Shabra Plastics & Packaging

3 . Problem Definition and Objectives

The driving force behind the implementation of Shabra’s eBusiness strategy was, of course, the requirement from Musgraves to implement EDI “We needed to retain one of our major clients and EDI was the solution”, commented Shah. In order to fulfil the requirements of an EDI system, a number of new systems and processes had to be put in place. These new processes helped to meet a number of the other objectives Shabra had set itself for an eBusiness project:

1. Provide a direct order link for Musgrave and other large customers
2. Provide a website with ordering capability for other clients
3. Generate more business from current clients and attract business from new clients
4. Lessen the pressure on the sales force (and the associated costs of that sales force) by allowing customers to self order
5. Provide a central repository for all orders (whether received directly from EDI or the website, or via phone/fax)
6. Reduce order errors through reduction in the amount of handwritten or phone orders received

Shabra’s model was partly based on a team of salespeople – if those salespeople didn’t visit a customer, the order wasn’t placed. Additionally, the time spent dealing with orders from current customers was taking the sales force away from generation of new business. A self service system for customers would allow the salesperson to make better use of their time, driving new business rather than account managing.

Documenting the Process

In order to meet the requirements of RePak (the only company in Ireland approved by the government to manage waste), Shabra had to provide a requisition showing collection of waste from each client. Prior to the new system being implemented, the customer would fax a pickup to the recycling plant – this was sent to head office for filing and used to alert the transport company. This paper trail was becoming cumbersome and difficult to manage.

Additionally, Shabra is one of the only companies to hold ISO 9001:2000 (for quality management), OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety) and I.S. EN ISO 14001 (environmental management systems). In order to hold these accreditations, Shabra needed to adhere to strict reporting and documentation guidelines thus generating more work and more paper.

New systems would make it easier to adhere to a lot these accreditation requirements in addition to those put in place by Repak.

4 . Decision

For Shabra Plastics, there was no real choice in whether or not to implement an eBusiness system as it was being heavily customer driven. However, the requirement from Musgraves, along with the incentive of the eBusiness Acceleration Fund, pushed the company to implement a solution sooner than they probably would have done. According to Shah, without this pressure (and grant support), it may have taken the company another three years to fully implement the system (doing it one bit at a time).

Regardless of the grant, Shabra would have implemented EDI anyway – the extra funding allowed the company to implement the parts they may not have done immediately.