Posts tagged ‘Supply Chain Visibility’

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Ocean World Lines Sails Ahead with New Order Tracking Portal Powered by Management Dynamics’ Supply Chain Visibility Solution

December 17, 2009, 8:52 am

Leading NVOCC Launches OWL360° to Offer Comprehensive Value-added Service to Customers

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, December 17, 2009 — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of global trade management solutions, today announced that Ocean World Lines (OWL), a leading non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC), has launched OWL360°, an order, shipment and inventory tracking portal powered by Management Dynamics’ Supply Chain Visibility solution. This robust and flexible web-based solution allows OWL to provide comprehensive and timely data on purchase orders and shipments across all modes and trade lanes, enabling customers to analyze and improve their supply chain efficiency.

“The highly flexible nature of the OWL360° system allows us to easily adapt to market conditions and our clients’ changing needs as we continue to differentiate, provide added value to our customers and stay ahead of our competitors,” said Alan Baer, President, Ocean World Lines. “We truly value our partnership with Management Dynamics as we work together to continuously create enhancements to the system and additional benefits to the user which has significantly improved our customer loyalty and retention.”

Prior to integrating Management Dynamics’ Supply Chain Visibility solution, OWL’s tracking system was a highly manual process whereas operations personnel input data received from carriers and performed manual queries. With EDI connectivity, automated alerts and reports, the new OWL360° portal automates this process and has significantly improved internal productivity. Today, over 200 customers have seamlessly integrated OWL360° within their supply chain operations. OWL uses analysis and reporting tools to help clients improve their supply chain performance with accurate and timely visibility into the status of their orders across all U.S. and international trade lanes.

“While many companies lack critical supply chain visibility due to highly manual processes or first generation visibility solutions that lack the sophistication to accurately manage inventory in-transit, best-in-class companies such as OWL are adopting advanced technologies that help streamline the supply chain,” said Nathan Pieri, SVP Marketing & Product Management, Management Dynamics. “OWL fully exploits the power of our Supply Chain Visibility solution and delivers a highly differentiated service to its customers.”

In addition to Supply Chain Visibility, OWL utilizes Management Dynamics’ Transportation Management solution to automate ocean pricing and manage service contracts as well as Management Dynamics’ on-demand trade compliance tools to help customers classify goods, calculate landed costs and screen for restricted parties.

About Ocean World Lines

Ocean World Lines is a leading global transportation company providing full-service ocean/air freight, NVOCC, customs brokerage, cargo management and supply chain visibility solutions, with 100,000+ TEUs shipped annually. Established in 1979, OWL’s long-standing relationships with leading ocean carriers enable the company to provide the most competitive pricing, daily sailing schedules and equipment availability for a diverse list of import and export clients. Ocean World Lines operates 12 offices throughout the U.S. and international offices in Germany, United Kingdom and Asia. For more information, please visit www.owlusa.com or call (888) 747-4685.

Please follow this link to learn more about the benefits of  Supply Chain Visibility.

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The Benefits of Software as a Service

December 10, 2009, 1:09 pm

Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions have been something that organizations have been turning to for a while, to manage various IT and operational functions in their organization. In a recent Logistics Management article, Software as a Service (SaaS): The versatile supply chain option, Adrian Gonzalez of ARC Advisory Group discusses some of the benefits of using SaaS.

Boasting shorter implementation times than “purchase and install” options, and less upfront investment, SaaS solutions are particularly useful for shippers that are in the process of “upgrading existing solutions, or in need of new solutions.”

…According to Gonzalez, SaaS appeals to companies of all sizes, and across most industries. He also discussed pricing options, noting that they range from upfront license fees to payments-per-transaction. Most common, he says, is a one-year to three-year subscription model with monthly payments.

In the article, Gonzalez names Transportation Management Systems (TMS) and Global Trade Management (GTM) systemsas the two software packages that are most applicable for SaaS. Using a Transportation Management solution can help shippers manage global airfreight and sea freight contracts, optimize booking decisions by finding the best combination of cost and service, and automate the freight audit process to identify and eliminate invoice overcharges. Logistics providers can see benefits as well – TMS can help them manage buy-side costs, automate quote and proposal generation, comply with tariff filing requirements, and improve sales effectiveness.

Some other GTM solutions, such as Supply Chain Visibility and Trade Portals, address the challenge managing multiple trading partners, all with different information systems and data definitions, and information that can flow at unpredictable times.

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You Might Need Night Vision Goggles to See This Supply Chain!

October 16, 2009, 9:14 am

Britannia may rule the waves, but it’s fallen behind on its supply chain. An article, MoD given two years to improve army logistics systems, found on computing.co.uk, discusses the drab condition of the United Kingdom’s army supply chain. In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Defense has given the army two years to improve its logistics system. Many MPs are furious over the delay in getting troops supplies in Afghanistan, and even through a great deal of urging, the army is still using manual supply chain systems. The department is lacking complete supply chain visibility as well as an inventory management system. The army has elected a committee to deal with this problem, yet the outlook looks grim. Committee chairman, Edward Leigh, said “The process of getting equipment and supplies out to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is undeniably an extremely demanding one. But the fact that the MoD continues to fail to meet its own supply chain targets is of concern.” 

Perhaps they should take a look at Management Dynamics’ solution for Supply Chain Visibility.

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The Good News: Recession’s Almost Over! The Bad News: The Recovery Could be Just as Risky.

October 13, 2009, 12:31 pm

Although analysts are reporting that economic recovery is just around the corner, there are still significant risks associated with this recovery. Companies who have laid off employees and reduced spending in areas such as IT investment will face a tough road ahead. In a recent study done by AMR Research, 44 percent of executives surveyed believe the biggest risk in 2010 will be recovering from the recession.

