Apple
When it comes to innovation, few companies have done more to change the face of an industry than Apple. Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented it in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Its record for innovation and excellence carries on today with products such as the iPod, iPhone, and most recently, with the MacBook Air, the “world’s thinnest notebook.”
With more than 20,000 employees and yearly sales of close to $25 billion, the Cupertino, Calif. headquartered company remains one of the top innovators in personal computers, portable digital music and mobile communications devices in the world.
The Challenge
Being competitive in today’s high tech industry means taking economic advantage of manufacturing and distribution facilities around the world. Apple interacts with dozens of trading partners, from resellers, to distributors and OEM manufacturers that help to form its global supply chain. Apple exchanged orders and critical business documents through a variety of means with its trading partners, most notably EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). “While this method of document exchange was functional, it was not the most efficient or cost effective,” says Sankar Dhinu, Apple’s Senior Manager of Emerging Technology.
The Solution
Apple decided to implement the webMethods Integration Platform to solve existing bottlenecks, and also serve as a platform for integrating new applications and services going forward. According to Dhinu, factors in favor of the webMethods technology were the adoption of industry-accepted standards and emerging Web services standards, and the platform’s demonstrated record for reliability, scalability and performance.
The Benefits
The new environment is flexible enough to accommodate rapid changes in Apple’s business processes and to react to changes in the market. It provides a much more nimble solution and a consistent way of doing business with Apple trading partners. The exchange of business documents now takes place in seconds rather than hours. Cost savings have been achieved by moving off the Value Added Network (VAN) and replacing an outside EDI translator. The integration team can now bring a business partner online in a matter of days, largely by reusing components that have already been developed. Dhinu estimates Apple achieved a positive ROI on its webMethods technology investment within the first year.
Customer Statement
“We now have 100 percent visibility into the inventory of every product we have at the manufacturer, at any given time. That’s a major benefit to the company.”Charlie Nguyen, Manager of eCommerce Services - Apple
