Electronic Commerce at Air Products Chemical Inc., (1998)

QUESTIONS: 1. Review the web presence of APCI. In 1998 Air Products Chemicals Inc. realize that in the highly competitive market of gases and chemicals business and the international growing community of gas business, has faced the crude reality that electronic commerce capability was not a strategic of business, is more like a necessity.Annual surveys has results that the technology officers in the chemical industry indicated a shift in priorities from the building of a corporation intranet infrastructure to enabling the same infrastructure to connect with customers, suppliers, and partners in 1998, creating a benchmark present on the web that will create infinite routs of opportunities.

The Chief Information Officers cited computer-supported collaborative work, electronic commerce, and Internet systems as critical technologies in 1998, according to surveys conducted by Computer Sciences Corp. ost companies have completed in-house reengineering tasks and are ready to put new systems to work managing whole supply chains. The increasing strategic importance of electronic commerce and provide excellence service to the costumers has call the attention of the senior executives of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. , an international corporation with headquarters in Trexlertown, whit multibillion sales during the pass years and is the second gas industry in the USA just behind of Praxair, and was the fourth largest provider in the worldwide market as a result of an strong web-present.Air Products Management Information Systems (MIS) Vice President Joe McMakin and his colleagues recognized the opportunity: they could improve service to customers by automating the buying, selling, and distribution of products, while simultaneously improving productivity and realizing cost savings. Air Product has invested the time and effort to create an outstanding web page and service that will provide excellence service and sales to costumers and revenue to shareholders and owners.

2. How was APCI involved in the use of the Intranet and Extranet?Like all companies looking to cut costs and reach new customers, Air Products Chemical Inc. have taken major steps during the years to expand their own E-commerce and supply-chain management initiatives, using as example at&t, Levi Stratus, 3M and etc. to create a excellence intranet systems that will create easy communication between employees and keep the internet interloper’s out. Whit this system at the same can provide some of the industry's biggest names are behind efforts to create competing online exchanges for Air Products chemical buyers and sellers.Using the Intranet and the Extranet is forcing chemical makers to rethink how they do business.

The primary reason Air Products has a strong presence on the World Wide Web and this present create a great environment to costumer place orders, track orders, technical support and maintain communication whit the company. Air Product’s Web site can communicates today vast amounts of corporate, product and technical information. Intranets and Extranets are changing the way that Air Product’s are doing business with their suppliers and customers, as well as within their own organizations.They allow the organization and dissemination of information, share calendar appointments and documents, assign and manage project tasks, and enable efficient communication to all personnel that can be accessible from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection.

Air Product’s Intranets and Extranets are contributing to an increased efficiency and customer satisfaction service. 3. What should APCI do now? Air Product’s is in the correct state of mind, the benefits of Internet and Web-based electronic commerce using traditional EDI methods is a great approach.EDI system is has a great beneficial for a larger firms like Air Product’s that have enough sales volume to justify the costs of developing their own networks or sub scribing to a value-added network. The VAN is a service to which a firm can subscribe and provide many services, including data transmission, EDI translation, and store and forward messaging of transaction data, this approach is a great improve to make the company very profitable.Today’s low cost of connecting to the Internet for an big, medium and small businesses this system can provide a great form to do business.

This web programing provided to the department of Management Information Systems and software developments that allow Web-based EDI systems to interface with traditional EDI systems for the company and that’s mean in todays market that Air Products can interact whit all their clients.This system can vastly expands the number of potential electronic business partners for the company, some of which may be a substantial geographical distance away. Air Product’s invest in this electronic infrastructure is a key in supplied and negotiating volume discounts, and better integrating the products selling process. Whit this system Air Products can potentially reduce the costs for all clients, regardless of size; due to the increased ability to interact electronically with one another and whit this system data transmission costs can be lowered.Air Products philosophy, as keep moving forward in the new millennium is a grate one that can provide whit excellence service.

The joint whit IBM and American Express it was wise move, using this giants to increase his authority on the net. Reference: Chang, C. M. , (2005). Engineering Management: Challenges in the New Millennium. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Electronic Commerce at Air Products Chemical Inc. , (1998). Harvard Business School. 9-399-035, August 19