Archive for November 2009

Management Dynamics Releases Trade Wizards 10.0 Web-based Research Tool

November 18, 2009, 11:56 am

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, November 18, 2009 — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management solutions, today announced the release of Trade Wizards 10.0, a Web-based portal to trade content from 122 countries that facilitates the research of complex trade questions. The new release makes it easier for companies to classify products, calculate landed costs and perform document determination at the Harmonized Schedule (HS) level. In addition, a new user experience allows users to manage their searches and ultimately find information faster.

“Trade Wizards is an invaluable tool for our global trade team and we use it daily to quickly and accurately classify our products, determine applicable import or export controls, or to answer a question from the business on total landed cost,” said Glenda Welch, Director of Corporate Logistics and Transportation, Belkin International. “The latest version of Trade Wizards is much easier to use, allowing us to conduct our research more efficiently and to fully tap into Management Dynamics’ trade content library including the new HS-based document templates.”

Management Dynamics’ Trade Wizards 10.0 enables the user to make quick, interactive queries using a standard Web browser to calculate landed cost, screen for restricted trade parties, search for HS and Export Control Number (ECN) classifications, identify applicable regulatory controls, and determine trade documents. Management Dynamics maintains the trade content needed to answers these questions for 122 countries or approximately 99 percent of the world market. What used to require many hours to manually research trade rules and regulations can be achieved in minutes using Trade Wizards 10.0.

New key features available on Trade Wizards 10.0 include:

  • New Classification Workflow – Perform complex searches that include the tariff number and either a legal or common term to quickly find relevant classifications. Also, searches may be defined with complete Boolean logic and search results are displayed in a tree format to simplify the navigation to a classification.
  • Landed Cost Calculator Scenarios – Build landed cost scenarios with multiple origin countries to quickly identify the minimum landed costs with respect to product invoice, duty, VAT, excise, other governmental charges, transportation and insurance.
  • Restricted Party Screening – Screen with an improved screening engine and access to Management Dynamics’ coverage of 94 restricted party lists offering the highest level of compliance with the lowest rate of false positives. 
  • Document Determination - Determine the documents required for exporting and importing based on country of export, country of import, and HS number. Results returned include hundreds of documents required for exports, imports, preferential agreements and product specific documents based on the HS number provided.

Trade Wizards 10.0 functionality is available in a highly intuitive user experience with online help that can be used immediately with no user training.

“As businesses continue to globalize at a fast pace, it is important for supply chain teams to have the resources they need to keep up with the ever-changing trade regulations and supporting content,” said Nathan Pieri, SVP Marketing & Product Management, Management Dynamics, Inc. “The latest Trade Wizards 10.0 release takes a big step forward on usability and ultimately makes it easier for users to accurately answer their toughest trade questions.”

 

For more on Management Dynamics’ Global Trade Content solutions, please visit our Global Trade Success blog.

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AMR Research Ranks Top Healthcare Supply Chains

November 18, 2009, 8:55 am

AMR Research has named Johnson & Johnson as the top health care supply chain for 2009. This top 25 list, released annually, “identifies the global companies that have best demonstrated leadership in building supply chain excellence and innovation. Specifically, these companies have focused on applying demand-driven principles to their operations to drive significant business results.” According to AMR, the supply chain has not been considered a strategic function at many health care companies, and as a result supply chain innovation in health care has lagged behind other industries. (Side note: If President Obama passes his health care reform initiatives, this is something that will need to change in the health care industry. Check out my previous post on this issue: Obama’s Health care Bill and the Medical Supply Chain.)

J&J has implemented “a series of targeted, enterprise-wide initiatives that focus both on the customer and operational efficiencies. The company strengthens these internal initiatives by actively participating in industry forums and engaging key hospital customers in supply chain pilots aimed at identifying and unlocking joint value.” All of the companies on the list demonstrated several key traits - biodirectional visibility, enabling technologies, collaboration, business process innovation, alignment, and integrated demand-driven supply networks:

Source: AMR Research

Source: AMR Research

(Congrats to the Management Dynamics customers who made it on to the list!)

To read the full report from AMR Research, please go to The AMR Research Healthcare Top 25 for 2009.

Download Case Study: Learn how one company in the medical technology industry improved its supply chain with an automated solution from Management Dynamics: Trade Automation Remedies Complex Compliance Operations for Medical Technologies Company.

