For a wholesale company sourcing 90% of its products from Asia, we developed a supply chain portal that has transformed their operational efficiency. Previously, the client relied heavily on email and phone to communicate with their trusted producers in Asia. Files were shared as email attachments and manually transferred between systems—a time-consuming process prone to errors and inefficiencies.
The client already had a Mendix license, which made it easy to scale with an additional Mendix application. After defining the requirements, we delivered the first version of the supply chain portal in just four months.
Key Features of the Supply Chain Portal:
Automated Order Management
Purchase orders are automatically transmitted from the ERP system to suppliers at the line-item level via the portal. Each order includes all relevant product data essential for production tracking.
Real-Time Collaboration
Price negotiations, quantity updates, quality discussions, production schedules, and delivery dates are handled directly in the portal, eliminating the need for email.
Agent Access and Progress Tracking
Agents in Asia can access the portal to monitor progress and schedule quality checks with producers.
Proactive Notifications
Dashboards and notification emails alert producers and agents about new purchase orders, changes to existing orders, and approaching deadlines for production start and shipment.
Nearly all producers and agents now actively use the portal, delivering significant efficiency gains for both the client and their suppliers.
We recently added functionality to provide complete visibility into container data and the shipping process. Users can visually track the vessel carrying their container, see its current location, and view the expected arrival date at the destination port.
As a result, email communication with producers has been drastically reduced, and manual data entry errors are a thing of the past.
This project has created a true win-win scenario, boosting efficiency, reducing errors, and fostering stronger collaboration between the client and their producers.
