Abstract
M.Comm.
In the last hundred years there has been a technological revolution that has forced
people to change the way they live and run their organisations. This technological
revolution has had a major impact on the business world. Coyle, Bardi and Langley
(2003; 57) have suggested that “the rate of change has accelerated with consequent
negative impacts if organisations do not change.”
With today’s emphasis on cutting costs, streamlining expenses while at the same
time trying to offer a competitive edge with regard to customer service, many
organisations are looking to improve their bottom line and financial performance by
implementing new technology into their supply chains. A popular way for
organisations to speedily reap the benefits of having a more competent and
competitive, technology-enabled supply chain, is by outsourcing their supply chain
needs to a third party logistics organisations. The Star newspaper reported that,
according to Brett Bowes, inefficiencies in the supply chain meant that fast-moving
consumer goods manufacturers and retailers were losing R7 billion every year (The
Star, 16 March 2007; 2). Although there are many auxiliary benefits and advantages
of implementing software systems into the supply chain, the two critical benefits
which justify the expense are reduced costs and improved customer service.
Implementing technology is a costly, challenging and sometimes risky endeavor. This
often results in an unwillingness to change until these organisations outgrow their
systems, or the business environment becomes so complex, that they are forced to
implement new technology. This hesitancy to introduce new technology timeously
could hamper the progress and growth of these organisations, and could also affect
their competitiveness in a highly competitive environment. The purpose of this case
study is to compare the benefits achieved from existing older technology to new
technology, based on a routing and scheduling case study in a large 3PL
organisation.