Supply chain needs pros

CONCERNED by the lack of supply chain management professionals in the country, 2GO of the Aboitiz Transport System Group encouraged youth leaders to embark on a “unique” career in the supply chain business.

Belle Pacetes, 2GO training manager, revealed during the Third Aboitiz-organized Future Leaders Business Summit last Friday that the company has observed a “wide gap” in the supply chain industry caused by the lack of professionals in the business.

“There is, currently, no formal training or education (to produce) professionals. Most practitioners in the supply chain industry (acquired) their expertise from experience, training, simply being on the job (and) learning the ropes,” she said.

2GO is the supply chain solutions provider under the Aboitiz Transport System (ATS), the transport and logistics company of Aboitiz and Co. (ACO) that is owned by publicly-listed Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV). From the release of the goods from the manufacturer to the delivery of the products to customers nationwide, 2GO’s supply chain services include warehousing, order entry and releasing, transport planning and routing, delivery to customers nationwide, and document management, among others.

To address the high demand and help the youth develop core competencies required for the job, 2GO launched a supply chain management course with the Jose Rizal University (JRU), De la Salle College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB), Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) and the Society of Fellows in Supply Management (SOFSM).

Scholarships

2GO recently granted 15 full four-year scholarships in JRU that now offers Bachelor of Commercial Science major in Supply Management, focusing on sourcing and procurement, manning and replenishment, logistics operations, and customer service.

DLSU-CSB and TIP will offer a similar course as post-graduate studies to be launched this year.

Pacetes explained that these courses can be taken as a certificate course to be completed in two years or a full degree completed in four years.

2GO is also planning to partner with local higher education institutions, such as the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

“Our mission is to help our customers and our country gain competitive advantage through reduced overall cost by eliminating processes and layers or middlemen,” said Pacetes.

She said that by diversifying its product offerings and getting into the supply chain business, 2GO has been able to weather the negative effects of rising fuel prices. (NRC)
Source-sunstar.com.ph

PathGuide Technologies Recognized for Innovation by Supply & Demand Chain Executive

PathGuide Technologies, a leading provider of warehouse management systems (WMS) for wholesale and industrial distributors, today announced that the company has been included on the Supply & Demand Chain Executive annual '100' list of supply chain solution providers, consultants and other organizations that help lead the way in transforming companies' supply and demand chains.

The special focus of this year's '100' was supply chain innovation.

'We're delighted to receive this recognition from Supply & Demand Chain Executive,' said Eric Allais, president and CEO of PathGuide Technologies. 'Delivering warehouse management solutions that meet each customer's unique distribution requirements, and wrapping those solutions in the industry's best dedicated service and support is our core focus. It's a pleasure to be part of the annual ‘100' ranking.'

Supply & Demand Chain Executive has identified leading providers of supply chain services and technologies who are at the forefront of innovation. Based on submissions to the '100' from end users and solution providers, the judging committee for the '100,' including editorial staff of the magazine, in conjunction with the editorial advisory board, has compiled a list of leading supply and demand chain innovators.

'Our goal with this year's ‘100' is to highlight a broad range of solutions and services targeted at a variety of industries, addressing the needs of companies of varying sizes and assisting in the transformation of a diverse mix of the functions that make up the supply chain,' explained Andrew K. Reese, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. 'Therefore, our judging committee looked for solutions across a variety of industries, addressing the needs of companies of varying sizes, and assisting in the transformation of a diverse mix of the functions that make up the supply chain.'

Final recipients are featured in the cover story of the June/July issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive, and can be found online at www.SDCExec.com/SDCE100.

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive's user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage.

About PathGuide Technologies
PathGuide Technologies, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1989, is a leading provider of WMS solutions for wholesale and industrial distributors across North America. PathGuide's software and services help suppliers increase productivity and order accuracy, improve customer service and lower labor costs, ultimately driving greater profitability. To learn how distributors of all sizes can benefit from improved warehouse management, visit www.pathguide.com.
Source-pr-inside.com

Manufacturing Executives Eye Supply Chain to Drive Growth and Control Costs

Manufacturing executives plan to use supply chain as a key mechanism to improve both top- and bottom-line performance, despite challenges of the current economic environment, according to results of a recent survey prepared by management consulting firm Archstone Consulting.

Nearly three-quarters of the 265 manufacturing executives surveyed in Archstone's Manufacturing Executive Agenda for 2008 felt that the current market pressures, including sharply rising commodity prices, a sluggish economy and foreign competition, may be triggering significant transformational changes within manufacturing organizations.

"Over 80 percent of manufacturers have responded to the current economic climate by devising aggressive agendas to boost sales and cut costs," said Todd Lavieri, president and CEO of Archstone Consulting.

Two of the four most common ways that executives plan to bolster performance in 2008 depended upon the capabilities of supply chain.

"An interesting pattern emerged, in that manufacturers across the board have high expectations for their supply chains to both boost revenues and reduce costs," said John Ferreira, industrial manufacturing practice leader at Archstone Consulting.

"In the past manufacturers simply used their supply chains as a means to control costs by improving efficiencies," Ferreira continued. "Now they are using their supply chains as a mechanism to boost revenue and improve customer satisfaction through capabilities like better management of highly customized products, quicker delivery times and more integrated services."

The four executive agenda items shared by manufacturers in all industries include:

• Increasing revenue growth by leveraging supply chain capabilities to add value to products and services.
• Reducing costs with supply chain efficiency improvements.
• Improving product innovation.
• Controlling direct material costs.