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Supply Chain Tips for Retailers

November 11, 2009, 12:51 pm

Inbound Logistics published a feature story a couple of months ago containing supply chain advice for retailers, namely: consolidation and collaboration. The article uses Stein Mart as an example of how supply chain consolidation can improve overall efficiency. Until recently, carriers were dropping off merchandise directly from vendors to Stein Mart locations daily, and it was up to the employees at each location to remove packing slips from each carton, enter data into the system, and do a count verification – all very time consuming. Now, Stein Mart uses three (soon to be five) consolidation centers operated by third-party logistics providers. Carriers pick up merchandise from the vendors, deliver to the facilities, where they are sorted and shipped to three distribution centers. There, workers attach tickets, check for missing hangers, and ship off to Stein Mart stores around the country. Each Stein Mart now receives shipments one to two times per week.

According to Stein Mart’s VP of Supply Chain, in the Inbound Logistics article, they have gained savings in transportation costs and store efficiency:

The first gain that Stein Mart expects from this consolidation strategy involves transportation savings. “We get the benefit of lower rates inbound from vendors to consolidation points via LTL or truckload, as well as savings from moving shipments in truckload quantities to store distribution centers,”Schart says.

The second benefit is greater store efficiencies. “This strategy allows for much larger consolidated store deliveries, which lets us schedule receiving staff in a more focused way,” he says.

The benefits and cost savings of implementing a strategy such as Stein Mart’s can be tremendous (the article states that Stein Mart estimates the initiative will save $20 million in 2010!). But with additional parties  now involved in the supply chain management process, it becomes more important to ensure that suppliers, vendors, forwarders and carriers all have access to the data they need when they need it. This can be complicated by the realities of the global network: multiple trading partners, all with different information systems and data definitions, and information that can flow at unpredictable times. Using a supply chain visibility software solution can address the complexity of the global network with the capabilities needed to provide users with consistent, reliable, and timely information.

Please go here to read the full Inbound Logistics article: Refashioning Retail Supply Chains

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Download Case Study: See how one company, Glazer’s Family of Companies, uses Management Dynamics Supply Chain Visibility solution to access real-time data on shipment dispatches and warehouse receipts. Users can now better manage safety stock levels at each distribution centre, avoid expediting and reduce domestic transportation costs.

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General Motors Taking Steps to Improve Supplier Relations

November 11, 2009, 9:46 am

At a conference this month, General Motors VP of Global Vehicle Engineering Mark Reuss stressed the importance of developing and maintaining good relationships with suppliers. According to an article on ReliablePlant.com,

GM recently has taken several steps to improve supplier relationships, including revising its supplier cost reduction suggestion program to let suppliers keep a larger share of savings generated from cost reduction ideas that are implemented. In addition, GM recently announced that later this year, it will begin paying direct material suppliers weekly instead of monthly. This move will allow suppliers to better manage their cash flow and reduce the need to borrow money to run their businesses.

When an organization has healthy communication with their suppliers, they are better able to tap into the suppliers’ industry knowledge, and come up with new ideas for products, services, and ways things can be run more efficiently and cost-effectively. It is important to set up a collaborative two-way relationship that can deliver value to both parties.

Related to this, is the importance of establishing a way to measure supplier performance. (Curious about the distinction between supplier relationship management and supplier performance management? Check out my blog post from a few months ago on the subject.) Global supply chains are complex, inter-connected systems that must be managed by establishing key performance indicators, measuring the process, analyzing results and developing strategies to continuously improve performance.

Management Dynamics’ Performance Management solution integrates with our GTM solutions to access the wealth of operational data that is available in supply chain visibility and across key export, import and trade agreement processes which span from order to final delivery. Users across various functions can access Performance Management to run Web-reports or manage key metrics through scorecards.

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CTDI Reduces Corporate Risk with Management Dynamics’ RPS On-Demand Solution

November 10, 2009, 2:11 pm

Technology Services Company Improves Trade Compliance with Comprehensive Screening of Restricted Parties

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management (GTM) solutions, today announced that Communications Test Design, Inc (CTDI), a full service global engineering, repair and logistics company, implemented its RPS On-Demand solution, an advanced risk management solution that screens individuals and businesses to identify prohibited transactions based upon over 90 restricted party lists. Since automating restricted party screening, CTDI has significantly reduced corporate risk and improved compliance with global trade and security regulations while minimizing time and resources required for screening.

