A CASE STUDY ON GREEN INFORMATION SYSTEM

The textile industry plays an important role in creating Taiwan’s foreign exchange income. The vast majority of textile enterprises are traditional, labor-intensive small-medium enterprises. Over the recent years, with the increasing consciousness of people’s environmental protection around the world and the pressure of competition on the international markets, many textile companies are forced to pay close attention to the environmental protection. In view of this trend, the textile industry hopes the implementation of a green information system help to investigate the extent of business process improvement after implementing the system and key factors for success with an aim to effectively reduce cost, expand business opportunities, and march toward globalization. In this study, a case study approach is adopted to conduct an on-site survey on one enterprise in the upstream, mid-stream and downstream supply chains respectively. The business management cost is increased at the very beginning of the green supply chain introduction. However, the business process is improved after the implementation of Internet interface. The green supply chain brings external effects: the promotion of corporate image, an increase of customer value and loyalty, reduction of customer complaints, and product conformity to global standards. It also generates internal effects: enhanced supply chain integration (for instance, increased information availability, process efficiency and supply chain partnership), the increase of sales revenue, procurement efficiency, and competitiveness. INTRODUCTION Taiwan’s textile industry recently are facing the threats of low labor and manufacturing costs from China and southeast countries. Furthermore the increased awareness of environmental protection and harsh global competition made the enterprises tale environment-related issues seriously. The REACH system (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restrictions of Chemicals) and PFOS (Perfluorooctane Sulfonate) of the European Union impacts the textile Proceedings of ASBBS Volume 19 Number 1 ASBBS Annual Conference: Las Vegas 512 February 2012 industry most, since it uses chemical substances intensively. Therefore Taiwan’s textile industry turned to aim for functional, high-end, design-oriented textiles. Ho-Yu Textile Corp. is one of the few large companies which owns consolidated upstream and downstream supply chains. Recently, HoYu demonstrated its dedication on green design by recycling PET bottles and turning them into PET fabric and PET cloth. As well, HoYu is also committed to reducing the concentration of hazardous substances, saving the use of natural resources, creating a safe working environment to make their products compliant with applicable laws and regulations. Each year, they not only reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions but also save the material, energy, and disposal costs . In this paper, we will analyze how the textile industry operates. Then, we proceed to investigate the key factors for successful green information systems with SCM focus, and finally find out a suitable operation mode for the textile industry in Taiwan, which responds to the global trends of environmental protection. LITERATURE REVIEW The EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemical substances) aimed to replace other laws to date regarding the control of chemical substances. When it entered into force, more than 30,000 substances imported or manufactured in quantities of more than 1000 tons were under strict control. PFOS concentration of limits is divided into three levels: (1) Product Constituent < 0.005% (w/w/) (50ppm). (2) Semi-finished Product or Parts Thereof < 0.1% (1,000ppm). (3) Textiles or Coatings < 1μg/m2. BPI is considered as an essential tool for optimizing the corporate business processes. In general, Harrington’s BPI involves five stages: organization for Improvement, understanding the process, streamlining, measurement and controls, and continuous improvement. An ICT platform is a complex and varied set of goods, applications and services used for producing, distributing, processing, transforming information. The fast information delivery through the ICT platform not only effectively shortens the product development cycle, but also enhances customization capabilities. GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT In a greening process, enterprises have to work closely with upstream suppliers and downstream customers to effectively manage the supply chain environment. On the whole, a green supply chain consists of the following aspects: