private label sourcing required exchanging hundreds of faxes with suppliers, who in turn had to exchange production documents with their tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers. With a web-based system, he says, Dillard’s now not only gets immediate communication updates from its main suppliers, but it can also view correspondence up the supply chain to its supplier’s suppliers.
This enables it to check on the production and logistical processes of every product feature, down to zippers and buttons. Dillard’s, which first implemented a web-based system last year, is switching to a system provided by QRS Corp., Richmond, Calif. “It helps us get products in stores faster,” Hodapp says. “And we know which suppliers work best.”
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