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 Outdated software applications, poor system integration, and bad accounting inventory tracking solutions can result in a lack of inventory visibility and control.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

Financial Insights Releases First Global Benchmark Comparison of Bank Financial Supply Chain Offerings

Financial Insights has now established the first consistent definition of financial supply chain management services that can be used to make valid comparisons between competitors and provides a snapshot of what is being offered at this point in time. Financial supply chain management is still an emerging area, therefore considerable variation in product offerings and even definitions still exist.

Based on this pioneering study, Financial Insights considers JPMorgan to be in the lead at this time, followed closely by American Express and Bank of New York Mellon. JPMorgan's leading position is based primarily on the comprehensive scope of its offerings, as well as the organizational focus it has shown with regard to the financial supply chain opportunity. The report further states how important it is for financial institutions to support purchasing cards, as this is one of the fastest-growing market segments of the card business and also combines payments and financing, making these cards a natural fit for financial supply chain management.

According to Aaron McPherson, practice director and author of the report, "Financial institutions will have to work together to connect their individual buyer-supplier networks into a single network-of-networks, similar to what is happening in the check image exchange market. Financial institutions still have to agree on a remittance data standard and push their customers to use it in a coordinated fashion as the focus of competition will become comprehensive service, reliability, and quality, rather than proprietary buyer-supplier networks or connectivity standards."

The seven financial institutions profiled in the report have made impressive strides by being willing to buy as well as build the necessary technology and overcome conflicting internal goals to present a unified face to the market. The following financial institutions are benchmarked in this report: American Express, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo.

A review of the benchmark data and results will be discussed during a Financial Insights Webinar on August 21. The Webinar is open to all: registration is required.

Clients of the Financial Insights' Payments research advisory service may download the report, others are encouraged to contact Financial Insights to discuss how this research fits into strategic technology investments and ongoing go to market services. Please contact us at info@financial-insights.com. To arrange a press briefing with Aaron McPherson, please contact Deborah Stark, 508 935 4318 or email dstark@idc.com.

About Financial Insights, an IDC company

Financial Insights provides independent research, custom consulting, and detailed multiclient studies on the technology issues and challenges facing the financial services industry. Our global research covers topics of strategic importance to corporate and retail banks, insurance carriers, asset management firms, securities and brokerage firms. Our local practices in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Canada add an in-depth regional viewpoint. Financial Insights, an IDC company, is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research, and exposition company.

Source : marketwatch.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

LG Electronics credits GXS e-commerce with supply chain consolidation

Consumer electronics and appliances giant LG Electronics reports successful consolidation of its supply chain operations, following implementation of GXS’ e-commerce suite. The company is using GXS Trading Grid to centralise interactions with more than 200 global trading partners, and integrate its disparate ERP base throughout Europe, the US, South America and Asia-Pacific at its HQ in Seoul, South Korea. SunYoung Oh, assistant manager of LG’s IS team, points out that the company depends on its ability to coordinate supply chain activities and share real-time information with a network of contract manufacturers, third party logistics providers and consumer electronics retailers around the world. “As we’ve grown in the last 50 years, so has the complexity of our supply chain. Reducing that complexity was as important to our company as ensuring global integration capabilities and increasing real-time visibility into our trading partner network. GXS is the only B2B integration vendor we have found that can easily support all three of these initiatives.” Prior to consolidating with GXS, LG used multiple B2B e-commerce providers managed independently by centres around the world – resulting, she says, in. duplicate processes and inconsistent capabilities and complicating LG’s efforts to manage its trading partner network.

Author Brian Tinham

Source by mcsolutions.co.uk

Building a Better Supply Chain in Three Not-So-Easy Steps

Aug. 1, 2008 -- How can you build a healthy, collaborative and profitable supply chain culture at your business? It all comes down to communication, explains Ron Cain, president and CEO of TMSI Logistics, a provider of third-party logistics services. And a key component to good communication involves the breaking down of the silos that historically isolate the various areas of a company into unconnected islands with no apparent link to any of the other islands. To establish a silo-free supply chain, Cain recommends manufacturers follow this three-step process:

1: Start by asking, "What kind of culture drives our organization?" This step requires a clear-eyed look at how your people view themselves, how they view each other and how they view the organization.

Some good questions to ask during this process are:

• Could investing in an improved workplace culture drive more effective communication? A culture that encourages communication means a business that effectively shares information. If you're eager to break the silo effect mentality, you'll need to change the culture.
• Do you have the right team? Unfortunately, not everyone can be expected to buy into changing their communication habits to improve your workplace culture.
• Are you personally willing to change -- and maybe fail? You can't expect everyone to change their way of working, communicating and collaborating while you keep your own habits. This means trying new approaches, stretching your abilities and risking failure. Creating an improved culture starts with you.

2: Identify the tools for your plan. To realize a communicative, performance-based workforce, you need both a plan and the tools to complete it. Before you start sawing floor planks, you should probably have a blueprint for your house, so let's start with the plan.

Your blueprint is a statement of your strategy and should provide a birds-eye view from 50,000 feet. It should derive from the mission statement and tell the story about how you want to create a performance-based culture.

Your tools, on the other hand, are the tactics and methods that you use to build, day-to-day, a culture that drives effective communication. A good tactical start is making sure your efforts are visible. Use technological tools to your advantage by sending e-mail updates, putting messages on pay stubs and setting up information centers to keep everyone in the culture loop.

3: Implement your plan for a culture that encourages communication -- and demolishes silos -- by creating incentives for it. These incentives will emphasize the importance of improved communications by putting your money where your mouth is. As you see improvements in communications, you should also begin to see improvements in your bottom line. And using financial incentives allows you to reward people for having an impact, both on the company's culture and its bottom line.

Source: industryweek