manufacturing and logistics it - october 2012

The European magazine promoting the effective use of IT in supply chain applications

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OCTO

BER

2012

The European magazine promoting the effective use of IT in supply chain applications

Special Report: TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

Consultancy special feature: JULIAN NIBLETT INTERVIEW

Also in this issue:Four pillars of demand forecasting excellence

Getting delivery right first time, on timeCreating the ‘green’ automated warehouse

Driving greater efficiencies

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October 2012 3ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

In this edition of Manufacturing & Logistics IT we have compiled a special report onthe topic of Transportation Management, concentrating on current trends anddiscussion points concerning technology and services within this sector. And,continuing the theme, the following list of questions might be worth putting toprospective solution providers if you are a logistics service company looking tosource the very best Transportation Management solution (TMS). Kewill maintainsthat when it comes to a TMS, the best fit and the right choice depends very muchon the type of business you operate. Therefore, there are some marked differencesdepending on the scale and nature of your activities. In theory, the same issuesaffect all businesses involved in the movement and management of goods. Howeverthere can be distinct differences between moving goods around for one companyand moving goods for many; especially if you offer value-added services. So, on tothe questions that Kewill recommends you put to any prospective systems provider:

How much experience do you specifically have of working with logistics serviceproviders?: Many TMS vendors may have an impressive roster of large blue-chipsand recognised FMCG brands as customers, or divisions of well-known logisticscompanies, but might not all have supplied solutions that cover the full range ofoperations of an international LSP. There are some significant differences in therequirements of logistics companies that are fundamental to their success. As well asdelivering a service to strict SLAs in a competitive market, they are also likely to beliaising with more links in the supply chain, for example networks and multi-modaltransport partners, handling freight groupage, offering value added services such askitting, packing and/or ticketing. Kewill suggests that you check that your vendorreally understands the differences between the business models, and what theymean in practice.

How will your TMS adapt as our business grows?: If you’re an LSP looking for onesolution for your whole network, you’ll need to ensure it is flexible enough to suit yourwhole business now, and scalable enough to expand and adapt with your businessin the future. For example, if you already do, or plan to, operate in different countries,Kewill maintains that you need to ensure it is feasible for you to operate on onecentral system for visibility and not one system per country.

Can your TMS be customised to suit our business?: Do you operate in differencelanguages/with different currencies? If you don’t now, then might you in the future?According to Kewill, it is important to ensure your chosen TMS will allow you theflexibility you need and that you can make necessary changes without requiringchanges or development to the product itself.

How quickly will your TMS allow us to set up new customers?: For many logisticsservice providers, the speed at which they can set up new customers, or alterarrangements for existing customers (for example adding a new route, brand ordesignated warehouse area), can represent the difference between winning andlosing a contract. How easy is it to do this with the TMS you are considering? Canyour operational staff be trained easily to do this, for example by configuring/re-configuring workflows?

Other questions worth asking include: what degree of customer visibility will the TMSenable; how will the TMS handle billing; how will the TMS handle customscompliance; which delivery models do you offer; how quickly can I expect to realisebenefits from the TMS; and does the solutions vendor understand good practiceprocess for a LSP? It all adds up to ensuring you have the best visibility possible asto which solution is right for your organisation as it is now, and as it might be in thenear future after its forward-looking objectives have been met. Happy hunting.

Steering towards Transportation Management excellence

Ed HoldenEditor

October 2012 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS


Manufacturing and Logistics IT October 2012The European magazine promoting the effectiveuse of IT in supply chain applications

Editor:

Ed Holden

Contributors:

Karin Bursa, Logility Mark Garritt, ByBox

Advertising:

Alex Prodromou

Publisher:

Dean Taylor

Designer:

Ian Curtis, First Sight Graphics

Production:

Carole Chiesa

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IT Manager:

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Accounts:

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No part of this publication may be reproduced in anyform without written permission from the publishers.No liability is accepted for any action arising fromthe contents of this publication; readers are advisedto check any manufacturerʼs or supplierʼs claim forproducts. The publishers do not endorse opinionsexpressed in any article by an outside contributor.While every care is taken over photographs andillustrations, which are returned when requested,no liability can be assumed by the publishers forthe loss of such materials.

ISSN:1463-1172

October 2012ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

CONTENTSConsultancy Focus

5 Julian Niblett interview

Special Technology Report8 Transportation Management

Manufacturing 15 Frank & Pignard chooses QAD Enterprise Applications

Infor announces Cloud offering for equipment industry m-hance launches integrated enterprise social networking solution for SMEs Gartner: worldwide Cloud services market to surpass $109 billion in 2012Frost & Sullivan predicts growth for the global industrial computers marketWorldwide SaaS Market: USA leading with 60 per cent market share

Planning 20 Preactor provides the right Advanced Planning & Scheduling remedy for UPL

Logility: Four pillars of demand forecasting excellence

Printing & Labelling 24 Zebra Technologies: Fighting counterfeiting in pharmaceutical and healthcare

Toshiba TEC launches low-cost premium B-EX4T2

Automatic Data Capture 27 Handheldʼs Algiz 10X rugged tablet built for outdoor use

Box Technologies introduces the Cielo Series of EPoS terminals Getac rugged handheld offers multiple functions

Voice 31 HighJump extends SCM software with highly customisable Voice solution

Pedigree Wholesale gets delivery right first time, on time with Accord Voice WMS

WMS 34 MACS system delivers high-efficiency while retaining small company values

Vanderlande: Creating the ʻgreenʼ automated warehouse Snapfulfil: WMS software in the Cloud, or is it just ʻVapourwareʼ?

Transportation Management 40 ByBox protects patient confidentiality while streamlining supply chain process

Paragon software helps Glanbia cut 106,000 km from delivery routes Cargolux accelerates its eCargo ambitions with Champ tmWare enables rapid growth for County Logistics PTV: Driving greater efficiencies

Supply Chain 48 Gartner ranks top European Supply Chain organisations for 2012

Lord Digby Jones opens new Supply Chain Academy

Interview Consultancy Focus

October 2012 5ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSwww.logisticsit.com

For any business – whether it be a

bank, logistics company,

manufacturer or retailer – the main

focus should always be on ensuring

optimum business and operational

efficiency, simplicity, accuracy and cost-

effectiveness, while also ensuring customer

service remains a non-negotiable. And all

these benefits can be better deployed

through regular open discussion at all levels

within a business, coupled with an enterprise

mobility regime tailored to the company’s

specific needs. This is the view of Julian

Niblett, director of operational consultancy

InsideOps, a man who as recently as May this

year was at the forefront of enterprise mobility

development at leading health & beauty and

pharmacy retailer, Boots, as its head of

operation development.

Niblett also believes it is important for any

business to be confident that any major new

technology-based acquisition will create genuine

value through the investment. “This is even more

important in the current economic climate,” he

said. “In retail, for example, when the consumer

marketplace puts increasing pressure on

retailers in tough times it is critical to come up

with productive new ways not only to drive the

efficiency and success of in-store operations, but

also throughout the company’s whole supply

chain. When a company is enjoying top-line

sales growth its operation functions may not

receive so much scrutiny from the accounts

department, but when the market climate

changes for the worsts and cost becomes

another lever to retain profit growth then there will

be a greater focus on what can be done to

deliver greater efficiencies and ensure customers

receive the very best service in order to drive

more sales and bolster the bottom line.”

Multiple processes

So how can IT systems leverage such

operational and business advantages? “I think

the key is in making a number of every-day

processes more efficient, more accurate, quicker

and more automated wherever possible,” said

Niblett. “In the case of the retail market,

particularly with regard to some of the bigger

players, a whole host of daily processes have to

be undertaken in store; everything from credit

claiming, booking in goods, returns, recalls,

dealing with faulty goods, crosschecking, date

checking, stock counting and the list goes on.

There are also a lot of administrative tasks to

keep on top of, and one of the things that I was

involved in during my time at Boots was putting

in place the technological means whereby many

of the daily tasks could be automated to a large

extent. This helped to speed up a number of our

processes as well as streamline in-store tasks

and reduce errors.”

Niblett explained that one way to streamline in-

store processes within retail is to pre-populate

information in electronic form rather than rely on

a manual paper-based system. “One thing IT

can do is make a number or complex and

repetitive tasks simpler and more accurate,” he

said. “For example, in order to ensure goods are

dispatched to the right warehouse enterprise

mobility on handheld devices means operators

can be ‘walked through’ which labels go with

which items, and which items or packages need

to be scanned to determine its exact intended

location. If the wrong label is scanned the

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spokewith Julian Niblett, director of operationalconsultancy InsideOps, about howenterprise mobility can enhance businessand operational performance.

Julian Niblett: Sharing knowledge.

Improving efficiencythrough enterprise mobility

Consultancy Focus Interview

October 20126 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS www.logisticsit.com

operator won’t be able to proceed. So it’s taking

what used to be a very complex process and

put it in the hands of people working in a large

number of locations and make it simple. You

can’t really go far wrong.” Without enterprise

mobility retailers can rack-up considerable

unnecessary cost by having to re-send items

from the wrong warehouse to the right one.

Getting it right first time is a major cost saver.”

Niblett pointed out that this was something he

and his team put in place at Boots, as well as

conducting its own developments both for its

store Point of Sale (POS) system, taking an IBM

GSA product and modifying it in-house and for

store stock applications, again using enterprise

mobility. “Generally speaking, if a company buys

an off-the-shelf solution – whether it be POS,

eCommerce, ERP, Forecasting, CRM, Planning &

Scheduling, etc. – it will perform some of the

basic functions required, but it won’t cover

certain things that are very particular to its

everyday business or operational activities,” he

said. “This is particularly true of some of the

larger retailer organisations. In these instances

having on hand either in-house expertise or

experience and knowhow from an external party

can make all the difference in lifting the solution

to the optimum level of functionality required.”

However, Niblett adds that one potential

outcome of undertaking more substantial

customisation of a proprietary system is that

upgrading it to the vendor’s latest version may

not be such a straightforward task. “I think the

key thing is to bear in mind is when sourcing

new IT systems, or when looking at your

existing solution set with a view to improving its

performance, first decide what aspects of the

system’s functionality you would really like to

be removed or tailored more to your specific

requirements,” he said. “And as part of this

process it is worth thinking carefully about what

processes could be automated in order to

reduce every-day complexities and speed up

your operations. The example I gave regarding

the pre-populating of data on handheld

devices again stands as a good example.”

Greater automation

Niblett worked at Boots for 13 years in a

number of different roles, gaining in-depth,

hands-on knowledge of how one of the very

top UK retailers and its supply chain operates

on a national basis. With regard to his seven

years spent as Boots’ head of retail operations

development, Niblett reflects that helping to

bring enterprise mobility into the stores could

be highlighted as one of his most successful

achievements. We installed enterprise mobility

in all of our larger stores nationwide, which

equates to around 70 per cent of annual

turnover, although it was deemed unnecessary

and financially impractical for the smaller

pharmacy outlets,” he explained. As part of this

enterprise mobility regime, Niblett explained

that he and his team put in place self-checkout

kiosks and contactless payment in many of the

stores. He believes both these technologies will

become increasingly popular with retail

customers over the next few years. “So, with

these initiatives together with the greater level

of automation afforded by enterprise mobility,

…you’ve got to take a very earlyview on what’s the big theme for theyear; something you can really focusyour teams on and gain their fullcommitment and confidence in.”