Industry Trends
Archstone also identified several major industry trends in its Manufacturing Executives Agenda for 2008 surveys, including:

• Aerospace & Defense: Nearly 70 percent plan to simultaneously increase revenues and reduce costs by 3 percent or more.
• Consumer Packaged Goods: Nearly 90 percent anticipate cost reductions of 3 percent or greater. CPG executives cited managing direct material and commodity costs as the most important to achieving cost targets.
• Electrical & Electronic Equipment: Over 90 percent consider the sluggish economy to be a major constraint, and less than half expect revenue growth of 3 percent or more.
• Pharmaceuticals: Nearly 70 percent expect to reduce costs by 3 percent or higher, and 72 percent anticipate revenue growth of 3 percent or more.

Archstone Consulting launched the Manufacturing Executive Agenda for 2008 survey in April to examine which macroeconomic constraints are having the most significant impact on manufacturing executives, what cost and revenue targets have been established, and what strategies or areas of focus executives are evaluating to achieve those targets. Over 265 respondents participated in this survey.
Source-sdcexec.com

Cardinal Health steps in as Prime Therapeutics’ primary supplier

Cardinal Health Inc. has taken over as the primary pharmaceutical supplier for a Minnesota company that serves nearly 15 million people nationwide.

Dublin-based Cardinal said it struck a three-year deal with Prime Therapeutics, a St. Paul-based pharmacy benefits manager. Through the deal, terms for which the companies didn’t disclose, Cardinal will be primarily supplying two Prime facilities in Irving, Texas, and Albuquerque, N.M., that serve the company’s mail-order consumers.

Sheila Thelemann, a Prime spokeswoman, declined to dislose the name of the distributor it cut ties with, but said it made the switch to gain access to a wider range of generic pharmaceuticals and receive quicker delivery.

Prime provides pharmaceutical benefits for about 14.6 million people through Blue Cross and Blue Shield, employer, union and third-party plans. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio isn’t among Prime’s clients, Thelemann said.

Tara Schumacher, a Cardinal spokeswoman, said Prime is in line for additional supply-chain services as well. Details are still being finalized, but Schumacher said Cardinal often works with facilities such as Prime’s mail-order centers to streamline ordering and receiving processes.

“Once the medication gets through the door, we’re trying to remove as many steps as possible,” Schumacher said. “If they can be more efficient, they drive costs out.”

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), the largest publicly traded corporation in the state, recorded a $1.9 billion profit on $86.9 billion in revenue in fiscal 2007 ended June 30. The company employs about 43,000 worldwide.

Prime employs about 1,600 and managed more than $8.2 billion in prescription drug spending last year. The company declined to disclose annual revenue.

Source-bizjournals.com

CDC Software's Respond Product Line Delivers First Half 2008 License Sales that Exceed all of 2007

CDC Software, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and a provider of industry-specific enterprise software and services, today announced its CDC Respond product line, a suite of enterprise complaint and feedback management solutions, has demonstrated an approximate 62 percent increase in license revenue growth for the first half of 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier and a 133 percent increase in license sales for the second quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter last year.

For the first half of 2008, 54 percent of the license revenue for CDC Respond was generated from new customers and 46 percent from existing customers. Of that license revenue, 44 percent of customers were from the financial services sector, 25 percent from the government sector with the remainder coming from the utilities and general business sectors. Over the last several quarters, CDC Respond has generated new business with both new and existing customers including: Telford & Wrekin Council and Essex County Council, both of whom are United Kingdom government organizations, United Utilities, a U.K. utility, and a leading United States-based bank, which represents a seven figure transaction and the largest CDC Respond sales deal to-date.

Since CDC Software acquired Respond Group in February 2007, several new CDC Respond products have been launched and CDC Respond has seen a rapid growth in sales. "We believe that this growth trend is primarily a result of market conditions forcing organizations to use customer retention and customer service as competitive differentiators," said James Heavey, president, CDC Respond product line, CDC Software.

"The success of CDC Respond shows there is robust opportunities in the enterprise complaints management market," according to Andy Hayler, Bloor Research. "The new products demonstrate ongoing innovation and the impressive customer case studies, including a major U.K. retail bank deployment of 32,000 licenses worldwide, suggest CDC Respond is headed for continued success."

"We are very pleased to see such strong organic growth for CDC Respond with the first half license sales for 2008 exceeding the whole year of 2007," said Bruce Cameron, executive vice president, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, CDC Software. "In a slower economy, companies are looking at innovative technology solutions such as CDC Respond to help them increase customer satisfaction and retention. We believe that CDC Respond is strategically well positioned as a leading solution provider in this space. We have and are continuing to see strong traction and our second half pipeline reflects this. We want to build on the strong momentum we generated over the last few quarters, including record license sales in the United States and United Kingdom, including a multi-million dollar transaction with a leading commercial bank in the United States."
Source-marketwatch.com

Supply chain management software set to top the sales charts

Software industry experts are predicting that supply chain management software will generate a staggering £4 billion of sales by 2010, which would make it one of the world’s most widely bought global business specialist applications.

Supply chain management software has proved extremely popular over the last 30 years with businesses that operate in time and cost conscious production and distribution environments. As with most cutting-edge technologies, supply chain management software functionality has undergone exponential advances, especially in the last five years which have allowed it to keep pace with an ever-changing business world.

It is the adaptive nature of the software and its ability to drive successful businesses that will propel supply chain management software to the top of the software sales charts. At the outset, early systems focused purely on transactions, but it wasn’t until the recent advent of client server technology that supply chain management systems could be more easily understood and accepted by users.

Organisations are increasingly operating across a number of time zones on different continents, and as well as the geographical and cultural challenges faced, there is the added problem of multiple distribution channels. With greater emphasis placed on empowerment of users through access to information, supply chain executives have added pressure piled on them to ensure that they embrace globalisation, battle obsolescence and also to contain costs, in addition to their day job!

