So Levi's has added three "pool points" (in California, Texas and Florida) to distribute in-bound freight to either Wal-Mart stores or to the distribution centers. In addition, Levi's will ship products for each new season in full carton "prepacks" from its distribution centers to Wal-Mart's distribution centers. The pool points will replenish this supply, working by region to send stacks of jeans to Wal-Mart's distribution network.

As part of this network of facilities, Levi's also developed a scanning tool for its manufacturers to check the accuracy of cartons ready to ship. The company implemented AS2 technology to exchange with Wal-Mart EDI transactions that support collaborative forecasting. And a set of Manugistics applications allow the company to collaborate on demand forecasting, product modifications and orders planning with Wal-Mart. All of those changes mean Levi's can plan, define and ship prepackaged orders to the retailer. Bergen says testing of the new system went well and the company was on schedule for a June delivery as of press time.

To support the Wal-Mart initiative, Bergen helped put together a cross-functional team of employees from IT, finance and sales who helped with planning. That included supporting everything from ordering to logistics to making improvements to the data warehouse. The company also upgraded its networks and its U.S.-based applications, and it is testing to see whether its systems will scale to handle orders from all of Wal-Mart's 3,200 stores.

"The changes to support Wal-Mart are extensive," Bergen says. Eventually, about half of the upgrades required to do business with Wal-Mart in the United States will be replaced by the new SAPSAP system the company will install during the next five years (see "Next Up: A Global ERPERP Rollout," right). Alles zu ERP auf CIO.de Alles zu SAP auf CIO.de

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