“

Boots has everything firmly covered; from how

stock is managed, how it is received, how it is

maintained, how it is returned, and how

payment is taken in store – the complete

solution,” he said.

As a general rule of thumb, Niblett considers that

anyone with responsibilities for operations

development needs to be mindful of not trying to

be too clever and keeping the IT solutions

infrastructure as simple as possible. “As an

analogy, if you think about how many apps you

may have on your iPhone and how many you

actually need and use regularly, then you can

immediately appreciate that in the world of

enterprise mobility there is a danger of buying

and installing too much functionality; functionality

that is not necessary and just adds to your

outlay,” he said. Niblett added that the more

complexity in the system the more likely there will

be other constraints, such as the need to train

staff to use new solutions they’re not familiar with

– again translating into extra unwelcome time

and expenditure. Also, Niblett believes the more

projects that are put in place the less managers

will be able to cope with getting the best out of

them, or even managing them at all. “So you’ve

got to take a very early view on what’s the big

theme for the year; something you can really

focus your teams on and gain their full

commitment and confidence in,” he said.

Another big challenge for larger players in the

retail sector, as well as others, is how to decide

what to invest in. “Within these organisations

there is often a host of projects all vying for

corporate budget,” he said. “So each

department really needs to focus on the projects

they think will secure funding from the finance

department. Without all parties truly believing in a

project’s feasibility everyone is at risk of wasting

a lot of their valuable time.”

The future

In terms of developing and future trends in

enterprise mobility, Niblett cites staff’s handheld

devices running stock applications with chip

and pin. “This has become quite difficult,

particularly with regard to US solutions vendors,

to understand there is a European need for a

mobile device that takes payment,” he said. “So

one of the things an increasing number of retail

and hospitality companies will likely look at

more carefully is how they can introduce a more

mobile way of staff taking payment in store

using enterprise mobility. So, one of the

opportunities is for companies to provide

greater convenience and care for their

customers through more personal transactions

and less of the more traditional till-based

approach. Enterprise mobility can really

revolutionise where payment is taken and how

convenient the payment experience can

become for customers. For example, with a

more mobile payment methodology, customers

in a pharmacy wouldn’t need to queue at the till

in the traditional manner; instead they would

only need to interact with a single member of

staff to purchase their medication etc. This also

introduces a lot more flexibility into the everyday

operations of the outlet, as well as saving cost.”

With a wealth of operations management

experience behind him, Niblett established his

own consultancy earlier this year. Called

InsideOps, it offers customers in sectors such

as retail, manufacturing and logistics a range

of consultancy services related to securing

greater operational excellence. “The whole

purpose of InsideOps is to provide valuable,

informed advice as to how best to improve a

company’s processes right through the supply

chain – from store operations right through the

supply chain,” said Niblett. “I’ve spent most of

my working life setting out to make processes

simpler and more cost- and time-effective,

and I am now enthusiastic about sharing this

knowhow with a range of organisations in

different sectors.” He added that one of the

keys to success in retail is having a sound

operating platform. “The operation is the

engine room of the business and if it works

effectively, the company can focus all its time

and energy on the customer. InsideOps can

help bring companies the focus, support and

answers they need; no matter how big or

small the change.

Niblett concluded: “It’s all about knowing what

type of systems really deliver benefits for

certain types of companies, as well as

knowing just how much technology is required

to do the job. There can be many pitfalls in

the world of retail, manufacturing and

logistics, and it’s important to know the best

and quickest routes to making your whole

end-to-end supply chain as efficient as

possible.” n

Interview Consultancy Focus


It’s all about knowing what typeof systems really deliver benefits forcertain types of companies, as wellas knowing just how muchtechnology is required to do the job.”

“

Today’s transportation managers

have to juggle a number of

mission-critical disciplines. On

the one hand they need to

ensure they are providing goods

in a timely manner to their end customers.

And on the other, they need to seek to make

their internal efficiencies as optimal as

possible in order to keep costs to a

minimum, while also ensuring their drivers

are kept safe and keeping their carbon

footprint as light as possible. In order to

achieve all these objectives, logistics

professionals are increasingly relying on

Transportation Management solutions

comprising a rich array of functionality. So

what are the current trends and talking

points within this fast-changing technology

space? Shaun Coughlin, managing director

of tmWare, has observed that in recent

years there has been an increased level of

expectation among customers and end

users, driven on by the availability of

information at their finger-tips. For example,

he points out that smartphone technology

has meant that people are never out of

touch and can gain immediate access to a

wealth of social interaction and business

communication. He adds that this naturally

filters through to what is expected from

suppliers and the information they should

make available in a timely and web-based

manner.

Competitive pricing According to Coughlin, one of the drivers for

this technology has been the pressure on the

logistics operators to provide this information

but still retain a competitive pricing structure.

“With the average rugged in cab device

costing around £1000+, it is simply not an

option for many logistics companies,” he said.

“With 85 per cent of the UK adult population

(Ofcom), owning a mobile phone, there is a

ready-made platform for deploying real-time

solutions. SMS POD technology means that a

driver can send a text with details of the

successful or failed delivery together with a

name of who received the consignment. The

system will use the time and date of the text

to stamp the POD, thus enabling the customer

to have instant visibility of delivery information

and the logistics operator can release their

invoice to the customer. Text alerts and

updates can also be sent directly to the

customer as well.” Conversely, Coughlin

considers that there is an increased move

towards the use of subcontracting to improve

transport efficiencies. “In this case it is not

always possible to deploy your in-cab

hardware to these drivers and therefore SMS

POD enables the logistics operator to retain

the same levels of service regardless of the

transport used,” he said.

As a Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions-

provider improving communication between

shipper and carrier in their transport

processes, Transporeon maintains that

TThhee rroouuttee ttooooppttiimmuumm eeffffiicciieennccyy

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with a number of vendors within theTransportation Management systems and services market about recent

technological advances, how logistics professionals are benefiting from theirsolutions, the changing legal landscape and possible future trends.


Special technology report Transportation management



Transportation

Management is, and

will continue to be,

increasingly driven

by new technologies,

such as those within

the mobile arena.

“The nature of

logistics mobility and

therefore the current

success of intelligent

mobile devices will

open new, value-

added services to manage modern supply

chains,” said Gitte Willemsens, marketing &

customer care at Transporeon. In terms of the

main driver for these trends Willemsens has

no hesitation in saying that at the customer’s

end this is, and will always be, time-saving

and money making. “Time is money, and new

technologies give millions of possibilities,” she

said. “Everything that can be automated

should be done this way. An example is that

our shipper customers can have their loads

automatically sent out via the Transporeon

platform: directly out of their ERP-system to

their contract based carrier. In this way, time

won’t be wasted calling the carrier and

sending them the transport information via fax

or e-mail. Personnel can be reduced in this

way, or, even better, the dispatchers can use

this time to work on a more strategic level, or

to spend more time on exception handling.”

Additionally, on the environmental front,

Willemsens reflects that new laws concerning

CO2 calculation are increasing the need for

system functionality that can facilitate this

requirement.

The SaaS effectFabrice Maquignon, CEO at Transwide,

believes that SaaS is probably becoming the

leading way to deliver Transportation

Management systems. However, he adds that

only a few companies are true SaaS (single

instance multi-tenant) or have a significant

network. “End-to-end connectivity between

partners never has been so important as

today,” he said. “Clients are in need of

accurate data at any

time to ensure

efficiency of their

business. Finally,

advanced

optimisation

capabilities and

optimisation

algorithms become crucial for significant cost

savings and gaining competitive edge.”

In terms of the motivating forces for these

developments, Maquignon comments that

customers have been trying to find the best

compromise between costs and service

capability. He adds that the ability to source

new providers is key, as is the ability to

optimise existing capacities and manage

inbound as well as outbound flows.

Maquignon also maintains that optimisation of

loads or assets is a critical component with a

short lead-time to ROI. At the same time, he

points out that Transwide customers see a

growing need for global implementation due

to the fact that an increasing number of the

company’s clients have operations on multiple

continents.

James De Roo, business development

manager UK at PTV Group, considers that

one of the main talking points in the world of

logistics at the moment is whether

Transportation Management solutions should

be hosted in-house or in the Cloud. “A large

number of Transportation Management

solution providers have developed Cloud-

based solutions, and

this can be a highly

attractive deployment

model when

considering the

benefits to the end

customer,” he said.

“For example, there is

no need for lengthy implementation on

premise. There is also little or no up-front

capital expenditure required, and no need for

regular upgrades – users just pay a

subscription fee. PTV provides components

for these Cloud-based solutions within our

xServer toolbox.” However, de Roo adds that

there are also a number of end users that

prefer not to opt for Cloud-based solutions.

“For example, Government agencies might

require on premise solutions because of

perceived security issues surround more

open source models,” he explained.

de Roo points out that there are compliance

and regulation issues concerning CO2

emissions that are often talked about within

the transportation industry, and that this

debate may be one of the key drivers for the

increased level of interest in Transportation

Management solutions. “We don’t know for

sure how these might change in the short or

medium term, and how reporting

requirements might change,” he said. “Also,

we’re not sure whether logistics companies

will also need to report third-party emissions.

Nevertheless, these are all issues the UK

Government is currently considering.” The

Freight Transport Association (FTA) is working

on carbon reduction schemes with the

Government and with the transport industry.

Shaun Coughlin,managing director,

tmWare.

With 85 per cent of the UK adultpopulation (Ofcom), owning a mobilephone, there is a ready-made platformfor deploying real time solutions.”

– Shaun Coughlin, tmWare.

“


de Roo adds that there is also the question of

road congestion and other traffic issues, and

how transportation professionals can better

prepare for ad hoc situations in order to

remain compliant while also saving time and

cost. “This is where our xServer component

toolbox comes in,” he said. “They can help

give transportation companies an edge over

their competitors by allowing them to integrate

state-of-the-art geographic and logistic

functions into their own software. Our

xServers provide the technology behind our

products in the form of efficient software

components. By integrating these

components into their own applications or in

their company network transportation

management solution providers, or the

logistics professionals themselves, can

quickly and easily extend their range of

functions.”

Collaboration Ronald Buijsse, director global marketing at

Ortec, cites real-time traffic information for

route planning as a recent innovation. He also

points to collaboration between shippers and

carriers to track and trace orders and share

planning facilities. He explains that there is

currently a successful project in Western

Europe where carriers have access to the

planning system of a shipper, to schedule the

trips that have been appointed to them by the

shipper. Buijsse also considers that mobility is

an opportunity; quickly Apps are being

launched, with tailored views on supply chain

Key Performance Indicators. Additionally, he

believes greater collaboration between

carriers will be required from shippers. This

for example, may result in a change from

several one-pick-one (not full)-drop trips into

multipicks-single (full truck)-drop trips, to

avoid inefficient trips and reduce the number

of trucks waiting at the dock for delivering.

