Communication for car parts

Citation

(2004), "Communication for car parts", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 53 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2004.07953aaf.003

Communication for car parts

Communication for car parts

Communication within the car parts industry is now much more efficient. Component manufacturers and their customers have developed a communication standard – the common aftermarket protocol (CAP). This electronic communication language allows the various parties in the industry to communicate with each other in a similar manner, no matter where the business partners are located. In addition, the different messages can be processed as a unit. Depending on the company structure and size, a cost reduction of between 1.5 and 2.0 per cent of turnover is realistic. For order entry alone a 70 per cent cost saving is possible.

The CAP initiative is supported by 33 component manufacturers and the four international buying groups. They expect that CAP will bring about enormous gains in efficiency in the various operating processes, and hope to have 350 companies in Europe (both component manufacturers and suppliers) working with the CAP messages system before 1 July 2004.

Fragmented communication

For much of the industry, communication within the car parts market is still fragmented, as parties presently use a number of standards for their messaging traffic. Because there is no common standard, manufacturers and their buyers have to acquire various communication systems and the corresponding software in order to communicate with each other. When exchanging messages among themselves, unnecessary time is wasted in processing the messages correctly (and often manually).

The CAP message set

With the introduction of CAP, messages such as orders, order responses and invoices can now be sent as easily as e-mail. The standard is based on ebXML technology, which is the formatting language that makes it possible to send messages via the Internet. This will result in reduced investments in communication systems. An additional advantage is that anyone can work with CAP without requiring extensive knowledge of ICT. After a company has entered the data for a packer's number, order or other administrative details, the CAP set of messages will automatically translate order and send them electronically. So, not only will the exchange of information become a lot faster, but also the stock turnover will improve and, as a result, the productivity will become higher. Furthermore, the different CAP messages can now be processed as a unit as well. Before proceeding to the actual implementation, companies can test the messages standard online in their own operating environment via an XML test server. This was previously not possible, and will provide organisations considerable savings on implementation tests.

Cut out any waste

Adriaan Roggeveen, chairman of the CAP Steering Committee: "By using the CAP standard, you cut out any waste. Organisations that use the CAP standard will immediately notice how much more efficient their communication will run, resulting in large savings in time and money – guaranteed. Anyone who knows how to send an e-mail can now send international messages too, like orders, packer's numbers and invoices."

For more information, please go to www.cap-standard.com/