The trials and tribulations of supply chain executives make them aggressive when demanding improvements to software. They want something that can do all the above and make sure they can control inventory and suppliers, and supply chain management software companies are more than happy to oblige. They are quick to adopt new technologies in their quest for the perfect supply chain management software and have naturally embraced the web in their designs.

Indeed, the internet acts as a superb connectivity tool for supply chain management software. A whole suite of collaborative programs for the entire supply chain can be operated over the web, which impacts positively on forecasting and planning while providing a transparent view of the performance measures.

Today’s advanced systems can bring together a huge number of suppliers at the click of a mouse, using XML web services and trading portals, and have certainly come a long way from the primitive EDI systems of the 1970s. But, possibly the biggest difference between today’s successful supply chain management systems and their forerunners is the impact they have in helping workers make decisions.

That is the true value of any successful system, allowing the business to keep the supply chain in perfectly efficient working order while providing many opportunities to control increasingly diverse supplier relationships and inventory portfolios. For as long as there are companies operating in aggressively competitive markets, the future looks bright for sales of supply chain management software.

Disclaimer: Matthew Pressman writes for a wide variety of commercial clients. This article is intended for information purposes only and readers should seek additional information before taking any actions based on its content.

Source-bestsyndication.com

Where Does the U.S. Stand in the Global Market?

Customers and competitors alike used to be just a short drive away. All business was local. But the entire world has changed over the last twenty years thanks to globalization. The forest products industry is no stranger to this trend. What has taken place abroad, especially in Asia, has forever impacted the business landscape in North America. Although the furniture industry and some other large wood users have primarily moved offshore, there remain some bright spots for the future of America’s forest products industry.

Hakan Ekstrom, president of Wood Resources International LLC (WRI), agreed to discuss with the TimberLine recent developments in the global wood market. As a leading consultant and publisher of market reports, Ekstrom keeps tabs on international markets. His expertise includes on-site evaluations of forest resources, raw material flows (logs and wood chips), forest products trade, wood cost outlook (pulpwood prices and sawlog prices) and forest industry developments worldwide.

WRI has successfully completed more than 200 consulting assignments in over 35 countries. WRI publishes two quarterly timber price reports The North American Wood Fiber Review and the Wood Resource Quarterly.

Ekstrom talked about some of the most pressing issues facing the global forest products industry and shared a surprisingly optimistic view of America’s position in the market.

TimberLine: Russia has announced that it will impose stiff tariffs next year on exported logs in an effort to encourage more domestic production of finished wood products. How will this impact the global market given the vast forest reserves that Russia holds?

Ekstrom: If we assume that there won’t be any changes in the new tariffs, then there will be a lot less logs coming out of Russia. Small hardwood logs are exempt from the higher tariffs, but large Birch logs mainly going for plywood in Finland and all softwood logs will stay in Russia after January 2009.

Countries that are currently importing these logs (mainly Finland, China and Japan), have to look elsewhere for softwood logs if they want to continue to supply their industry. Indirectly this may increase competition for logs coming from other parts of the world. This will lead to higher log costs in some markets. Some businesses and even countries will have to evaluate whether or not they want to scale back production or keep current levels in place.

The Russian situation will lead to increased opportunities for raw logs coming from the United States and Canada. This trend has already started as more Hemlock on the West Coast is being sent to Korea. I believe that some companies are not waiting until January to start looking for alternative sources of material. Companies in Finland are looking at Sweden and the Baltic states for additional logs. The global flow of logs has already started to change, and we will see more of that in the near future. In the long term, we may see more countries decide to import more finished products and process fewer logs.

TimberLine: Newspapers are filled with reports about illegal logging taking place around the globe. Will efforts to encourage certification and cut down on illegal logging really make much of a difference?

Ekstrom: If we talk about Russia, which is the country that exports the most illegal logs, obviously the export tax won’t have an impact since those logs are illegal. A lot of those volumes are going to China for material that doesn’t have to be certified anyway. It will take a long time before certification will have a big impact on illegal logs from Russia.

The impact of certification on tropical wood will move a little bit faster. Most of that material or finished goods are going to Europe, and they are starting to be tougher on making sure that wood is not illegally cut and has some kind of certification stamp on it. If you are talking about tropical wood going into Japan or China, they care less about certification. Those cutting forests in Brazil or Africa may just decide to ship the material to Asia instead of Europe if they are concerned about certification. As long as you have a market for those products, it will be hard to eliminate much of the illegal logging taking place in some countries.

Then there are some countries like Malaysia that stand out as a producer of certified tropical wood. They are major exporters of tropical wood products. And they are really trying to do a good job and develop an image that they only export products that come from legal sources and have certification stamps.

TimberLine: American hardwoods have a strong reputation around the world. How will U.S. producers fare in the future? What will be the key drivers that will enable or limit success?

Ekstrom: Smaller hardwood logs in the southern U.S. are going primarily into the pulp market. That industry is pretty competitive. If you look at the cost of the raw material going into pulp mills in the South compared to the rest of the world, it looks pretty good. I believe the pulp industry in the South will remain fairly competitive, which should fuel strong demand for small hardwood logs.

Larger hardwood logs and the demand for American hardwood products will do fairly well in the future for a couple of reasons. The raw material is fairly steady. You have a good market working with lots of buyers and sellers. Right now and probably over the next 3-5 years, maybe longer, the weak U.S. dollar makes it easier for exports to compete. Over time demand for tropical wood products will decline as consumers begin to look for a stamp that indicates the wood came from a legal source and was managed in a sustainable way. Certification is something that U.S. companies can deliver on in the future.

The key thing is that the industry needs to invest and be more efficient. Companies should not try to cut back even if times are hard but rather increase investments in scanners, optimizers and other equipment to be competitive now and in the future.