In terms of drivers for change, Buijsse

believes end-user requirements regarding

Transportation Management systems and

their broadening logistics operations are

changing. For example, he observes that

there is a need for higher customer service

levels and greater efficiencies in leaner

economic times, as well as ‘blue-skies’

thinking on the part of vendors and their R&D

activities. Additionally, Buijsse maintains that,

for solutions vendors, it is important for them

to focus on satisfying their logistics customers

to ensure they retain their business, especially

in these tough times. Buijsse believes there is

therefore a need on the part of solution

providers to focus less on cost cutting.

Additionally, he observes that receivers of

goods are increasingly demanding to be kept

informed regarding delivery status in a real-

time basis online.

Integration In terms of the

relationship between

the more field-based

Transportation

Management systems

and the back-office

systems they

integrate with,

Willemsens points out

that some 50 per

cent of Transporeon’s

The nature of logistics mobility and therefore the current success ofintelligent mobile devices will open new, value-added services to managemodern supply chains.”

– Gitte Willemsens, Transporeon.

“

Gitte Willemsens,marketing & customer

care, Transporeon.

www.logisticsit.comOctober 201210 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS



shipper customers work with SAP. “These

shippers are already used to the SAP

environment and do not want to use extra

applications to, for example, route their

transports,” she said. “That’s why we have

built an SAP add-on. This has numerous

advantages for all parties: the IT-department

is more than happy as they do not have to

build interfaces, the end-user is happy as he

does not have to switch

screens and get used

to a new system, and

the logistics manager

is happy as long as he

can save costs once

the system is up and

running.”

Coughlin believes it is

inevitable that the availability and reliability of

wireless communication infrastructures will

broaden the possibilities for integration and

use. “Until recent years the use of a mobile

network to communicate operational

transaction both from within the

warehouse/yard and out in the field would not

be viable,” he remarked. “Now, the use of

mobile networks is becoming an increasingly

popular way to run an operation that would be

traditionally done using WiFi infrastructure.

Mobile tariffs have become so cost-effective

to run that it is often a

better alternative to the

capital outlay involved with

wireless access points and

router hardware. It also

means the devices are not

limited to the range of the

WiFi network, so can be

utilised over a larger area

and over multiple sites.”

de Roo considers that the

logistics market definitely

wants more of a turnkey

solution. “There have been

major improvements made

over the past few years,

but there still seems to be

a lot of stumbling blocks

out there where a lot of

different pieces of the

puzzle aren’t joining up as

well as they could,” he said. “So, it’s about

getting all the data together in a more

seamless way with less data silos.”

Buijsse’s view is that the client/server is still

key, while web user interfaces are next on the

agenda for light users. Maquignon believes

the ability to interface systems efficiently has

always been critical. He points out that for a

company like

Transwide this has

always been native on

the platform. “Building

solutions on a single

communication

platform is critical for

seamless operations,”

he said. “There is a lot

of hype about mobile

application and we start to see more of those

deployed on board trucks.”

Legal matters And have changes in transportation legislation

influenced the development of Transportation

Management systems over the past year or

so? According to Buijsse the answer is in the

affirmative. “Yes, working time regulations are

now included more often in route planning,”

he said, adding: “An eco-tax will be

implemented in

France in mid-2013,

which will force

shippers to pay

additional taxes for

the usage of certain

roads, and to place

GPS equipment in

their trucks.”

Willemsens believes

that green logistics

and the need for

CO2 calculations is something that might

have influenced the development of Transport

Management systems further. “The fact that

everything needs to be ‘green’ these days

and shippers and carriers need to have

calculations based on this might have pushed

developments on this topic,” she said. On a

global level, Willemsens considers that the

new eco-tax in France will have impact on

some Transportation Management systems.

Maquignon observes that the main changes

are related to security in international

transportation and in the Carrier Safety Act

the USA. In Europe, meanwhile, the French

eco-tax will have a major impact on the

transportation industry, in his view. “Transwide

is prepared because our solutions already

have the ability to manage accessorial,” he

said. “Moreover, our costs computation

capabilities are very strong. All in all, new

regulations are usually strong drivers for TMS

investment.”

DifferentiationAnd what of some of the key points of

differentiation within the Transportation

Management solutions arena? Maquignon

considers that one differentiator is

functionality-driven; namely the ability to

deliver on all processes – from sourcing to

planning to execution to costs auditing to

reporting & analysis. “Only a few

Transportation Management systems have the

ability to execute with some functional depth

in all areas especially today,” he said. “The

ability to run transport planning through a

good optimisation process warrants fast ROI.

Transportation Management systems need to

be versatile and allow customers to work

Fabrice Maquignon,CEO, Transwide.

We see that the case for OnDemand is growing stronger as itallows greater flexibility, cheaperimplementation and allowscustomers to evolve their processesmore easily.”

– Fabrice Maquignon, Transwide.

“

jointly with 3PLs and 4PLs directly with

carriers, or manage their own fleet when

necessary.” In terms of technology-driven

differences, Maquignon maintains that it is still

a case of On Demand TMS vs. ASP TMS vs.

On-premise TMS. “We see that the case for

On Demand is growing stronger as it allows

greater flexibility, cheaper implementation and

allows customers to evolve their processes

more easily,” he remarked. “In the end it is not

just the ‘pay as you go’ model which is

attractive but the faster ROI, lower risk and

lower maintenance cost.”

And in terms of service differences,

Maquignon comments that when looking for a

Transportation Management solution one

should look at both the level of support that

will be provided as well as at how one’s

providers will be supported.

On the road to futuredevelopment

And with a view to future developments and

trends Coughlin points out that tmWare is

looking at utilising smartphone technology in

particular; to further enable more functions

and features of the system to be available

through this medium. He adds that, whether it

is a case a manager logging in to his

dashboard to get a quick overview of

operational status while he is out and about,

or fully featured apps that enable

transactional operations to be performed, this

is an exciting area. According to Coughlin it

affords much potential for genuine benefit to

the end user rather than just a fad like RFID.

“RFID is great concept but how many people

actually use it?” he remarked.

In de Roo’s view, the Cloud will definitely

continue to become more popular. He also

maintains that the continuing integration of

Transportation Management functionality with

mobile devices and more general centralised

integration of data will become increasingly

prevalent. “It seems to me that we are going

back to the old mainframe type solutions;

rather than allowing much of the

transportation-related data to be held in silos,”

he said. “There is certainly a strong desire for

all this information to be pulled back into a

more centralised data hub.”

de Roo added that one of the biggest areas

of focus within the transportation management

arena is driver performance, and solutions

that can help logistics companies to better

track driver performance. “This will

undoubtedly become even more important in

the future,” he said. “One reason for this is the

desire to ensure

driving time is best

utilised, thus saving

on fuel. Also,

companies want their

drivers to drive as

safely and

responsibly as

possible, therefore

reducing vehicle

wear and tear as well

as having fewer

accidents. This last

point can also, of

course, have a

bearing on the



It seems to me that we are going back to the old mainframe typesolutions; rather than allowing much of the transportation-related data tobe held in silos. There is certainly a strong desire for all this information tobe pulled back into a more centralised data hub.”

– James De Roo, PTV Group.

“

James De Roo,business development

manager UK, PTV Group.



www.logisticsit.com

The following case studies illustrate

how Transportation Management

solutions are delivering real benefits

to a range of logistics operators:

Transporeon case study –Procurus

With Transporeon working with drinks

manufacturer Bacardi across Europe, a UK link

was the logical next step. Over the past year

Transporeon has provided its transport

assignment system to specialist 4PL provider

Procurus, logistics partner for Bacardi, the

world’s largest privately- and family-owned spirits

provider. Procurus has staff embedded in

Bacardi operations, handling all movements

around the Continent. Transporeon’s UK key

account manager, Charlie Pesti, worked closely

with Graeme Connor, Procurus’ business

development manager and his colleagues, to

establish a 4PL solution to the demands of

distributing Bacardi products around Britain.

Connor inherited the plan to link with

Transporeon when he took up his post with

Procurus in August 2011. Procurus is using

Transporeon’s No-Touch Order module. The

module has a range of major features. Among

those particularly attractive to Procurus is the

automated transport allocation, based on

defined criteria with no need for manual

intervention, with transport planners freed to

concentrate on exceptions. Procurus is also

using Transporeon’s Time Slot Management

module, which ensures that loading and

unloading slots can be booked online, carriers

can be tracked on route and can quickly get on

their way again after arrival. The system will be

used too for monitoring and checking security

information, which is required in moving high

value products such as alcohol. Procurus and its

carriers are now benefitting from reduced time,

efforts, costs and increased productivity as well

as reduced empty miles.

Transwide case study –Ontex

Ontex is a European provider of hygienic

disposables (such as nappies and wipes,

feminine hygiene and adult incontinence) for the

private label sector. Utilising 11 manufacturing

facilities, these facilities are strategically located

to enable the business to provide timely

deliveries of all products to customers. Ontex

recognises that delivering the product in time is

a key feature for its customers and as a result it

has developed a high quality supply chain

organisation to ensure the highest levels of

customer service. By using the Transwide

communication hub, Ontex is able to manage

and monitor the inbound and outbound traffic at

20 locations, including transport booking, load

planning and full track & trace visibility once the

shipment has left the Ontex premises. Most of

the data flows are currently automated through

electronic bi-directional messaging exchange.

The key benefits of Transwide include time

efficiencies in transport ordering process. This

allows Ontex more time to focus on its service

performance and customer satisfaction. Another

benefit is better planning and managing of

human & mechanical resources. This includes:

• 10 per cent increase in quantity loaded with

insurance premiums

a logistics company

has to pay.”

According to de

Roo, the further

reduction of vehicles’

carbon footprint may

also become an

even greater

requirement in the

near future. “So,

looking at the broad

picture,

transportation management solutions are

increasingly required to save time and cost as

well as ensure greater environmental

responsibility as well as optimum safety on

the road,” he stated. “And, of course,

achieving such overall cost savings can mean

the ROI in logistics companies’ transportation

management solution can be achieved within

a compellingly short timeline.”

Buijsse believes tailor-made reporting,

possibly via Apps on mobile devices, will

become more prevalent. Additionally, he

considers that there could be an upcoming

dearth of drivers, which may force shippers to

move partially back from rented fleet to

private or dedicated fleets, to secure short

term carrier availability.

Changing demands With regard to the end user, how might their

business or operational requirements change

over the coming year or two? Buijsse points to

backhauling, the avoidance of sub-

optimisation and the inclusion of workforce

scheduling within system functionality,

together with the use of more parameters, to

make planning as realistic as possible.

