Tapnet Business Plan Essay Research Paper TAPNETCOMBusiness — страница 3

services no other association members as well as to the association customers. Ecommerce applications include:  Online Storefront programs  Promotion of Member Business  Product Listings  Lead Generation 2.2.4 Meetings Online portals allow associations to extend the physical meeting place beyond the actual brick and mortar confines of the meeting place. Such access promotes increased attendance and associated member input and accountability. Meeting applications include:  Meeting Pre-registration  Exhibit Information and Registration  Program Descriptions  Course/Events and Schedules  Course Registration Directory  On-line Courses  Company Profiles  Customer Relationship Management (CRM)  Banner Advertising  Sponsorships 

eManufactureing  RFP’s and RFQ’s 2.3 TapNet Product(s) or Service(s) TapNet is going to provide all of the portal services listed above, but we are going to differentiate our product offering by taking advantage of the broadband network to offer services that leverage the high-speed capacities. Specifically, TapNet is going to focus on three key application offerings: eManufacturing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Distance Education. 2.3.1 eManufacturing Production is beginning to use it to synchronize manufacturing rhythms and efficiencies with those of the supply chain. The scheme ranged from raw electrical power and distribution through device sensors and actuators, programmable logic controllers, and network and integration services. It is a way to

potential link the millions of devices on plant floors that run on software yet are not capable of being connected to Ethernet, the emerging lingua franca of factory networks. “The need for an eManufacturing response begins as soon as a company decides to accept an order from the Internet,” says Lanny Metcalf, Schneider’s Transparent Factory product manager. “By doing that, you’ve initiated the process of totally changing your whole philosophy of doing business. And to succeed, the entire business process needs to be reevaluated-including manufacturing. “Overlaying some Internet technology is not enough. Strategic errors are being made if the presumption is that the business impact of the Internet stops with buying raw materials, collaborating with business partners,

and delivering customer products and services,” adds Metcalf. 2.3.1.1 Serving the customer eManufacturing is driven by the new prominence of the customer, says analyst Leif Erikson, research director, manufacturing/e-business, AMR Research Inc., Boston. “The customer is still king, but manufacturers need to realize that in e-business the king has far more power and [providing satisfaction] requires much greater responsiveness from the production floor. For example, there’s got to be some way of determining instantaneously, in real time, the ability to fulfill an order profitably. In eManufacturing, capacity and inventories need to be visible to the supply chain. Manufacturers need systems that can reveal available capacity, status of orders, and quality of a product — not

just after it comes off the line, but while it is in process.” “Since e-business is really about connecting more closely with customers, operations across the enterprise, including the plant floor, must be synchronized,” says Dick Hill, vice president of ARC Advisory Group, Dedham, Mass. “Due to the collaborative nature of e-business strategies, the plant floor has to be a full collaborative partner in the entire e-business architecture. Otherwise, ineffective plant controls quickly become the visible bottleneck,” he adds. Metcalf emphasizes eManufacturing’s competitive significance: “An e-enabled plant has as much or more strategic potential to cut costs and improve efficiencies as any innovation in purchasing or sales. Making that possible is a new generation of

Internet-compatible equipment, including everything from PLCs with embedded Web servers to power-monitoring systems that can identify cost-effectiveManufacturing locations for big orders.” He recommends beginning the eManufacturing journey by recognizing the need for creating a seamless flow of information from the factory floor. He suggests an opening question: “What are the number of interfaces that exist between your business systems-such as planning and inventory systems? If the answer is one, the enterprise is well on its way to the kind of integration that’s needed. If there are five different systems with five different interfaces, then you’re just beginning. Each interface represents potential for data corruption mistakes to occur.” Metcalf suggests emulating