TimberLine: What are major competitors around the globe to the U.S. hardwood industry when it comes to log and lumber exports? How do you think this will change in the future?

Ekstrom: On the tropical side, major competitors are Latin America, Asia and Africa. But we will assume that the supply coming from regions will decline. When you talk about temperate hardwoods, there are not that many places out there – primarily Germany and France. If you look at Russia, it has Birch, Oak and Ash that could be competitive in the future. They are not competitive now because they don’t have a working industry.

More Eucalyptus will come on the market as more sawmills figure out how to use it to produce lumber, furniture and components. Eucalyptus is fast growing and cheap. You are starting to see Eucalyptus for cabinet doors and flooring. You can stain it to make the material look like Cherry or other hardwoods. There will definitely be applications for Eucalyptus. IKEA, the furniture company, is looking into using more Eucalyptus in the future.

TimberLine: What do you see taking place right now in the low grade markets in this country? What impact will these trends have on prices?

Ekstrom: It all depends if you are a buyer or a seller. It looks pretty good if you are in the South and are a buyer of logs and lumber. Competition is not as strong for material as it was a couple of years ago. If you go back two years, you may have had competition for the same log from a sawmill, an OSB plant and pulp mill. Right now, it is mostly the pulp mills competing for the low grade material because the OSB plants and sawmills have curved production. It is always difficult to generalize for the Southern U.S. because it is such a big market. There are some places where landowners are less eager to harvest timber because they are starting to use more land for recreation and other purposes. Generally, in the South you see less pressure on the resource in 2008. Therefore, prices for logs have started to come down. However, this downward trend will change when lumber markets improve in 2009 or 2010.

On the West Coast, the market is shifting a little bit the other way. There is more pressure on the round wood resources. Sawmills have been cutting back production so there are fewer residual wood chips. Pulp mills are forced to go out and look for round wood instead of chips, which results in more competition and higher costs. This is a good thing if you are a landowner, but a bad thing if you are buying logs for pallets or other uses.

Looking ahead as long as the housing starts stay where they are and lumber production is down, I don’t see any major changes that will impact prices of logs in the U.S. market.

TimberLine: Asia is a huge consumer of the world’s wood supply. Do you believe there will be huge opportunities for American exports to continue to grow in this region?

Ekstrom: Japan is the big consumer of lumber. They are the big importers of softwood logs. There are opportunities for the U.S. to export more logs to Japan and long term to China as well. It’s just that in China they don’t build houses the same way that the Japanese do. They don’t need as much lumber. They are two very different markets.

When it comes to hardwood, there will be import opportunities of both logs and lumber because domestic consumption is rising and the manufacturing of wood products for export continues to go up because it is cheaper to do a lot of things in China than North America or Europe. Neither China nor Japan have large forest reserves so much of their raw material has to be shipped in from other parts of the world.

TimberLine: How is the rise in energy costs impacting finished good producers in Asia that have to buy raw material from other countries? Could high fuel prices cause some of those jobs to come back to North America?

Ekstrom: Even though energy costs have gone up significantly, it is still a fairly small share of the total cost of producing items, such as furniture. Their labor costs are so much lower than our costs. Higher energy costs are affecting their margins. But it will not have any major impact on the trade of logs or lumber.

A little more logs are shifting into Vietnam than China just because it is slightly cheaper to produce in Vietnam than China. But you won’t see a shift back to the U.S. again. We have to accept that Asian countries will continue to do the more labor intensive things while American companies will have to do more sophisticated things requiring automation.

TimberLine: Timber production from Latin America has boomed over the past decade. Do you believe this trend will continue? Why?

Ekstrom: Yes, they will continue to expand plantations in Brazil. They will continue to grow more on every acre five years from now than they do today. You see the same in Uruguay. This could also happen in Venezuela, Colombia, or Nicaragua. It all depends on what happens with the politics in those countries. As a continent, Latin America can certainly boost its production capacity. Trees grow faster down there than in more temperate climates, and they have a lot of land that is not used for anything.

When it comes to plantations and developing the right tree clones, Latin America countries are probably ahead of the rest of the world. If we want to learn something about fast growing Eucalyptus, we have to go down to Brazil.

Brazil has become a large producer of hardwood pulp to the world. Brazil and Uruguay have invested the most money in this technology over the past five years and have the most modern pulp mills in the world.

TimberLine: Is Latin America a major competitor for U.S. raw wood exports? Please explain the competitive tension between these two regions.

Ekstrom: No, the U.S. doesn’t really export lots of logs outside of North America. Its exports are limited to Canada, Japan, Korea and China. And in terms of lumber, a lot of that material is unique species, Doug Fir, Cedar, Oak, Beach, Red Alder, and you don’t have those species down in Brazil. What they produce down there on plantations is fast growing pine. Some markets that the South sells into with SYP may experience competition from Brazil. That is probably the only area where Brazil would compete in an export market against the U.S. sawmills.

Russia, not Latin America, is the largest exporter of raw logs around the globe.

TimberLine: Since Russia is such a big player in the export market, won’t its recent tariff decisions increase opportunities for U.S. exports?

Ekstrom: It is definitely going to change how things are done in some areas, especially Japan and China. There are not a lot of places they can go for softwood material. They can source from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the U.S. They have to decide if they want to buy logs or lumber.

Some exporters in North America are looking into the prospects of putting lumber, logs and even wood chips into cargo containers for return trips back to Asian countries.

With favorable exchange rates, there could definitely be good opportunities for U.S. companies to export both logs and lumber to Asia. The U.S. has the resources and now a pretty competitive cost structure. Asia is where the demand is increasing for all different kind of forest products. The next step is to see if American companies can find the right distribution channels and understand the markets in Asia.