According to Maquignon, the regulatory

environment may provide more constraints

and drive a growth in intermodal

transportation. He also considers that high oil

prices will surely revive initiatives for

collaborative logistics; hence driving the need

for Transportation Management solutions that

are fully capable of letting partners share

environments. Regardless of what the future

holds, there can be no doubt that today’s

state-of-the-art Transportation Management

systems are reaping major time, cost, safety

and environmental benefits for logistics

professionals, not to mention their invaluable

benefits in keeping businesses on the right

side of legal compliance.

Ronald Buijsse,director global

marketing, Ortec.

An eco-tax will be implemented in France in mid-2013, which will forceshippers to pay additional taxes for the usage of certain roads, and to placeGPS equipment in their trucks.”

– Ronald Buijsse, Ortec.

“

Transportation Management in action

the same operational resources.

• 10 per cent increase in on-time delivery.

• Over 50 per cent decrease of waiting times.

Additionally, track & trace functionality allows a

very fast response time to customers and

improves exceptions management and issue

resolution. This results in reduced complaints

from customer on delivery delays. Also, carrier

acceptance has guaranteed full project ROI;

none of the carriers have refused to use

Transwide. And 95 per cent of carriers book time

slots at pick-up locations and comply with their

own commitments, leading to a substantial

reduction of demurrage costs. The remaining

issues are tackled through continuous

improvement and based on pro-active exception

management.

tmWare case study – SeaCargo

Sea Cargo, a North Sea shipping company

based at Immingham docks, uses tmWare to

receive cargo in, manage and plan orders out.

A lot of the transport work is subcontracted

out, which means it is not possible to supply

each subcontractor with an in-cab device.

Therefore, tmWare’s POD SMS provides a

platform for maintaining the real time

communication of successful deliveries. Steve

Lingard, IT development manager at Sea

Cargo commented: "Not being an operator of

a large fleet of vehicles Sea Cargo relies on

subcontracted haulage. The solution to send

POD information over SMS allows these

subcontractors to maintain reliable and up to

date communication directly with our transport

applications. As every haulier already has a

mobile phone there is zero investment

required from the subcontractor and allows

Sea Cargo to operate as if having an in-house

haulage department using expensive in-cab

hardware. We also see the use of smart

phones to greatly increase over the coming

years which will allow even more innovation

and functionality in this area.”

PTV case study – IsotrakBritish company Isotrak specialises in field of

telematics and transportation software. Product

manager Jon Hannah is responsible for

assembling products that meet the customers’

goals and expectations for their business. “To

this end we provide software innovations that

drive Isotrak‘s offerings forward,” said Hannah.

Mapping performance was one of the features

that Isotrak wanted to improve: “The

performance was too slow when customers

wanted to view the current position of their

vehicles or analyse routes generated earlier in

the day,” Hannah explained. In addition,

customers had seen the advent of Google and

Bing mapping. “Therefore, our customers felt

features like aerial mapping would be useful,”

Hannah continued. “They also wanted to

introduce polygon geofences as an improvement

on circular ones, enabling them to better define

the areas within which they search for

addresses.” A research project was undertaken

by the Development Team to find out how to

integrate aerial mapping and polygons into the

software via OpenLayers. Isotrak chose PTV

xServers to optimise its software solution. PTV

xServers are powerful modules that enable users

to easily integrate geographical and logistical

functions into their client server architecture.

Detailed NAVTEQ data ensures precise

geocoding and map display as well as accurate

routing & tracking. Hannah commented: “The

components contain many functions which we

can use for our software. And we truly

appreciate the partnership approach taken by

the PTV team which will serve us well on projects

going forward.” Due to the PTV xServers Isotrak

was able to not only solve the initial problems,

including mapping, the provision of aerial

mapping, enhanced geographic search and the

integration of OpenLayers for map overlays, but

also provide the new Route Sequence Planning

functionality. It includes valuable information on

vehicle profiles, dynamic vehicle rerouting, HGV-

specific restrictions and Traffic Patterns. Users of

the software, both internal and external, got to

grips with the software extremely quickly.

Ortec – TNT case study The Franz Edelman Award was presented to

TNT Express as the company – together with a

team, including Ortec, and by using Ortec tools

– saved over 200 Mln euro in the past 5 years on

networking and routing optimisation projects.

Ortec – Walmart studyEarlier this year Walmart announced an

improvement in the efficiency of its private fleet

by almost 69 per cent last year compared to its

2005 baseline. Part of these savings has been

realised by the company-wide implementation of

the Ortec Vehicle Routing and Ortec Load

Building solutions. An excerpt from the Walmart

report reads: “Throughout our network, we

delivered 65 million more cases, while driving 28

million fewer miles, by increasing pallets per

trailer and better managing routes. The heavier

loads have minimal impact on our fuel-efficient

equipment, which includes an average tractor

age of three years and the addition of more than

13,000 skirted trailers. Our network efficiency

improvement equates to avoiding nearly 41,000

metric tons of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of

taking about 7900 cars off the road.” n




Success story \\\ Manufacturing \\\

www.logisticsit.com

Frank & Pignard provides a variety

of power steering and engine

injection parts for major automotive

original equipment manufacturers

(OEMs). Founded in 1929, the

company operates three production plants

located in Thyez, France. As a QAD customer

since 1999, Frank & Pignard relies on QAD

Enterprise Applications to efficiently manage

its business.

With the automotive market recovering, and

ambitious plans for growth in place, the

company identified an opportunity to leverage

additional new functionality by upgrading to

the latest Enterprise Edition of QAD Enterprise

Applications.

Customer focus “We needed to enhance our system to

provide our customers the level of support

they require,” explained René Pierre

Chemama – CIO, Frank & Pignard SAS. “By

upgrading to QAD’s latest edition of

Enterprise Applications we have ensured that

we can continue to provide the best service

for our existing customers as well as attract

new clients.”

A critical customer driven change for the

company was the complete redesign of their

existing EDI platform. As part of the upgrade,

Frank & Pignard has standardised all EDI

communication with its car manufacturer

clients using the QAD EDI solution which is

expected to have a direct impact on supply

chain efficiency.

Fast implementation

The project was delivered by a combined

team comprised of personnel from QAD,

Sopra Group, and Frank & Pignard. QAD’s

deployment methodology was used to

standardise on best practices and minimise

the need for customisations. The

implementation of the latest Enterprise Edition

at all sites was achieved in less than five

months.

Another key deliverable from the upgrade was

the new functionality contained within the

QAD Enterprise Financials suite. The

company’s finance team implemented a

shared services structure across their

European operations to drive efficiencies and

gain competitive advantage. QAD’s built-in

Operational Metrics allow the company to

closely monitor its key performance

indicators, and rapidly take action if needed.

“We are focused on delivering enterprise

applications that help our customers become

more effective enterprises,” said Steve

Gardner EMEA vice president, sales and

marketing, QAD. “Moreover we continue to

work closely with our global customers to help

ensure they are evolving their usage of QAD

technology, upgrade innovation and services

to gain optimal benefit and speed time to

value.” n

Frank & Pignard chooses QADEnterprise Applications

We needed to enhance our system to provide our customers the levelof support they require. By upgrading to QAD’s latest edition of EnterpriseApplications we have ensured that we can continue to provide the bestservice for our existing customers as well as attract new clients.”

– René Pierre Chemama, Frank & Pignard SAS.

“

QAD Inc., provider of enterprise business software and services for global manufacturingcompanies, and its strategic alliance partner, Sopra Group, has announced that Frank &Pignard SAS, a wholly-owned division of Maike Group, has gone live with the latestedition of QAD Enterprise Applications.

About QAD at a glanceQAD is a provider of enterpriseapplications for global manufacturingcompanies specialising in automotive,consumer products, electronics, food andbeverage, industrial and life scienceproducts. QAD applications providecritical functionality for managingmanufacturing resources and operationswithin and beyond the enterprise,enabling global manufacturers tocollaborate with their customers,suppliers and partners to make anddeliver the right product, at the right costand at the right time.

Frank & Pignard provides a variety ofpower steering and engine injectionparts for major automotive originalequipment manufacturers (OEMs).


\\\ Manufacturing \\\ Product news

www.logisticsit.com

Infor, provider of business application

software serving more than 70,000

customers, has announced a Cloud-based

offering of its suite of applications for the

equipment industry. The company

comments that deploying Infor applications in

the Cloud will help equipment companies

modernise their technology, reduce IT

infrastructure, speed deployment, and create a

lower total cost of ownership. Infor will leverage

IBM Power Systems built on open standards to

create a private Cloud environment to run Infor

applications with increased speed and agility.

“Infor is committed to helping our customers in

the equipment industry drive efficiency not only

through applications that improve business

processes, but also through technology that

helps reduce their IT budgets,” said Mark Wright,

executive vice president, Infor. “Customers that

choose to deploy Infor

applications in the cloud will

be able to take advantage of

reduced costs, increased

flexibility and easier

upgrades, all with

maintenance and support

direct from Infor’s award

winning Xtreme Support

Programme.”

More than 5500 customers in

approximately 60 countries

use Infor applications for their equipment-centric

business. Whether deployed on-premise or in the

cloud, Infor Equipment helps customers

centralise key information from production, sales,

service, warranty, finance, and rental with a

single, scalable business system to drive

strategic and profitable operations.

The delivery of a Cloud offering of Infor

Equipment follows Infor’s recent announcement

of heavy investment in the industry, which

includes a dedicated innovation centre and the

formation of the Infor CAT Dealer Advisory

Council. n

Infor announces Cloud offering forequipment industry

m-hance, UK provider of

business software solutions,

has launched its integrated

enterprise social networking

solution (ESN) for SMEs, m-

hance Social Business (mSB). mSB is an ESN

solution that offers secure and seamless out-

of-the-box connectivity to financial

management, CRM, SharePoint and other

SQL and Oracle based applications, enabling

employees to easily access, comment on and

share valuable knowledge from one unified

system to drive more profitable

communications.

mSB combines the principles of social

networking to provide instant collaboration

and knowledge-sharing within an internal

business context. The system can be

deployed as an on-premise or hosted solution

and is available on smartphones and tablet

devices with its accompanying app providing

greater engagement and collaboration for

remote and mobile workers. Businesses can

also purchase mobile and tablet devices with

associated airtime packages as part of m-

hance's one-stop-shop mobile offering.

Andrew Hayward, managing director of m-

hance, commented: "The sheer volume of

information generated by businesses on a

daily basis is overwhelming. This often leads

to lost revenues when employees are unable

to share and access vital knowledge when

they need to. mSB is m-hance's latest

innovative solution which dynamically

connects people, content and back-office

processes via a single system and has been

developed in response to rising customer

demand for integrated ESN technology."

Analyst IDC predicts that the ESN solutions

market will grow rapidly to reach £2.8 billion in

2016. By implementing mSB, businesses can

successfully bridge geographical distance

and departmental divides across senior

management, finance, sales and marketing,

project and HR teams to improve efficiency.

