The Implementation Results of the Projects A/B/C/D/E Implementation Results

Project A&B 1. Project A has encouraged leading international vendors to increase their

procurement in Taiwan. The amount of purchasing undertaken in Taiwan by the three international vendors in question increased by 20% in 2001, and the three companies established their first offshore e-business procurement centres in Taiwan (an Operation Center in the case of IBM; a Hub Center in the case of Compaq).

2. Project B has boosted the ability of Taiwanese SMEs to secure orders from overseas customers. The 15 leading IT manufacturers with more than 1,800 SMEs join the e-business supply chains, thereby strengthening the strategic partnership relationships among them. Many SMEs found that participating in Project B helped them to increase the percentage of transactions completed successfully, cut inventory costs, reduce the time needed to respond to orders, cut procurement costs and increase profits. Besides, they organized an association and drew up standards and operating procedures for data exchange, helping to overcome the problems that had affected the joint participation of SMEs and larger manufacturers in e-business supply chains.

3. Projects A and B have enhanced the corporate image and brand recognition of Taiwanese enterprises in international markets. The RosettaNet international standard was for the first time adopted across an entire industry, with the aim of bringing Taiwan into line with the international e-business environment. This initiative has attracted a great deal of attention from the RosettaNet organization in the US. Besides, the projects also encouraged the adoption of e-business in other industries, like information service providers software service providers, which in turn makes it less expensive for Taiwanese companies to make use of e-business software and services.

Project C 1. The amount of online financing of Project C is growing rapidly. By the end of 2004, the total of online financing was NT$60 billion. As of the end of 2004, more than 7,919 suppliers were linked up to the system.

2. From the point of view of the supplier, as long as they have an order coming in they can secure financing; there is thus now an effective solution to the problems that SMEs have traditionally experienced in the area of working capital adequacy.

On-line financing applications require neither collateral nor guarantors; the procedures are simple, financing can be secured quickly, and the interest rates are attractive. Suppliers are now able to secure financing more rapidly, and at more advantageous interest rates. It can reduce banks’ labour costs to 90%.and help to bring down their NPL(non-performing loan) ratios by nearly 2%.

3. The Ministry of Finance and the Bankers’ Association have positioned Project C as an important pilot project; they required all banks that did not participate in Project C to establish XML-based cash-flow operations by the end of 2004.

Government used the success of Project C to enhance e-business capabilities and stimulated growth in business opportunities in all sectors. The success of the cash-flow and information exchange integration models that were established in 11 IT sector centre-satellite systems as part of Project C has been extended to 165 IT sectors, and encouraged companies in many other industries to participate in the project. As of the end of 2004, 276 centre-satellite systems in non-IT sectors were involved in the project. In addition, the implementation of Project C has boosted the IT services companies to undertake this commission. The total amount of IT outsourcing business created by Project C is around NT$2 billion.

Project D 1. Taiwanese "Centre" manufacturers, LSPs and ASPs have succeeded in

strengthening their information application capabilities, boosting their efficiency and cutting costs. In the case of the "centre" manufacturers, the amount saved per annum by optimizing logistics and reducing wastage in inventory and key

components amounts to NT$8 billion. The "centre" manufacturers have also helped 1,200 suppliers and LSPs to establish e-business delivery capabilities; 22 of these companies now possess B2Bi and RosettaNet capabilities. As a result of the project, LSPs enjoy savings on transportation and customs clearance

documentation production amounting to around NT$10 million per annum. ASPs have been integrating their operations with 7 leading domestic and overseas delivery service platforms to provide comprehensive shipment tracking data and improve customs clearance efficiency. Project D also involved the formulation and adoption of five RosettaNet PIPs (Partner Interface Processes).

2. As a result of the implementation of Project D, 70% of LSPs’ shipping documentation has now been put online; it is estimated that this can save 26,000 man-hours of work. Project D has helped LSPs to upgrade their delivery information application capabilities; LSPs are now able to monitor and integrate shipment status data effectively online, thereby making it possible for them to provide customers with a more comprehensive range of value added services.

"Centre" manufacturers are now more willing to entrust supplier shipment management and overseas warehouse operation to LSPs. As a result, the scope of global logistics planning in the IT sector has been expanded, and market demand for information services has increased.

3. In order to increase the overall benefits that Project D will bring to Taiwanese industry as a whole, DOIT has also been providing assistance for the promotion of the "Star Delivery" plan, whereby 10 IT manufacturers will be using a shared B2B transaction platform to provide information flow, cash-flow and delivery services for purchasing, shipment tracking and inventory management in both the upstream and downstream segments of the IT sector. It is anticipated that these 10 leading manufacturers will all have their systems on-line by 2004, and that they will be connected to more than 500 Taiwanese IT manufacturers and 5 major domestic and international e-hubs. The network is expected to handle transactions worth more than NT$200 billion a year and create business opportunities worth NT$1.19 billion; it will eventually be one of the world’s largest IT industry communities.

Project E The underlying objective of Project E is to help companies complete the development of new products as rapidly as possible and bring down production costs; at the same time, companies will be able to build a brand-new collaborative relationship with their customers. To achieve these results, companies will need to make use of the collaborative design model to strengthen their ability to exert influence over the formulation of product standards, and achieve improvements in the areas of information transparency, problem follow-up management, design alteration management, sharing of design drawings, design component database applications, collaborative design process management etc. Through the establishment of a collaborative design system, both "centre" manufacturers and suppliers will be able to achieve a significant enhancement of their R&D capabilities. Not only will Taiwanese manufacturers be able to obtain new product development technology and concepts from the leading international vendors, they will also be able to satisfy customers’ needs more effectively and strengthen their relationships with customers.

By 30 June 2004, in all, 21 leading international vendors (including HP, Intel, AMD, Altera, Epson, ViewSonic, Sony, I-O Data, Siemens, Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba and ATi) and 173 Taiwanese suppliers participated in the project. With the gradual completion of Project E, the implementation performances for the whole of Project E have shown outstanding achievements: reducing the R&D cycle of new products down to 34%; raising the e-documents efficiency of product development from 46% to 94%; cutting down the frequency of design alteration/engineering alteration to 42%; raising the capability of new product development up to 47%, etc. Project E has stimulated the development of a "virtual" international R&D community characterized by close collaboration between the participants, and has helped to strengthen the R&D capability of Taiwanese industry.

Source: FIND website (2006)