Source-timberlinemag.com

Nordic Semiconductor to relocate supply chain headquarters to the Philippines

Nordic Semiconductor intents to set-up a regional supply chain headquarters in Manila, the Philippines. This will later be expanded to include a regional RF test-engineering group to support local backend test development and subcontract partners in Asia.

The move will represent a wholesale relocation of Nordic's supply chain headquarters from Norway to Asia, and Nordic now seeks to recruit local backend supply chain, production, and test engineering staff.

The new operation will be located within just a few miles of a Manila facility of Nordic's long-term test subcontractor, Amkor Technology, where Nordic's 2.4GHz ULP transceivers are tested on a base of permanently installed, Nordic-owned test systems. Nordic will now have its entire manufacturing and supply chain operations based in Asia, bar only a few legacy products being produced in Europe.

Organizationally, however, everything else is to remain headquartered in Norway; including Nordic's global sales and marketing headquarters in Oslo, and its global R&D and registered company headquarters in Trondheim.

Supply Chain:Warehouse Management System (WMS)

SUCCEEDING IN today’s competitive environment requires warehouses to guarantee customer and supplier satisfaction by providing accurate and profitable warehouse processes associated with productivity. Outdated software applications, poor system integration, and bad accounting inventory tracking solutions can result in a lack of inventory visibility and control. These challenges can prevent warehouse operators from increasing their profitability within and beyond the four walls of a location or multiple warehouses.

WMS BENEFITS:

Increase customer satisfaction, improve employee productivity, eliminate paperwork, data entry, remove IT headache, eliminate maintenance and upgrade costs, reduce inventory costs, automate warehouse operations, avoid stock-outs centralise visibility, compatible with wireless technology, gain immediate ReturnOnInvestment (ROI), complete back-office integration.

Warehouse Management System (WMS) helps warehouses consolidate and manage all inbound purchase orders across departments through one centralised system to streamline the “procure-to-pay” or “procure to receipt” purchase process. By centrally managing these purchasing processes, warehouse accounting can improve productivity and eliminate duplicate data-entry.

Integrating business processes from the back office to the warehouse floor helps streamline the receiving and put-away process by tying receipts to inbound orders. Within the inbound order process, the WMS solution also sources available suppliers from historical perform and based rating system generates customised purchasing and supplier reports automates receiving against inbound orders eliminates paper-based purchasing to lower costs reconciles orders against errors or short shipments.

Keep customer commitments with error-free order fulfillment WMS offers the ability to maximise the productivity of a company’s sales and warehouse staff by providing a centralised system to manage the flow of inventory from sales order, to pick, to ship, to invoice.

With WMS, both sales and warehouse operators effectively manage and access the same accurate customer data to fulfill orders quickly and accurately while shortening lead times. WMS also allows sales and warehouse operators to check real-time, accurate product availability during order fulfillment through integrated inventory control generate pick tickets and shipping documents directly from the sales order gain process efficiency with picking rules view sales order and shipment status from a central view.

Inherent value in on-demand software on-demand architecture enables warehouses to quickly deploy and integrate with front-office an back-office operations. As a managed service, there is no hardware to buy, no software to install, no network to set-up and no technical staff to maintain. As a result, warehouse operators don’t have to worry about system deployments, performance, reliability or upgrades It’s WMS worry not yours.

WMS is an affordable solution that grows with you. Warehouses can easily add users, additional warehouses or SKUs with simple and easy-to-use configuration settings. Delivered over the Internet, WMS is more cost-effective then traditional software solutions and provides users with an intuitive interface to help increase employee adoption.

WMS solution:
Eliminates IT headaches, improves reliability and scalability provides real-time information and integrates easily with computer hardware.

Source-merinews.com

Study: Manufacturers Using Supply Chain for Growth

A new survey by management consulting firm Archstone Consulting has found that manufacturing executives are planning to use supply chain management as a tool for boosting performance.

The results of the survey, conducted in April of this year, further prove that the concept of supply chain management is gaining popularity in corporate circles, according to John Ferreira, Archstone’s industrial manufacturing practice leader.

“It’s starting to move into the mainstream,” he said.

The survey, Archstone’s Manufacturing Executive Agenda for 2008, includes responses from 265 manufacturing executives from a wide range of industries.

“Over 80% of manufacturers have responded to the current economic climate by devising aggressive agendas to boost sales and cut costs,” said Todd Lavieri, Archstone’s president and CEO.

According to the survey, two of the four most common ways that executives plan to boost performance this year were supply chain management-related.

“I think it’s very intriguing that they’re talking about leveraging the supply chain to enable growth,” Ferreira said.

The four executive agenda items shared by manufacturers in all industries include:

• Increasing revenue growth by leveraging supply chain capabilities to add value to products and services.
• Reducing costs with supply chain efficiency improvements.
• Improving product innovation.
• Controlling direct material costs.

In addition, Ferreira said respondents indicated they wanted to use supply chain management techniques to rapidly adapt to changing markets and offer more customized customer service.

Ferreria said the respondents did not indicate how long it would take to implement their ideas, but the survey asked respondents to consider their plans for 2008.

Source-scmr.com

Managing the Global Supply Chain

The global supply chain is a vital part of modern business. Presenting a global view of the scope and complexity of supply chain management, this book reflects the rapid change that has taken place within the supply chain and its environment.

Schary and Skjøtt-Larsen have fully updated their successful first edition, giving readers of this new edition an insightful overview of the conceptual foundations of the global supply chain. The book has been completely reorganized toward a customer orientation and rewritten to include the new changes in technology and practice.

'Managing the Global Supply Chain' is based on three parallel elements: structure, process and organization to build a supply network that includes distribution, production and procurement within one integral system. It moves beyond concepts from business logistics to emphasize inter-organizational networks and the strategic role of the supply chain in corporate strategy. A separate section on management and strategy examines organizational forms and management tools.