Key benefits of m-hance Social Business are

claimed to include:

• Increases productivity by an average 2

per cent per user and up to 8 per cent for

knowledge-based workers providing

efficiency savings ranging from £70,000

per year (based on 100 users) to

£350,000 (based on 500 users) through

reduced email 'noise'.

• Reduces knowledge silos.

• Keeps sales teams better informed which

is critical to closing deals.

• Increases employee recognition and

engagement.

• Greater knowledge sharing and skills

transfer.

• Improves connectivity for mobile and

homeworkers.

• Helps the on boarding process for new

starters.

• Moves systems of record to systems of

engagement.

m-hance launches integrated enterprisesocial networking solution for SMEs


Analysis \\\ Manufacturing \\\

www.logisticsit.com

The public Cloud services market

is forecast to grow 19.6 per cent

in 2012 to total US$109 billion

worldwide, according to Gartner.

Business process services (also

known as Business Process as a Service, or

BPaaS) represent the largest segment,

accounting for about 77 per cent of the total

market, while Infrastructure as a Service

(IaaS) is the fastest-growing segment of the

public cloud services market and is expected

to grow 45.4 per cent in 2012.

High-growth sector

"The Cloud services market is clearly a high-

growth sector within the overall IT

marketplace," said Ed Anderson, research

director at Gartner. "The key to taking

advantage of this growth will be

understanding the nuances of the opportunity

within service segments and geographic

regions, and then prioritising investments in

line with the opportunities."

BPaaS is the largest segment primarily

because of the inclusion of Cloud advertising

as a subsegment. BPaaS is forecast to grow

to $84.2 billion in 2012, up from $72 billion in

2011. In 2011, Cloud advertising represented

about 47 per cent of the total public Cloud

services market, making it the biggest

identifiable sub-segment in the forecast.

Through 2016, Cloud advertising will continue

to account for about 47 per cent of total

public Cloud services spending.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the next-

largest segment and is forecast to grow to

$14.4 billion in 2012, while IaaS is forecast to

grow from $4.3 billion in 2011 to $6.2 billion in

2012. In 2010, the IaaS market was less than

one-third the size of the SaaS market. By

2016, the IaaS market will grow to almost

equal the size of the SaaS market.

Growth in application infrastructure services

(also known as Platform as a Service, or

PaaS) will also be high, although it is a

smaller market relative to the other segments.

PaaS is strategic and considered to be a

critical growth driver for other segments,

including BPaaS and SaaS. The PaaS

segment is forecast to grow to $1.2 billion in

2012. Cloud management and security

services constitute a new forecast segment

comprising Cloud security services, IT

operations management (ITOM) and storage

management (including backup and recovery

services). The Cloud management and

security services segment is forecast to grow

to $3.3 billion in 2012.

Although North America is the largest region

and is expected to produce the largest

absolute increase in market size, Gartner

expects the highest regional growth rates in

emerging Asia/Pacific (including India and

Indonesia), greater China, Eurasia (including

Russia) and Latin America (including

Argentina, Mexico and Brazil). Western

Europe is forecast to grow the slowest during

the forecast period, largely due to ongoing

Eurozone economic issues, while growth will

also be lower in mature Asia/Pacific markets

due to ongoing economic challenges in the

Japanese market.

North America will account for the greatest

percentage of absolute growth in the Cloud

services market, with 61 per cent of all growth

from 2010 through 2016. Western Europe will

follow, with 17 per cent of absolute Cloud

services growth over the same period. This

highlights the dominance of North America

and Western Europe in the development,

availability and adoption of Cloud services.

High growth rates will occur in emerging

markets, including the top three growth

countries of India, Indonesia and China.

However, 79 per cent of spending increases

will come from North America and Western

Europe. For Cloud services providers, this will

require a strategic approach when

considering both high-volume and high-

growth markets. Both will be important in the

development of sustained, global strategies.

Evaluation

"The total public Cloud services market size in

2011 was $91.4 billion, and it will grow to

$206.6 billion in 2016. As the market grows,

IaaS will become a larger part of the overall

market, while the market share of Cloud

management and security services will grow

as well," said Anderson. "When targeting

specific markets within the Cloud services

marketplace, we recommend evaluating both

potential market size and growth rates. These

will vary by segment, sub-segment, region

and country."

Richard Davies, CEO of ElasticHosts,

commented: “The predictions that the public

Cloud services market is predicted to grow to

$206.6 billion in 2016 presents a huge

opportunity for the channel, particularly in the

IaaS space. With this in mind clever channel

players will start looking at solutions that allow

them to white label cloud solutions, provide

additional services and associated revenue,

while also maintaining customer relationships.

As Cloud becomes more prevalent end users

will have a much clearer perspective on what

Cloud is and what to expect from providers.” n

Gartner: worldwide Cloud servicesmarket to surpass $109 billion in 2012


\\\ Manufacturing \\\ Analysis

www.logisticsit.com

As competition intensifies across

all industries, Frost & Sullivan

believes companies need to

increase their process efficiency,

quality and productivity. Key

factors to establishing successful automation

systems include faster and more reliable

networking solutions, such as industrial

computers.

New findings from Frost & Sullivan, ‘Analysis of

the Global Industrial Computers Market

(www.industrialautomation.frost.com)’, finds that

the global industrial computers market earned

revenues of US$2134.4 million in 2011 and

estimates this to reach $3,216.6 million in 2015.

Progression

“Currently, competition has intensified across all

industries, leading companies to increase their

process efficiency, quality and productivity, and

thus raising the need for industrial computers,”

commented Frost & Sullivan research analyst

Katarzyna Owczarczyk. “In each industry,

automation systems have progressed beyond

programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and

supervisory control and data acquisition

(SCADA) systems to include robotics or

machine vision systems.”

While competition is intensifying at a global

level, and computer technology is striving

forward at an increasing rate, most companies

prefer to make immediate and maximum profits

by using the latest technologies available. This

is creating a need to expedite the decision-

making process for investments into the

industrial computers market, as companies aim

to refresh and update their processes with

modern technology to remain competitive.

Owczarczyk continued: “Key factors to

establishing successful automation systems

include faster and more reliable networking

solutions such as industrial computers which,

when combined with advanced process

control software, function as automation

supervisors with the ability to connect external

machines and plants. Furthermore, recent

increases in computational and storage

capability and the integration of several tasks

on one platform have allowed for the creation

of computing platforms capable of recording

and analysing terabytes of raw data, resulting

in increased process efficiency, quality and

productivity.”

Far East factor

The industrial computers market has been

thriving in the Far East – especially in South

Korea, Taiwan, and China. These countries

have been producing industrial computers,

exporting them at extremely low prices. As

their quality matches the expectations of the

western market, the continued increase in

competition from the Far East has put pressure

on the established European market players.

“With many end users being price sensitive and

importing inexpensive products from Asian

countries such as China or Taiwan, it is expected

that these countries will penetrate the market as

low cost options, especially among the small and

medium sized companies, which cannot afford

high price, best quality products,” said

Owczarczyk.

European and American industrial computers

suppliers are therefore forced to keep their

prices down in order to compete, which may be

difficult to achieve due to higher production

costs. This in turn puts pressure on industrial

computers manufacturers to drive down prices,

as customers will be seeking to reduce their own

costs. The impact of this restraint remains strong

in the short and medium terms, as many end

users – especially in the Asian and Eastern

European countries – will prefer low cost

industrial computers.

“Once end users recognise the need of

having highly effective machines, the

adoption is expected to increase,”

concluded Owczarczyk. n

Frost & Sullivan predicts growth for theglobal industrial computers market

Owing to the rapid growth of computer and communication technology, manufacturingareas are becoming more automated, increasingly deploying intelligent devices tomonitor and control unmanned facilities, according to Frost & Sullivan.

European and American industrial computers suppliers are therefore forced to keeptheir prices down in order to compete, which may be difficult to achieve due tohigher production costs.


Analysis \\\ Manufacturing \\\

www.logisticsit.com

The market data from PAC shows

the highly heterogeneous maturity

levels of the SaaS market, with the

USA accounting for 60 per cent of

the worldwide SaaS market in

2012. ”The USA is the clear leader – the model

was invented there, a very broad offering is

already available there and there are no cultural

barriers,” said Christophe Châlons, chief

analyst at PAC. “In many

other countries, on the other

hand, the fear of losing

control, security concerns,

plus - in emerging countries

- the lack of Internet

bandwidth and the

competition from (low-cost)

local ISVs are hampering

the market development.”

In order of size, the USA is

followed by the UK,

Germany, Japan, Canada,

and France, each of them

making up between 3 and 6

per cent of the worldwide

market. The BRIC countries

(Brazil, Russia, India and

China) taken together, on

the other hand, represent

just 2 per cent of the worldwide market.

Strong variations

In a comprehensive datamart document, PAC

provides and compares market volumes and

growth rates by industry. While Manufacturing

and Services & Consumers account for the

major share of the SaaS market, followed by

Banking and Retail & Wholesale, there are

strong variations regarding both volume and

growth between the different countries.

Châlons continued:

“Traditionally, SMBs – in

particular in the Services,

Manufacturing or Retail

industries – have considered

the SaaS model an attractive

option. It enables them to

deploy solutions and

automate processes in a

flexible, easy-to-use and financially feasible

manner. However, security concerns and

compliance regulations particularly hinder growth

in industries like Banking or the Public Sector.”

PAC’s detailed datamart ‘Software as a Service

by Vertical Sectors – Market Figures –

Worldwide by Countries’ is part of our SITSI

market research. It provides market volumes,

growth rates and forecasts for the worldwide

Software as a Service market for the 2009-2015

period and covers 25 countries (Australia,

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China,

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy,

Japan, Mexico, Middle East, Netherlands,

Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain,

Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA) and 3 regions

(Americas, APAC, EMEA). The figures are

broken down by the following vertical sectors:

Manufacturing, Banking, Insurance, Public

Sector, Telecom, Utilities, Retail & Wholesale,

Services & Consumers, Transport. n

Worldwide SaaS Market: USA leadingwith 60 per cent market share

European research and analysis company, Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), recentlypublished market figures and a forecast for the worldwide Software as a Service (SaaS)market for 2009-2015, showing the development of the SaaS market by 9 verticalsectors in 25 countries as well as at regional and worldwide level.

Traditionally, SMBs – in particular in the Services, Manufacturing orRetail industries – have considered the SaaS model an attractive option. Itenables them to deploy solutions and automate processes in a flexible,easy-to-use and financially feasible manner. However, security concernsand compliance regulations particularly hinder growth in industries likeBanking or the Public Sector.”

– Christophe Châlons, Pierre Audoin Consultants.

“


Planning Success story

Advanced planning & scheduling

has brought many benefits to

pharmaceutical companies in

different types of application.

This is best illustrated by

looking at some examples. Universal Products

(Lytham) Manufacturing Ltd. (UPL) is a

leading contract manufacturer serving the

pharmaceutical and personal care industries

including liquids, creams, lotions, ointments

and gels.

