Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008 - (Page 54)

the vendor’s electronic sourcing application, although the main focus appears to be on guiding private-label brands through their entire lifecycle, while allowing for the sharing of relevant business processes. Suppliers, for their part, “can streamline their operations and build better business relationships with the retailer,” says Reardon. Some portals have found success by pursing more narrowly defined missions. Alameda, Calif.-based GT Nexus got its start as an electronic means for the exchange of messages and documents between ocean carriers and shippers. It chose the ocean mode “because it’s so central to global trade,” says president John Urban. Some 90 percent of international commerce moves via ocean, Urban notes, with thousands of potential trading partners at open-account financing, obtaining better terms in the process. More recently, GT Nexus acquired Metaship AG, a German provider of logistics management software for shippers and third-party logistics providers. The deal also represents a bigger push into the European marketplace. From All Directions Portal technology can come from many kinds of vendors. Some maintain the actual portals, while others create the software that runs it, or allow buyers and suppliers to fashion their own communications links. Oracle, one of the world’s largest “enterprise” vendors, offers an online, self-service portal for suppliers. “It picks up where strategic sourcing leaves off,” says Hope-Ross. Suppliers get a single interface for “Fierce competitors need a trusted thirdparty if they’re going to use an on-demand service to federate applications.” — Mike Minelli of Covisint hand. GT Nexus comes into the picture at the moment a participating buyer creates a purchase order with a supplier. The P.O. is sent and acknowledged via the portal, which provides visibility of that order across the various stages of transit. GT Nexus also facilitates carrier bookings as orders become ready to ship. That functionality emerged when the portal adopted a reservation system similar to those found on travel-oriented web sites. Customers can place bookings and submit shipping instructions online. From there, GT Nexus moved into transportation management, so that shippers today can follow the progress of orders all the way to the store shelf. GT Nexus has since added other modes of transportation, especially airfreight. Now it’s moving in new directions. In 2007, it announced GT Nexus Trade, offering trade and financial services with the help of several large banks as partners. Urban says the company wants to help companies move from letter-of-credit to such things as managing banking details, conducting contract negotiations, sharing manufacturing forecasts, and supporting vendor-managed inventory programs. But the actual system that a company deploys for extended procurement activities depends entirely on the user and industry. “It always ends up horses for courses,” Hope-Ross says. “There isn’t a winning model.” At the very least, a working portal must go beyond purchasing to include the exchange of vital information. Glovia Services Inc., based in El Segundo, Calif., offers a variety of business software, including applications for operating customer portals. Jim Errington, director of sales support, says his customers want more than a site that lists items for sale and solicits prices. While that idea might work for commoditized items, it is less valuable for the sophisticated components in which Glovia’s customers specialize. Glovia’s portal offers, not just information on outstanding purchase orders, but real-time advisories on whether a given order is achievable. Based on the answer, users can adjust delivery dates or split quantities. The resulting information is then fed back into purchasing and planning systems. In addition, companies get information on which items have been received, which are about to be returned, and the status of accounts payable. Finally, suppliers can use the system to view forecasts and production requirements. Glovia also offers an electronic kanban feature that allows for automatic reordering when parts reach a certain level. Suppliers receive notification and are asked to confirm the order and specify a delivery point. “Those are the things that we’re finding suppliers are looking for,” says Errington. “They want that [level of] partnership.” Irvine, Calif.-based Epicor Software Corp. is a vendor of ERP systems as well as related supply chain software. Its applications serve as a “back office” for supplier portals, linking users to various exchanges via electronic data interchange standards. Rod Winger, senior director of product marketing, manufacturing and supply chain management, says portals didn’t come into their own until they began to embrace collaboration between buyer and supplier. Their development has been aided by the maturing of software and the internet and increased bandwidth to move data around the world. The mechanisms will continue to grow in value, Winger says, as traders embrace global standards for identifying products and exchanging documents. Ten years from now, he says, “we could have one massive data repository—it doesn’t matter where it exists—where you simply publish and subscribe. You never define anything internally. Everybody is on the same parameters.” To access this article online, visit The Digital Edition at www.SupplyChainBrain.com. Resource Links Agentrics, www.agentrics.com AMR Research, www.amrresearch.com Compuware Covisint, www.covisint.com E2open, www.e2open.com Epicor, www.epicor.com Exostar, www.exostar.com Glovia Services, www.gsinnovate.com GT Nexus, www.gtnexus.com Oracle, www.oracle.com www.SupplyChainBrain.com GLOBAL LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES 55 http://www.SupplyChainBrain.com http://www.agentrics.com http://www.amrresearch.com http://www.covisint.com http://www.e2open.com http://www.epicor.com http://www.exostar.com http://www.gsinnovate.com http://www.gtnexus.com http://www.oracle.com http://www.SupplyChainBrain.com

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Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008 Editorial GL & SCS Exclusive FastForward Up Front The Green in Green Think Inside the Box Have a Second Look Can't Happen Here Opinion: Stay in the Black as Your Workforce Fades to Gray Opinion: Four Critical Steps to Managing Change in the Supply Chain Industry Voices

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - March 2008

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