Source : www.cbspress.dk

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

With increased globalization and offshore sourcing, global supply chain management is becoming an important issue for many businesses. Like traditional, supply chain management, the underlying factors behind the trend are reducing the costs of procurement and decreasing the risks related to purchasing activities. The big difference is that global supply chain management involves a company's worldwide interests and suppliers rather than simply a local or national orientation. Because global supply chain management usually involves a plethora of countries, it also usually comes with a plethora of new difficulties that need to be dealt with appropriately. One that companies need to consider is the overall costs. While local labor costs may be significantly lower, companies must also focus on the costs of space, tariffs, and other expenses related to doing business overseas. Additionally, companies need to factor in the exchange rate. Obviously, companies must do their research and give serious consideration to all of these different elements as part of their global supply management approach. Time is another big issue that should be addressed when dealing with global supply chain management. The productivity of the overseas employees and the extended shipping times can either positively or negatively affect the company's lead time, but either way these times need to be figured into the overall procurement plan. Other factors can also come into play here as well. For example, the weather conditions on one side of the world often vary greatly from those on the other and can impact production and shipping dramatically. Also, customs clearance time and other governmental red tape can add further delays that need to be planned for and figured into the big picture. Besides contemplating these issues, a business attempting to manage its global supply chain must also ask itself a number of other serious questions. First, the company needs to make decisions about its overall outsourcing plan. For whatever reason, businesses may desire to keep some aspects of supply chain closer to home. However, these reasons are not quite as important as other countries advance technologically. For example, some parts of India have now become centers for high-tech outsourced services which may once have been done in-house only out of necessity. Not only are provided to companies by highly qualified, overseas workers, but they are being done at a fraction of the price they could be done in the United States or any other Western country. Another issue that must be incorporated into a global supply chain management strategy is supplier selection. Comparing vendor bids from within the company's parent-country can be difficult enough but comparing bids from an array of global suppliers can be even more complex. How to make these choices is one of the first decisions companies must make, and it should be a decision firmly based on research. Too often companies jump on the lowest price instead of taking the time to factor in all of the other elements, including those related to money and time which were discussed above. Additionally, companies must make decisions about the number of suppliers to use. Fewer supplies may be easier to manage but could also lead to potential problems if one vendor is unable to deliver as expected or if one vendor tries to leverage its supply power to obtain price concessions. Finally, companies who choose to ship their manufacturing overseas may have to face some additional considerations as well. Questions regarding the number of plants that are needed, as well as the locations for those plants can pose difficult logistical problems for companies. However, it often helps to examine these issues in terms of the global supply chain. For example, if a business uses a number of vendors around Bangalore, India than it may make sense to locate the manufacturing plant that would utilize those supplies in or around Bangalore as well. Not only will this provide lower employee costs, but overall shipping and tariff expenses should also be reduced. This would then save the company money. Source : www.epiqtech.com

Midwest floods create short and long-term concerns in the supply chain

While the short-term impact of the massive floods in the Midwest may be dealt with the long-term impacts may be felt for months to come.

In the days and weeks during and after the floods, the primary concerns to buyers and supply chain professionals were logistics-related. Railroads reported major stretches of track underwater, major highways in Iowa and Missouri were closed and damaged and a 300-mile section of the Mississippi River was closed to barge traffic. Union Pacific issued an embargo on its shipments, saying it was simply not able to meet its schedules in the region.

Buyers reported major delays in shipments as a result. “The rail line between Chicago and the west has been underwater for days,” says one respondent to a Purchasing.com survey. “This has halted intermodal traffic. I ship to the West Coast by rail exclusively. The cost to ship there by truck is double the intermodal price.”

Another said: “We are based in central Iowa and the floods closed road in our town as well as in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. We order and ship material from all of these towns to our location, so our supply chain was messed up for over a week. Things are returning to normal now. Hopefully we won’t see any more rain for a while.”

The floods also caused some manufacturers to shut down production facilities. Cargill Inc., the largest U.S. agriculture company, declared force majeure on its corn-syrup supply contracts after flooding forced it to shut down its corn-milling plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Minnetonka, Minn.-based company won’t be able to fill all of its customers’ contracts, Cargill spokeswoman Liz Pearce said in a Bloomberg report.

Archer Daniels Midland also said it had a plant in Cedar Rapids downed by the floods. And according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, a total of 300 million gallons per year of ethanol production capacity was forced offline by the floods at two plants: one owned by ADM and the other owned by Penford.

But the long-term impacts of the flooding could be more severe than delayed or even lost shipments. Because the floods were concentrated in Iowa and Missouri, the corn crop in the U.S. could take a hit this year, which would impact not only food prices, but also ethanol and thus gasoline prices later this year. According to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey an estimated 3.3 million acres of corn and soy beans were destroyed by spring floods in Iowa alone, pushing corn prices up to just under $8/bushel in late June on the Chicago Board of Trade before they trended down again. And the higher corn prices go, the thinner margins are for ethanol producers, so ethanol prices will go up.

In some cases, ethanol producers have simply shut down until their business becomes more profitable. David Driscoll, an analyst at Citigroup, said in June that as a result of the rapid margin deterioration, nearly 120 small to midsize ethanol producers “will be shut down over the next few months.” There are currently about 160 ethanol plants in the U.S., according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

But ethanol market experts warn that abandoning the biofuel altogether due to lower margins will only create more havoc for gasoline prices. “Abandoning our commitment to ethanol and biofuels, as some would suggest we do, would do nothing to provide meaningful relief from high prices today or in the future,” said Renewable Fuel Association President Bob Dinneen in a recent Dow Jones Newswires report. “It would absolutely force the price of gas through the roof and require the import of more record-high foreign oil.”