Operating on a Make to Order basis, UPL

produces in the region of 40-45 million units

per year with order sizes ranging from 1000 to

1,000,000. Each of the company’s 500+

products comprises two essential components

– raw materials and packaging. However while

the lead times for raw materials are normally

between 1 to 4 weeks, packaging lead times,

which may include design and printing can

extend out to 18 weeks depending on what is

specified. To complicate matters further, some

customers choose to supply their own

packaging, which needs to be available before

the product can begin to be made.

Alison Walmsley, the

company’s planner explains

why the relationship between

packaging and filling is so

important. “Clearly we can’t fill

a product if we don’t have

anything to fill into but it’s more

complicated than this. Many of

our products have to be mixed

in very exact ways, in

dedicated tanks at specific

temperatures. Some have to

be stored at a certain

temperatures and also kept at

the specific temperatures

required by the filling machine

that is needed to fill the tubes,

jars or bottles in question.

Each of our mixing, storage

and filling resources are

therefore a potential

bottleneck and we cannot

begin a job and keep it on

hold while we wait for the

packaging to arrive.”

Evaluatingalternativescenarios

As Walmsley notes, resource

utilisation extends beyond

the use of machines to

ensuring that sufficient staffing levels are in

place. “We run a variety of shift patterns and

when demand is high we may need to run

weekend shifts and take on extra people,”

she said. The non-availability of people as

well as unplanned maintenance also needs to

be carefully managed, with the company

ideally needing to evaluate a number of

alternative scenarios to select the most

effective plan. Seeing the impact of a

decision on all the existing live orders as well

as those further upstream then becomes

increasingly important.

The ability to update the plan as and when

required and push it to everyone in the

company means that UPL now only works to

the same, up-to-date plan. The company can

now react much quicker to unexpected

changes in customer orders, supplier

problems and unplanned maintenance

situations and in the case of larger

disruptions, perform numerous ‘what if’

scenarios.

Another example is Laboratorios Raffo in

Preactor provides the rightAdvanced Planning & Schedulingremedy for UPL

www.logisticsit.com


Planning Success story

www.logisticsit.com

Argentina. Headquartered in Munro, Vicente

López, the company has 2 other locations in

Buenos Aires with its main manufacturing

facility located in San Juan province. QA and

QC are vital processes in the operation of the

company, actively involved in each stage of

production, from raw materials and drugs,

tablet production, through to primary and

secondary packaging. It was therefore vital to

integrate QC and QA fully into the planning

and scheduling process. At every stage an

intricate logic of constraints must be taken

into account for each package of raw

materials and drugs to be sampled with

traceability of batches needing to be

maintained for the individual lots of

intermediate products.

A particular feature of the QC processes in

the pharmaceutical industry is that they are

essentially made up of two ‘trains’ of

operation; those that correspond to chemical

analysis and those that correspond to

microbiological analysis. These should both

flow in parallel and independently. An

additional degree of complexity comes from

the company’s aim of minimising the stocks of

intermediate products and minimising total

production time.

Fast pace The company uses Preactor to plan production

across more than 280 resources. The fast pace

of business forces Central Planning, operating

from the Central Administration, to run MRP at

least once a week. San Juan inputs all the new

data regarding plans and stocks of both raw

materials and intermediate products

manufactured in San Juan, Buenos Aires and/or

third parties into Preactor to update the

schedule.

Eduardo Behmer, planning project leader,

commented: “Preactor is not only a very

efficient scheduling tool, it has also been an

impressive driving force to improve our

logistics chain. Preactor has forced us to re-

define the parameters included in our MRP

Module including the update of the

suggested orders generated by it, the

update of the raw materials lead times, and

other logistics parameters with the objective

to improve the starting dates for the

production processes.” n

UPL can now react much quicker tounexpected changes in customer orders,supplier problems and unplanned maintenancesituations and in the case of larger disruptions,perform numerous ‘what if’ scenarios.


Planning Opinion

www.logisticsit.com

Four pillars of demandforecasting excellence

Estimating future demand is one of

the most fundamentally valuable

challenges in supply chain

optimisation. Demand forecasting

provides the crucial forward-

looking picture that shapes how a company

will deploy its supply chain to take maximum

advantage of customer opportunity. Demand

planning is the effort to increase forecast

accuracy and customer service levels through

better perceiving, predicting and shaping the

full range of factors that determine how well

your product portfolio satisfies market needs.

No other aspect of supply chain optimisation

has greater impact on business profitability.

Providing the best ‘one number’ forecast

requires capturing demand close to its source

and accurately predicting actual demand with

enough lead time and confidence to ensure

maximum sales & operations planning (S&OP)

performance at minimum cost. There are four

key pillars that support effective demand

planning and establish fundamental

parameters for higher service levels and lower

inventory cost. These are the ‘pillars’ on which

competitive advantage and profitability are

built.

Pillar 1: Go beyond simpleforecasting

Effective demand planning applies science to

deliver a better forecast (a prediction that

turns out to be closer to actual demand).

While forecasts have long been executed

using not much more than a spreadsheet and

a hunch, leading planning organisations strive

for a multi-layered approach that employs a

variety of statistical models in an unbiased

way to comprehend the many factors that

influence demand for products in the

marketplace over time. According to a recent

analyst survey on improving demand

planning, respondents indicated that “lack of

accountability for the accuracy of the

forecast” was the biggest challenge.

Companies can benefit from clearly defining

the balance between statistical modeling and

collaborative forecasting methods.

Pillar 2: Beat the ‘Devil inthe details’ using ademand aggregation

Demand aggregation and disaggregation are

keys to creating the best possible forecast at

all levels of granularity required to reconcile

corporate (strategic) plans with operations

(tactical) plans. As Gartner puts it, “the

balance between bottom-up collaborative

approaches versus top-down statistical

modeling is challenging”.* The demand

aggregation hierarchy is a concept familiar to

most planners: a multi-layer view in which the

lower, larger levels represent demand for a

greater number of sub-components, while the

higher levels summarise demand by product

family, group, region, etc.

In practice, this hierarchy (see Figure 1)

should support input from multiple sources,

including customer forecasts, sales forecasts,

management direction, and constraint-based

forecasts, as well as external demand signals

generated by syndicated data and point-of-

sale information. The hierarchy structure

breaks down higher-level (executive-friendly)

plans into detailed forecasts associated with

product components such as style, color,

size, sales channel, customer, region, and

other elements. It captures ‘how many of

which kind’ need to be created, stocked, and

distributed for multilevel product structures

such as accessories, components,

consumables and service parts that have

time-phased dependent demand.

Pillar 3: Take plannerproductivity to the nextlevel

One of the primary distinctions between

leading companies and all others is their

ability to focus valuable planner resources on

high-value-add activities like problem

avoidance, issue resolution and optimisation.

Adopting a management-by-exception

approach to demand planning is a crucial

way of maximising planner productivity in the

organisation. Advanced demand planning

systems encourage a ‘set-and-forget…until

alerted’ philosophy around forecasts. As

actual sales data becomes available, the

system monitors validity by comparing the

existing demand curve to the actual demand

signal.

Establishing and automatically monitoring a

customised set of performance indicators

provides planners and other stakeholders a

comprehensive picture of how well the

forecasting effort is working. Common KPIs

include forecast accuracy, inventory levels,

Karin Bursa: “Getting visibility to whatcustomers, partners and internal stakeholdersknow can make a more accurate demand planand provide reliable input to the Sales &Operations Planning team.”

By Karin Bursa, vice president, Logility.


Planning Opinion

service level, fill rate, and stock-out

percentage. The demand planning system

provides individualised dashboards that

display KPIs relevant to each stakeholder’s

needs. By managing one integrated set of

KPIs across the organisation, from supply-

side to demand-side, at every level of

forecast aggregation; everyone stays on the

same page regarding overall performance

against unified customer service metrics.

Pillar 4: Make collaborationa core demand planningcompetency

Getting visibility to what customers, partners

and internal stakeholders know can make a

more accurate demand plan and provide

reliable input to the Sales & Operations

Planning team. There is no greater

contribution to wise S&OP decision making

than collecting information as close to the

demand signal as possible, and receiving

feedback as early as possible. According to

Gartner gathering demand insights from

customers presents the largest gap between

importance (74 per cent think it is important)

and effectiveness (44 per cent think they are

effective at it). Gathering demand insights

from sales and marketing (importance 65 per

cent, effectiveness 48 per cent) and gathering

demand insights from product management

(importance 55 per cent, effectiveness 42 per

cent) showed smaller, but still significant,

gaps between importance and effectiveness.

As we have seen, providing the best ‘one

number’ forecast requires capturing the

demand signal close to its source and

accurately predicting demand with enough

lead time and confidence to ensure maximum

sales and operations performance at

minimum cost. n

[*] ‘Building an Effective Demand-Planning

Process,’ July 18, 2012, Steven Steutermann,

Fenella Scott, Noha Tohamy, Gartner.

Figure 1. Demand hierarchy, showing multiple aggregation stacks.

www.logisticsit.com

Patient safety is naturally the top

priority within hospitals and

clinics, as is dispensing the

right drug to the right patient at

the right time. Auto ID plays an

important role here, providing benefits such

as unique patient ID numbers to prevent

treatment errors – such as the transfusion

of the wrong blood type, or confusion

arising from two patients with the same

name. There is also a very robust

dispensing methodology in place, making

sure the right drugs are supplied. However,

an assumption is commonly made that the

drugs in the packet, syringe or the saline

bag are genuine. “You can have the best

patient safety initiatives in place, but if

patients are receiving fake drugs this

defeats the whole objective and can

ultimately put lives at risk,” remarks Zebra

Technologies’ Matt Parker.

So what is the solution? Parker maintains

that in order to best ensure drugs are

genuine within the hospital or clinic

environment, as well as at the counter of

the local pharmacy, the medical and

pharmaceutical industry needs to look

upstream within the supply chain. “It’s all

about full tracking and traceability of

goods,” he said. “Pharmaceutical

counterfeits are an expensive problem

globally, as well as potentially highly

dangerous – with potentially hazardous

substances sometimes being used as a

packer or filler.”

With this in mind, Parker explains that

manufacturing organisations in the

pharmaceutical space and elsewhere are

beginning to see the potential of already

established auto ID technologies as a

trusted means of better interrogating

products and their origin. He adds that, of

course, it is impossible to fully secure

anything and that counterfeiting has been

around since the beginning of civilisation;

however Parker makes the point that

stakeholders within a supply chain can go

a lot further in making counterfeiting more

difficult. In order to achieve this, he

explains that by establishing a centralised

company-wide or industry-wide database a

series of lock-codes can be established at

item level in order to verify products when

dispensed or at the point of issue to

hospitals or clinics.

Added security layers

Parker explains that, by scanning a 2-D

data matrix code to verify the lock code

against the central database, quick and

accurate verification of genuine products

can be achieved. But there remains a

potential problem here. If the lock codes

were leaked from the point of manufacture

and intercepted by unscrupulous

individuals they could in theory be

duplicated before they reach the pharmacy

store. Therefore, he points out that there

remains a small element of risk that fake

goods could be dispensed. This is where

he recognises the real value of using

different layers of auto ID technology for

added security.