Providing repair and logistics services for major Telecom and Cable service providers and OEMs, CTDI also provides the service of screening shipments for many of its customers. CTDI needed to streamline its screening process across multiple order management systems and 25 locations. The company selected Management Dynamics’ RPS On-Demand solution for its functionality, ease of use, and ability to centralize its compliance with multi-org and team-based workflow to enable its global branches to easily manage their own customer shipments.

“We needed to prevent any illegal transactions with restricted entities or trade parties and avoid potential fines and penalties for CTDI and its telecom customers. We had previously relied on a fragmented, incomplete process,” said Greg Pugh, Global Compliance Manager, CTDI. “Management Dynamics provided the best value and came highly recommended by many authorities in the trade industry. It was also very important that the screening did not create a cumbersome distraction during high volume shipping processes. Since using the RPS On-Demand solution, we have significantly reduced our corporate risk, liability and exposure to prohibited transactions.”

Available on a flexible, on-demand architecture, Management Dynamics’ RPS On-Demand solution addressed CTDI’s needs with a secure, comprehensive method to automate screening of its customers, vendors, and other trading partners against all restricted party lists from governmental institutions worldwide. With improved screening algorithms based on computational linguistics, RPS On-Demand delivers at least a 30 percent improvement in screening accuracy with a 70 percent reduction in false positives over traditional methods. The Web-based solution integrates with any enterprise system and can be quickly and cost-effectively implemented.

“Today, exporters are held to a higher level of accountability to meet government mandates than ever before,” said Jim Preuninger, CEO of Management Dynamics. “CTDI uses our RPS On-Demand solution to centralize and streamline its compliance process to improve productivity and effectively manage supply chain risk.”

About CTDI
A premier Telecommunications service company headquartered in West Chester, PA., CTDI has provided groundbreaking maintenance and product service solutions to the global telecommunications industry since 1975. Today, CTDI offers the most comprehensive Service Portfolio in the industry that includes: Wireline Repair & Logistics, Wireless Repair & Logistics, Engineering and Installation services, Global Supply Chain solutions and Product Engineering and Manufacturing. Today, CTDI services Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and Carriers with 42 international strategic repair and logistics locations supported by an experienced team of over 4,500 telecommunications professionals. For more information, visit www.ctdi.com.http://www.managementdynamics.com/html/rl_wp_rps.html

Learn More About Restricted Party Screening
Download our white paper, Six Best Practices to Improve Compliance With a Restricted Party Screening Solution, and gain a better understanding of how to select and get the fastest return from your screening investment.

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New Report Shows the Negative Effects of Outsourcing and Expanded Supply Chains

November 4, 2009, 8:33 am

Over the past few years, we have seen companies outsource more and more, and as a result supply chains have grown more complex. The goal of this outsourcing was to reduce costs – if a manufacturer can get their supplies cheaper by using an outside source, then of course they are going to go with the most economical decision. The more a company outsources, the more complicated their supply chain becomes, and according to a new study released by the Business Continuity Institute, the greater the risk for supply chain disruption. The manufacturing industry in particular has been the hardest hit from supply chain failure – manufacturers have reported a 58% increase in disruption to their supply chains over the last 12 months, compared to 35% across all industry sectors.

The reason for this increased supply chain disruption is because if more parties are involved in the supply chain, there is a higher risk for one of those parties having a problem, such as financial failure, and causing issues for the entire supply chain.

According to one director at the Business Continuity Institute, quoted in the press release,

“We’re now seeing the downside of years of outsourcing, extended supply chains and focus on core competency; organizations are now much more vulnerable to supply chain disruption than in the past. While companies have banked the cost savings, this research indicates they have still to make the corresponding investment in resilience. The economic recession, in particular, is exposing vulnerabilities and dependencies through supplier insolvencies, reduced capacity and the tightness of credit markets. Business continuity management provides a robust and proven approach to prepare an organization for and protect against disruption in its supply chain.”

Communication among suppliers, forwarders, carriers, customs brokers, and all trading partners involved is very important to avoid the risks associated with a complex supply chain. For tips on how large, mid-market, and small companies are improving their supply chain performance, please read the Aberdeen Group’s Global Supply Chain Benchmark Report (free download!).

A summary of the above BCI report is available for download here, and the press release can be found here.

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