Source by panchasing.com

Apple nabs top spot on AMR's Supply Chain 25

Apple Computer has topped the list of AMR Research's annual Supply Chain Top 25 because, according to AMR's analysis, Apple's “retail outlets churn cash with virtually no physical inventory on site.”

AMR says its analysis of companies' supply chains is based on public data such as return on assets, inventory turns, and growth and incorporates expert and peer assessments of the future supply chain potential of each company. Apple received high praise from AMR, which scores firms' supply chain effectiveness in five categories and uses a composite score to determine a firm's overall ranking. Apple had a composite score of 7.17. AMR said “Apple's scores are outstanding across the board, a result of its brilliant mix of design, software interfaces, and consumable goods that are purely digital.”

AMR went on to say that the introduction of the iPhone and its resulting demand, could have caused some companies to struggle to meet demand or fail on quality. “Behind-the-scenes moves like tying up essential components well in advance and upgrading basic information systems have enabled Apple to handle the demands of its rabid fan base without having to fall back on their forgiveness for mistakes.”

Other companies rounding out the top five include Nokia, last year's winner with won high marks again this year for its supplier collaboration work, Dell, Procter & Gamble and IBM.

Source by purchasing.com

Ascent Media Demonstrates Complete Digital Media Supply Chain At IBC 2008

At IBC 2008, Ascent Media will showcase its leadership in network origination, content distribution, asset management and systems integration for broadcasters and content owners.

The company’s unrivalled portfolio of specialist playout and content distribution services, together with the leading technology solutions and consultancy, will be featured as part of IBC, from 12-16 September 2008.

Network Origination:
Ascent Media provides a turnkey playout solution allowing global broadcast customers to seamlessly aggregate, ingest, archive and distribute content with file-based post production, in multiple languages through many distribution platforms.

Content Distribution
Using its global file transport network, Ascent Media can distribute content around the world, in both standard and high definition, using its hybrid fibre and satellite platforms.

Media Services - Viia
Ascent Media’s Viia suite of file-based media services is the complete solution for content owners to digitise, store, manage and re-purpose content through one platform. Viia handles the entire process of media encoding and metadata insertion through to content packaging in multiple formats and digital archive of assets up to high resolutions.

Systems Integration
Ascent Media’s provides consulting, systems integration, and technical support services and has unparalleled expertise in delivering turnkey, vendor-agnostic installations and support services for major broadcasters looking for system designs, facility installs and upgrades and complete project build management.

Source by broadcastbuyer.tv

P&G to rethink supply chain

P&G has suggested that it will revisit the design of its supply chain if oil prices remain high. Such a move would represent a reversal of the 'distribution reinvention' which P&G announced last year.

P&G's new head of global supply, Keith Harrison, has said: "A lot of our supply chain design work was really developed and implemented in the 1980s and 1990s, when our capital spending was fairly high as a cost of capacity, and oil was 10 bucks a barrel. I could say that the supply chain design is now upside down. The environment has changed. Transportation cost is going to create an even more distributed sourcing network than we would have had otherwise."

Source by supplychainanalysis.igd.com

OSRAM Sheds Light on Supply Chain With ToolsGroup Solution

Leading Lighting Manufacturer Turns to Experienced Inventory Optimization Vendor to Optimize Components Strategy.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, -- ToolsGroup, a global provider of demand-driven inventory optimization solutions, announced that OSRAM S.p.A. has contracted to implement the company's Service Optimizer 99+ (SO 99+) solution.

With sales of 4.7 billion Euros in 2007, OSRAM is one of the largest lighting manufacturers in the world. Part of the Siemens AG Group, it has a global presence with 41,000 employees in 150 countries, including 48 production and distribution sites in 17 countries. OSRAM operates in North America as OSRAM Sylvania.

OSRAM will leverage ToolsGroup's SO 99+ solution to optimize the planning processes of raw materials and components managed at its production site in Treviso, Italy.

"Our decision to implement ToolsGroup's SO 99+ solutions was principally motivated by the need to review our optimization strategy for purchased components," said Giuseppe Carrer, coordinator of the Inbound Supply Chain improvement project at Treviso. "In addition to advanced technology and targeted solutions, ToolsGroup offers us a great deal of experience in the field."

"We are proud to be able to provide a company like OSRAM with the right tools for optimizing global service levels and delivering on their operational goals," added Joseph Shamir, CEO of ToolsGroup.

About ToolsGroup

ToolsGroup is an innovation partner for companies who want to achieve outstanding customer-service levels with less global inventory. Using our demand-driven inventory optimization solutions, our customers improve daily forecast accuracy and correctly set safety stocks to achieve up to 99+ percent customer-service levels while significantly cutting inventory. ToolsGroup has more than 150 customers in 31 countries worldwide. For more information on ToolsGroup and its solutions, please visit www.ToolsGroup.com.

Media Contact:
Jonathan Bloom
For ToolsGroup
617-374-4298
Email Contact

Source: ToolsGroup

Business Intelligence Solution for Retail Supply Chain Driven by Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Information

Digital Movers and Information Solutions (ISI) develop Insight*Point-of-Sale, a completely hosted collaboration solution for retailers and suppliers.

Mashpee, MA (PRWEB) July 15, 2008 -- Digital Movers (www.dmovers.com), a premier provider of outsourced electronic commerce services, and Information Solutions (www.isnetusa.com) a software solution provider to importers of apparel, handbags, and other soft-goods, announced today the joint release of Insight*Point-of-Sale, a web-based business intelligence solution that promotes collaboration between retailers and their supply chain partners.