“Rather than just verifying goods at the

point of dispense, the point of purchase or

the point of consumption there is a need

for every individual within the materials

handling process to check and cross

check against the central database,” said

Parker. “OK, there can be around 30

different handover points within the supply

chain, and the handler might say he has 10

pallets each with 100 cartons containing 15

individual items, and so argue that he

couldn’t possibly open every single one of

those items, scan them all individually, re-

pack them and then ship them. But this is

where this different layer comes in because

if we look at using passive RFID at a carton


Printing & Labelling Interview

Fightingcounterfeitingin pharmaceuticaland healthcare

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with Matt Parker, head of marketdevelopment Zebra Technologies Europe, about the practice of counterfeitingwithin the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, and how better aggregation

of data throughout the supply chain is the best line of defence.

Potentially deadly:Counterfeit drugs remain

a very real, expensiveand dangerous reality inthe pharmaceutical and

healthcare sectors.


Printing & Labelling

level or a case level – or even a pallet level

– that allows the handler not only to read

and verify all the goods quickly and simply

against that database but also update the

database because of the writable memory

that still exists on that passive RFID tag

that he’s taken ownership of.”

Parker added that, through deploying this

methodology, companies can secure a

greater level of visibility within their whole

supply chain in terms of who has the

goods at any point in time, when they

released them, when the next person took

ownership of them and so on. “This

process is something we refer to as an

aggregation of data,” said Parker. “It is

about ensuring everything is visible right

the way through the value chain so at the

point of dispense you can look back

through the whole electronic pedigree of a

particular item and make an informed

decision as to whether it’s genuine against

the centralised database.”

Parker added that auto ID is the technology

that is allowing companies to access the

different data points as well as create new

data points; as well as providing

commentary on an individual item as it

moves through the supply chain. “And the

benefit of RFID is that, because of its line-

of-sight removal and the lack of manual

intervention required, the burden is taken

away from any one of those stakeholders

within the supply chain to break down

goods to a component level and then to

scan and verify,” he said.

Top of mind

Parker concluded: “I think it’s fair to say

that this whole anti-counterfeit drive and

the whole content-secure supply chain is

top of mind, not only in the pharmaceutical

and healthcare industry but also in a whole

host of other sectors such a food &

beverage and tobacco, high tech,

automotive parts and fashion & apparel.

The practice of counterfeiting is not going

to go away entirely, but what we need to do

is make it more complicated and harder to

do. Auto ID allows us to do this and

therefore access to aggregated data

throughout the supply chain becomes even

more important.” n

Interview

Rather than just verifying goods atthe point of dispense, the point ofpurchase or the point of consumptionthere is a need for every individualwithin the materials handling processto check and cross check against thecentral database.

RFID can play a critical role inscuppering the counterfeitdrug trade.


Printing & Labelling Product news

Toshiba TEC reports that low

cost of ownership, ease of

integration into existing

competitor estates and high

performance at top speeds are

just some of the benefits of its new B-

EX4T2 premium industrial barcode printer,

available at a price often associated with

less powerful printing solutions. Also, with

what is claimed to be the lowest power

consumption of any industrial printer on the

market* combined with a 600m ribbon

offered as standard, the resulting reduction

in electricity use, stoppages, media

changes and storage requirements, all

point to lower operating costs for users.

Paul Reynolds, senior manager Auto-ID,

from Toshiba TEC, commented: “There was

a definite gap in the market for a high

spec, low cost industrial printer. We are

delighted to introduce the B-EX4T2 and

believe that it will compete extremely

effectively since it provides a low cost

means of upgrading outdated estates to a

more robust, efficient solution, and

performs consistently to the highest

standards guaranteeing maximum return

on investment.”

Reducing capitalinvestment

Toshiba TEC’s use of Z-Mode emulation is

claimed to ensure that the B-EX4T2 can

replace competitor products quickly and

seamlessly, integrating into legacy software

systems without the need for huge capital

investment in expensive upgrades.

Flat-head technology, combined with left

justified media and the use of inside and

outside wound ribbons allow for easy

transition from old label and ribbon stock,

with further savings possible on running

costs when replacing printing estates that

are ageing and expensive to operate. And

with a 600m ribbon, as well as the option of

an 800m ribbon, downtime and associated

costs are also cut to a minimum.

Featuring advanced processing power, the

B-EX4T2 boasts fast output with print

speeds of up to 12ips, combined with

efficient throughput, making it an ideal

choice for heavy-duty industrial printing

environments. In addition, it is available in

203/300 or 600dpi variants for a diverse

range of high volume industrial printing

applications.

Minimummaintenance costs

Using customer-friendly

features that are easy to

upgrade in the field – such as

snap-in printheads, combined

with double-ribbon motor

control, which provides linear

ribbon feed and correct

tension, reducing wrinkles and

waste – maintenance costs are

also kept to a minimum.

Equipped with Ethernet and USB 2.0 as

standard, the B-EX4T2 offers the option to

include parallel port and wireless LAN

capability. Green credentials include the

prized Energy Star label, a solvent-free

ribbon and the Toshiba promise to deliver

Carbon Zero printing.**

* The B-EX4T2 was benchmarked against

competitor products in stand-by mode.

**Toshiba TEC’s Carbon Zero scheme was

launched in 2009 to help end users reduce

their environmental impact, and has

eliminated over 106,000 tonnes of carbon to

date. n

“There was a definite gap in the market for a high spec, low

cost industrial printer. We are delighted to introduce the B-EX4T2

and believe that it will compete extremely effectively since it

provides a low cost means of upgrading outdated estates to a

more robust, efficient solution, and performs consistently to the

highest standards guaranteeing maximum return on investment.”

– Paul Reynolds, Toshiba TEC.

Toshiba TEC launcheslow-cost premium B-EX4T2

27ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTUREProduct news

October 2012

Handheld’s Algiz 10X ruggedtablet built for outdoor use

Handheld Group, manufacturer of

rugged mobile computers and

smartphones, has introduced its

new rugged mobile device for

field professionals: the Algiz 10X

rugged tablet PC. The powerful Algiz 10X can

withstand tough weather elements and harsh

handling, and its large, 10.1-inch touchscreen

provides the best screen visibility on the market.

“The new Algiz 10X is perfectly suited for field

professionals who need a rugged tablet

computer that is lightweight and built to

withstand the harsh conditions that come with all

kinds of industry fieldwork, and that can display

detailed maps and other visuals even in bright

sunlight,” said Jerker Hellström, CEO of

Handheld.

IP65-rated

The Algiz 10X is IP65-rated and meets stringent

MIL-STD-810G military standards for protecting

against dust, water, vibrations, drops, extreme

temperatures and varying altitudes. It is

lightweight at just 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs), and it is only

32 mm (1.2") thick.

The Algiz 10X's brilliant display features the

latest generation of MaxView technology. The

tablet also comes with a u-blox GPS receiver

and WAAS/EGNOS/MSAS capability, plus

Bluetooth 4.0, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and it is

WWAN Gobi 3000-ready with fully integrated

modem and antennas for wireless

connectivity. It has a built-in 5-megapixel

camera with LED flash, and several

connectivity opportunities, including

waterproof USB 2.0, VGA and RS232 ports.

The Algiz 10X operates on a powerful Intel Atom

N2800 dual-core processor with 4 GB of DDR3

RAM, offering top-of-the-line computing

capability, and the SSD disk is expandable via

microSD for massive storage capacity. The Algiz

10X runs Windows 7 Ultimate, and is ready for

Windows 8.

Larger display

Hellström continued: “With the Algiz 10X, we

are expanding the popular product family that

includes our Algiz 7, which is the preferred

choice today for field professionals worldwide.

The Algiz 10X comes with increased

processing power and storage plus a larger

display – something that the market has been

asking for.”

Like all of Handheld’s lineup of rugged PDAs,

smartphones and mobile computers, the Algiz

10X is specifically developed for field workers

in industries such as logistics, geomatics,

forestry, public transportation, utilities,

construction, maintenance, mining, military

and security. The Algiz 10X will be available in

January 2013. Orders can be placed

immediately. n

www.logisticsit.com

The new Algiz 10X is perfectly suited for field professionals who needa rugged tablet computer that is lightweight and built to withstand theharsh conditions that come with all kinds of industry fieldwork, and thatcan display detailed maps and other visuals even in bright sunlight.”

– Jerker Hellström, Handheld.

“

Handheld at a glance The Handheld Group is a manufacturer ofrugged mobile computers, PDAs andsmartphones. Handheld and its partnersworldwide deliver complete mobilitysolutions to businesses in industries suchas geomatics, logistics, forestry, publictransportation, utilities, construction,maintenance, mining, military andsecurity. The Handheld Group of Swedenhas local offices in Finland, the UK, theNetherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland,Australia and the USA.

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURE

28 www.logisticsit.com

Product news

Box Technologies, the UK provider

of customer interface technology

solutions, has announced the

launch of the Cielo range of high-

end EPoS terminals specifically

designed to combine high performance with

aesthetically pleasing looks aimed squarely at

the fashion, pharmacy, hospitality and specialty

retail sectors.

Cielo is an attractive and powerful EPoS

terminal endowed with an ultra-slim display,

sleek chassis and small footprint design. Its

bezel free design gives a tablet style look and

combined with its smooth lines and elegant

appearance, Cielo is ideal for high-end retail,

fashion and specialty stores.

Vent-free frame

Cielo is equally at home dealing with more

mission critical applications. Cleanliness at the

point of sale within a pharmacy or

hospitality environment, for

example, is essential

and Cielo provides

design features

that address

these

important

requirements. The Cielo boasts a vent-

free frame which along with its bezel

free construction ensures a cleaner,

more hygienic terminal. This provides

the additional benefit of

reducing ingress of

liquid, dust or food, which can have a

detrimental effect on the lifespan of the touch

screen.

Cielo is available in a choice of charcoal or

white; whilst charcoal might find itself in a

designer style operation, the latter is ideal in a

pharmacy environment where any accumulation

of dirt is easily visible enabling it to be wiped

clean and kept clear of germs.

There are two models. Besides the standard

Cielo, the Cielo-i is the high performance

version for use in environments where

transactions may be more complex and

require a more system hungry software

package. This PoS terminal can be

supplied with either an i3 or i5 core

bringing prodigious amounts of

computing power.

Tough but light aluminum chassis

Operationally, Cielo boasts a bright image

display which is backlit for ease of use. It is

economic in its power consumption and has a

Box Technologies introducesthe Cielo Series of EPoS terminals

October 2012MANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSIT

[The Cielo’s] tablet style linesbring the point-of-saleenvironment up to date whilst itsdesign practicalities ensure that itis easy to keep clean with fewermoving parts for longer life and alow total cost of ownership. Cieloshows the beauty can becombined with practicality.”