According to the study:

Respondents said they believe the recovery cycle is the biggest risk in 2010 because of potential commodity price increases, limited internal skills after workforce reductions, and problems meeting new demand with constrained capacity, low inventory and transportation constraints.

This re-enforces a point we’ve been trying to make here over the past few months – although many organizations may be facing major budget cuts across the board, IT spending, specifically in the supply chain, is one area that you cannot afford to make cuts in. Using a technology solution to ensure near real-time visibility into the status of orders, shipments and in-transit inventory can help save you money by avoiding expensive expedited shipments, reducing fees associated with detention, demurrage and per diem.

 

Free Analyst Report: For more tips on how technology can help you achieve optimal supply chain performance, please read this Global Supply Chain Benchmark report from the AberdeenGroup.

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Study: Companies Are Relying on Supply Chains to Cut Costs

September 24, 2009, 2:00 pm

In an era where cost-cutting is a common trend you probably hear about at least once a day, many companies have started turning to their supply chains, specifically sourcing and procurement functions, as a main area to help with boosting revenue and reducing costs. According to the 2009 Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress from CSC, Supply Chain Management Review, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Michigan State University, 88% of respondents reported that objectives are in place for purchasing departments to produce cost-savings in the next year.

According to Chuck Poirier, a supply chain expert who was quoted in the SupplyChainBrain.com summary of the findings:

“We see this trend as evidence of the fact that supply chain is finally becoming entrenched as a company-wide improvement effort. Leaders are implementing strategic supply chain efforts to transform business processes to achieve near-optimum operating conditions. At the same time, most firms identified as followers and laggards have not reached the limit of what can be done to enhance financial performance with their supply chains.”

With this new reliance on supply chain functions, it becomes more important to ensure maximum visibility into the supply chain so that all operations are running as smoothly as possible. Using a Supply Chain Visibility solution such as Management Dynamics can help you ensure visibility, communicate efficiently with carriers and suppliers, and make accurate decisions relating to diverting inventory or resolving bottlenecks.

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Bunzl Implements a Supply Chain Visibility Solution from Management Dynamics

August 19, 2009, 2:27 pm

According to a press release today, Bunzl Distribution, USA, a supplier of disposable paper and plastic packaging supplies, has employed a Supply Chain Visibility solution from Management Dynamics, in order to streamline it’s inbound supply chain.

“With increased international scrutiny being placed on security, safety and compliance, we needed to enhance our existing import compliance program and establish a comprehensive track-and-trace system for real-time visibility to our import shipments in-transit,” said Jerry Foley, Import Export Compliance Officer at Bunzl. “We selected Management Dynamics for its ability to provide supply chain visibility and compliance solutions on a single platform as well as its depth of international trade content, its long standing history in the marketplace, and strong presence in other countries.”

Please follow this link to read the full press release: Bunzl Distribution USA Implements Global Trade Management Platform from Management Dynamics to Streamline its Inbound Supply Chain.

For more information on Management Dynamics’ SCV solution, please click here.

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Ralph Lauren Gives Their Supply Chain a Makeover, Sees Improved Profit Margin

August 14, 2009, 12:46 pm

Despite the fact that their net income went down 19% in Q1, clothing manufacturer Ralph Lauren still managed to improve their profit margin, partly due to savings in their supply chain, logistics and sourcing departments, according to a posting in International Freighting Weekly.

Interested in seeing the same results? Utilizing software to manage your supply chain can help you save thousands by ensuring visibility, allowing effective communication with carriers and suppliers, and promoting optimal decisions related to inventory diversion and bottleneck resolution.

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Survey: Visibility and Environmental Responsibility are Areas for Improvement

July 29, 2009, 2:18 pm

According to a recent supply chain study, visibility and environmental responsibility are the two areas that could use the most improvement. A write-up of the results in Supply & Demand in Executive reports that two-thirds of supply chain and operations professionals have marginal or no visibility across all tiers and levels of their value chain. Please read the full story here.

Concerned that you fall into this group? Try using a software solution to optimize your supply chain visibility.

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Obama’s Health Care Plan and the Medical Supply Chain

June 24, 2009, 9:08 am

President Obama’s proposed health care plan will present some new supply chain challenges to the medical industry if it goes into effect. One of the main goals of the President’s plan is to “assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans.” This would have a significant effect on the supply chains of medical companies. With more people receiving health care, the demand for medical devices and pharmaceuticals will go up. Health care companies must be able to handle this growth by expanding their supply chains as necessary, and ensure that operations are running as efficiently as possible, while keeping costs down. Logistics Management raises this point in their analysis of UPS’s recent survey of health care professionals. Eighty-one percent of respondents said that they were highly concerned about managing costs and, according to the analysis, this is due to the pending health care legislation.

I won’t get in to the political debate on the pros and cons of this plan, but I will say that now would be a good time for health care companies to start implementing supply chain best practices and techniques to ensure they are ready when change starts happening.

Free download: AberdeenGroup – Global Supply Chain Benchmark Report. This report from Aberdeen discusses some key global supply chain enhancements that are critical for success.

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Despite Economic Recession, Sourcing Remains a Strong Trend

June 23, 2009, 10:20 am

Even though most corporations have implemented cost-cutting measures in recent months, one trend remains prevalent. MFGWatch conducted a survey on more than 200 purchasing professionals and engineers in the manufacturing industry, and 69% said that in the past year they had maintained or grown sourcing. Here’s Logistics Today’s analysis of the survey results: 2008 Sourcing Needs Stayed Steady, 2009 Big Moves are on Hold

In order to reap the cost-saving benefits of sourcing from all over the world, it is important to have an efficiently managed supply chain. Using a software solution such as Management Dynamics can ensure that you are communicating efficiently with all of your trading partners.

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