A&D have always led the way in utilising the latest IT developments within the corporate wear market where there is clear added value for the customer. We intend to maintain this strategic advantage for the benefit of all our customers present and future.
eProcurement
This takes many forms and provides a method of communication in a standard format for business transactions. The goal is to allow faster and easier
buying of clothing and reduced administration time and therefore costs of manual entry for our customers and
A&D. With reduced costs comes lower prices.
We currently offer scalable services which our in house IT specialists are able to configure to individual requirements. We keep this service in house to ensure speed of response in the implementation stage, and full support ongoing.
Case studies of recent implementations demonstrating differing levels of eProcurement:
Punchout
Hilton® hotel group, who have relied on A&D for many years as their primary corporate wear supplier have adopted Birchstreet® for their supply chain management and have asked its key suppliers to host catalogues which automate the ordering process.
In June 08 A&D launched its Punchout solution for Hilton® and is successfully receiving orders from multiple hotels.
A Hilton® buyer can build a purchase order from multiple diverse suppliers. This single order will then only require one authorisation before being electronically split and sent to the multiple suppliers to be automatically entered into the suppliers system as a sales order. For a garment purchase A&D appear as a supplier. On clicking the link our hosted catalogue of approved Hilton® garments are displayed and using simple selection and clicking images and drop down boxes a virtual shopping cart is crated. When the cart is complete and is submitted a purchase order is created in Birchstreet® and later on approval a sales order created in A&D's X3 system ready for shipment.
This process saves considerable time for both partners and is available for anyone wishing to utilise this service.
Full or Partial EDI
Utilising the latest in computer technology JD Wetherspoon and A&D Corporate Clothing have a fully integrated IT solution for managing their garment requirements.
Utilising the latest EDI systems orders are received electronically straight into A&D's X3 system where they are picked, packed and dispatched the same day.
An electronic receipt of order is sent immediately and this is followed by an electronic file on shipment giving full details of the delivery.
On receipt of the goods the pub confirms each product received. This generates an automatic invoice on the JDW system and A&D produce their own invoice, but it is not required for payment.
As the transaction is completed, delivery confirmed and an invoice raised automatically, all on the same original authorised order number, payment is authorised quickly.
Clientzone™
London United Busses have utilised the on line ordering facility of Clientzone for
many years along with dozens of other contract customers. Customised order
forms have been created and allow orders to be placed for each separate grade of
staff by selecting from drop down boxes in a form.
Each form has been tailored to ensure only approved garments are allowed to be ordered, and restrictions on mix of products and quantities are set within the form. Click for more details ofClientzone™
Technical bit
We currently integrate with systems as industry specific as Birchstreet and as broad as SAP. File formats include csv, Xml, cXML and EDI message format Tradacom 9 amongst others. We communicate using http (xmlrpc, soap, as2), ftp, and e-mail.