Using a combination of sophisticated data warehouse design concepts and presentation tools in a completely hosted environment, Insight*Point-of-Sale analyzes POS data provided via EDI transactions and provides retailers and their suppliers with current and historical visibility into the movement of products through the supply chain. Users can query, drill-down and analyze voluminous data in real-time to uncover sales trends, stock-outs, overstocks, missed selling opportunities and a host of relevant data that previously had been difficult or impossible to interrogate intelligently.

Our customers are soft-goods importers and, as such, have to deal with numerous UPCs, colors, styles and sizes. The volume of POS data they were receiving presented significant challenges when it came to collaboration and business intelligence

"Digital Movers has been a proud partner of ISI for many years providing EDI solutions that integrate seamlessly with ISI's world class supply chain/ERP solutions. The offering of Insight*Point-of-Sale is another natural opportunity to match ISI's development expertise with Digital Movers' hosted EDI services," said Ken Konikowski, president, Digital Movers. "Retailers have increasingly made more and more valuable information, including POS data, available to their supply chain via Electronic Data Interchange. The problem is that many companies do not have the applications or the expertise to properly analyze this data and are unable to effectively mine actionable intelligence from the mounds of data. Insight*Point-of Sale is offered in a hosted, outsourced environment so that these companies need only an Internet connection and a web browser to be able to access and analyze this important information and facilitate collaboration."

"Our customers are soft-goods importers and, as such, have to deal with numerous UPCs, colors, styles and sizes. The volume of POS data they were receiving presented significant challenges when it came to collaboration and business intelligence," claimed Jeffrey Clayton, president of Information Solutions. "Our customers have found that thanks to our unique database design they are able to quickly and effectively manage their POS data and, because it is a hosted solution, they require no additional software or hardware. Insight*Point-of-Sale accommodates analysis for both the executive dashboard level with pre-defined web reports and pull-down menus as well as the intense query capability required by analysts."

A web-based demonstration of Insight*Point-of-Sale can be arranged by visiting Digital Movers' web site at http://www.dmovers.com/informationrequest.aspx.

About Digital Movers:
Digital Movers is the premier provider of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) outsourcing services to companies that need to communicate commerce transaction data electronically with their suppliers, customers, transportation and financial partners. For over twenty-five years, Digital Movers has provided expert EDI, XML and Communications processing for companies of all sizes in the retail, healthcare, manufacturing, grocery and transportation verticals.

For additional information, please visit www.dmovers.com or contact Digital Movers at sales@dmovers.com or 888-896-7703.

About Information Solutions:
Since 1982, Information Solutions has been providing software solutions to importers of apparel, handbags, and other soft-goods, enabling them to maximize productivity, optimize efficiency, and increase profitability.

ISI's flagship offering is Envision, a complete Supply Chain Management software solution designed in concert with leaders in the apparel and accessories industry. Envision is a completely integrated application that addresses a company's processing requirements including product inception and sourcing, customer fulfillment, distribution management and financial and executive analysis.

For additional information, please visit www.isnetusa.com or contact Information Solutions at sales@isnetusa.com or 732-346-2500.

Improve the efficiency of your supply chain

14th & 15th October 2008, Hilton London Metropole

Implement demand-driven supply strategies to improve the efficiency of your supply chain and provide an unbeatable service to your customers

DDSC 08 will take place in London this October and provides the strategies you need to implement an effective pull-supply chain. This event has been produced by the Extended Supply Chain team following research undertaken with conference delegates and experts in the supply chain arena.

Business advantage has recently been gained through the use of Total Quality Management, technological advances & Lean Manufacturing methods - what's next? Industry has shifted from the factory-centric world, where the manufactures have the power to a customer-centric world where manufacturers must align themselves and their activities with the conditions of the global marketplace. Is your supply chain ready for this?

In today's competitive environment, product features and price have to obey the requirements of the market and product quality is no longer the major differentiator. Companies must now compete on the performance and quality of their delivery service, and demand driven supply chains are increasingly being utilised to go beyond customer requirements in efficiency and accuracy of supply.

If you are involved in the supply of a product where the customer's requirements matter, whether you are delivering a physical, infrastructural or electronic product, then you will benefit from attending the DDSC 08.
Event experts include:

Chris Dyson, Head of Supply Chain, Nokia Siemens will share his experiences of connecting customers to the back end to maximise supply chain excellence
Ensuring top down commitment from the boardroom to demand creation and supply capability team-working for Aidan Murphy, Managing Director, Supply Chain Bulmers Ireland

AMR Research will explain the role that globalisation, multi-channel distribution and increased competition are playing in driving forward demand driven supply chains

To find out more or reserve your place visit our website - www.ddsc2008.com - call +44 (0) 20 7970 4770 or email ddsc@centaur.co.uk Preferential rates for this event end on the 31st July 08, so get in touch soon.

Source by mhwmagazine.co.uk

Food Manufacturer to Use RFID to Increase Supply Chain Safety

Matiq, the information technology subsidiary of Nortura, Norway's largest food supplier ,has joined with IBM to use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track and trace poultry and meat products from the farm, through the supply chain, to supermarket shelves. Currently the food manufacturing industry is facing both government regulations and industry requirements for quality and traceability.

The tracking solution will help ensure that meat and poultry products are kept in optimal condition throughout the supply chain. The system calls for product packaging to be tagged with RFID chips to help ensure that products are kept in optimal condition.

Norwegian suppliers and supermarkets use software that complies with GS1 EPCglobal's Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standard -- which allows sharing of RFID data across and between enterprises.

"Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of food quality, safety, origin and traceability. This creates greater pressure on manufacturers to keep track of every component in the manufacturing process, in order to ensure that their products are safe for the consumer," said Are Bergquist, CEO of Matiq.

At the core of the system will be IBM's WebSphere RFID Information Center, software for enterprises seeking to share product movement information with trading partners which are also using EPCIS compliant solutions.

Source by industryweek.com