– Richard Elmes, Box Technologies.

“

29ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSwww.logisticsit.com

tough but light aluminum chassis with a

compact footprint that is perfect for point of

service areas where space is at a premium.

Of its launch, Richard Elmes, marketing

manager at Box Technologies, commented:

“The introduction of Cielo addresses a need

within the retail, pharmacy and hospitality

sectors for a point-of-sale terminal that

provides both performance and

stunning good looks. Its tablet style

lines bring the point-of-sale

environment up to date whilst its

design practicalities ensure that it

is easy to keep clean with fewer

moving parts for longer life

and a low total cost of

ownership. Cielo shows the

beauty can be combined with practicality.” n

October 2012

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTUREProduct news

Box Technologies at a glance Box Technologies is the UK provider ofcustomer interface technology solutions,within six core market sectors: Retail,Hospitality, Finance, Public Sector,Utilities, Transportation & Logistics.Celebrating 20 years in business in June2012, Box Technologies’ success overmany years derives from its sellingproposition of ‘Delivering the CustomerInterface through Technology’. As anISO 90001:2008-accredited business,supported by direct relationship withleading manufacturers BoxTechnologies delivers total solutionsacross multiple product lines DigitalSignage, EPoS, Mobile and Self-Service supported by in-houseService delivery teams.

Box Technologies

F5t rugged next generation tablet PC Dolphin 6000 Wireless Scanphone

Delivering the Customer Interface Through Technology

Merlin UHF RFID

+44 (0)1844 [email protected]

@boxtechnologies

Getac UK has launched the

PS336 – a fully-rugged

handheld that offers RFID

(Radio Frequency

Identification), long range

Bluetooth, 1D laser barcode reader, and 3-in-

1 card reader functionality (HF RFID reader,

smart card reader, SAM card slots).

Users can easily switch between these

functions thanks to Getac’s own Flexiconn

technology, which allows various caps to be

fitted and removed from the device

depending on the primary function required.

The PS336 also incorporates an open

interface meaning Independent Hardware

Vendors can add new modules/caps to

expand functionality.

Peter Molyneux, president of Getac UK,

commented: “This new device offers

maximum flexibility and will go a long way

towards reducing the need for multiple

devices in the field. Presently users need to

be equipped with a number of tools or

devices to perform their tasks: the PS336

offers a new multi-solution.”

Cap-click convenience Molyneux added that field users in the

manufacturing, industrial and utility sectors

are expected to make the most of the new

technology, which includes embedded RFID

on the rear of the device (allowing operators

to choose between cap and rear RFID

functionality).

“We have designed and built the PS336 to be

the most convenient and multi-functional

handheld users can buy,” he said. “Having

multiple functions just a cap-click away

makes the new handheld ideal for data

capture in any environment. And in addition to

Flexiconn, the device offers programmable

keys so users can personalise and prioritise

the functions most important to

them.”

As well as being designed

with convenience in mind, the

PS336 offers advanced

computing performance and

rugged build. The device

has a 1GHz

processor,

providing

superior

graphics

performance while

operating on low power consumption;

the battery can last up to 12 hours with

LiveSupport battery swappable

technology, meaning users can change

the battery without shutting down the

system.

Built to MIL-STD 810G

The PS336 is also built to a rugged

Certification of MIL-STD 810G, and with

an Ingress Protection (IP) rating of IP68,

the device can be submerged in water for at

least 30 minutes and will remain fully functional.

It also offers Drop Protection to 6 feet.

Outdoor users will benefit from a Sunlight

Readability of 600 nits, including BlanView high

resolution (VGA) display. Those using mapping

technology can also make the most of

Geographic Information System features

including GPS, e-compass, altimeter and 3-Axis

Accelerometer, and 5 megapixel camera. n

AUTOMATIC DATA

CAPTURE

30 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

Product news

Getac rugged handheldoffers multiple functions

October 2012 www.logisticsit.com

The PS336 has a 1GHz processor,providing superior graphicsperformance while operating on lowpower consumption; the battery canlast up to 12 hours with LiveSupportbattery swappable technology.

Getac at a glance Getac UK is a wholly owned subsidiaryof Getac Technology Corporation. GetacTechnology Corporation, a key subsidiaryof MiTAC-Synnex Business Group (2011consolidated revenue US$25.3 billion),was established in 1989 as a jointventure with GE Aerospace to supplydefence electronic products. Getac’sbusiness coverage includes; ruggednotebooks, rugged tablet PCs andrugged handheld devices for military,police, government, communications,manufacturing and transportationapplications ranging from fully rugged tocommercial-grade rugged. Getac’sstrong R&D capabilities allow it toprovide a high level of customisation andall-aspect hardware-software integrationsolutions. Apart from the ruggedcomputing business, Getac is alsoinvolved with the design andmanufacture of plastic and lightweightmetal components. The acquisition ofWaffer Technology in 2009 has madeGetac the world’s third largestaluminium-magnesium alloy producer.

HighJump Software, provider of

supply chain management

software, has formed a strategic

alliance with technology partner,

Speech Interface Design (SID).

SID provides business process optimisation

for distribution and manufacturing customers.

Specialising in Vocollect Voice solutions; SID

analyses, engineers and applies supply chain

industry best practices and technologies

solving customer’s critical business

challenges.

This partnership will provide HighJump

Software customers with an expanded and

unique portfolio of configurable Voice

solutions, including distribution Voice-enabled

workflow for areas such as picking, receiving

and replenishment, as well as for

manufacturing processes such as kitting,

assembly and inspection. The solution

includes ten Voice technology configuration

options that can be set by warehouse, pick

area or employee. This allows a company to

establish different requirements based on its

particular needs, such as the ability to skip a

slot, the requirement to speak the slot location

for validation, validate staging locations or

determine whether the item name is spoken to

the user, among other options.

Key component HighJump reports that Voice technology is a

key component for increasing efficiency and

productivity in the warehouse. The company

adds that combining Voice technology with

the HighJump warehouse management

system (WMS) will allow customers to drive an

even lower total cost of ownership by

maximising the productivity and accuracy of

picking and other warehouse activities.

“For any company looking to increase

accuracy and efficiency even more, Voice is

the next technological frontier to master,” said

Gary Nemmers, vice president of worldwide

sales & marketing at HighJump Software.

“HighJump’s new partnership with SID will

enable seamless integration between a

customer’s existing WMS or enterprise

resource planning system and the speech

recognition solution to provide a

comprehensive solution for companies wanting

to take their operations to the next level.”

Operational advantage

“Our suite of configurable Voice-based solutions

is an excellent match for the adaptable and

flexible HighJump software architecture,” said

Ahmed Reza, president at SID. “This partnership

will provide HighJump Software customers with

the operational advantage they need to increase

productivity, achieve their goals and realise

increased margin.” n


VOICEtechnology

www.logisticsit.com

Company news

Our suite of configurable Voice-based solutions is an excellent match for

the adaptable and flexible HighJump software architecture. This partnership

will provide HighJump Software customers with the operational advantage

they need to increase productivity, achieve their goals and realise increased

margin.”

– Ahmed Reza, Speech Interface Design.

“

HighJump extends SCM softwarewith highly customisable Voice solution

HighJump Software at a glance HighJump Software is a global provider of supply chain management software thatstreamlines the flow of inventory and information from supplier to store shelf. More than 4500customers worldwide have improved their supply chains using HighJump Software.HighJump Software solutions for distribution and logistics, direct store delivery, tradingpartner connectivity, mobility and manufacturing include: warehouse management systems,transportation management systems, route accounting systems, manufacturing execution,mobile sales, ERP data collection and the TrueCommerce EDI Solutions Platform. HighJumpSoftware solutions support growing and evolving businesses in distribution, food andbeverage, 3PL, retail, healthcare and consumer goods industries. HighJump is a trademark ofHighJump Software Inc.

Speech Interface DesignSpeech Interface Design (SID), founded in Pittsburgh, PA in 1993, provides businessprocess optimisation solutions for distribution centres and manufacturing facilities. SIDspecialises in Vocollect Voice-enabled workflows and offers Business Process OptimisationAssessments, development of Custom Systems Solutions and complete ProfessionalServices Implementations. Successful supply chain management customers in the US andCanada resolve their business challenges and add strategic value with SID’s offerings.

Based in Nottingham and founded

over 40 years ago, Pedigree is

one of the UK’s key pet products

wholesalers servicing the

independent sector. The

company has an annual turnover approaching

£48 million and operates from a network of

five strategically located depots, using its own

30 strong delivery fleet to service over 2000

accounts across England and Wales.

Customers include pet shops, garden centres

and specialist outlets.

Pedigree first invested in Accord Voice WMS

for its bulk warehouse and accessories

warehouse at its main distribution centre in

Nottingham as part of a full Accord

Distribution system. The improvements

delivered by Voice – particularly in picking

accuracy – were so convincing that Pedigree

decided to invest further in Voice for the rest

of its depots.

Transformation During a two-year programme, Accord Voice

WMS was rolled out to each depot in turn,

transforming Pedigree’s warehousing from

manual, paper-based operations to real-time,

wall-to-wall Voice control in all five depots.

Goods in are now scanned and Voice-

received to ensure all stock information on the

system is accurate from the start and any

discrepancies addressed immediately, then

controlled by Voice through put away, picking,

replenishment and stocktaking right through

to despatch. With 9000 SKUs and 250 orders

a day to manage across 170,000 square foot

of warehouse space divided between 5

locations, the conversion to Voice is delivering

major efficiency improvements.

As expected, Voice-directed picking is

helping pickers work faster and more

accurately from pick faces which are now

automatically kept replenished by the system,

optimising the use of both forklift truck drivers

and pickers and eliminating re-picks and

waiting time due to empty picking faces.

Picking rates have improved by up to 20 per

cent depending on the type of goods picked

and accuracy is now at 99.9 per cent.

Manifold benefits “Order fulfilment ‘right first time, on time’ is


VOICEtechnology

www.logisticsit.com

Success story

Pedigree Wholesale getsdelivery right first time, on time with

Accord Voice WMS

Pet products wholesaler, Pedigree Wholesale Ltd., has seen significantimprovements in efficiency and control of its operations with the roll out of wall-

to-wall Accord Voice WMS across its network of five depots.

When we first invested in Accord Voice WMS as part of a full Accord

implementation we believed that it outclassed specialist standalone WMS in

terms of functionality. The improvements we have gained have verified this,

more than fulfilling our expectations.”

– Chris Laud, Pedigree Wholesale.

“

always our aim and we’re virtually there now,”

said Chris Laud, Pedigree’s financial director.

“The whole warehouse just works so much

more efficiently. Pickers can quite literally start

picking as the order comes in because

picking instructions are generated at the

relevant depot as soon as the order is

placed.” Moreover, not only are orders more

accurate but damage is minimised as pickers

can now pick and pallet by weight so that

heavier items do not damage more fragile

ones and pallets are more stable. Less

obvious benefits have arisen in terms of faster

training of new staff and flexibility to move

staff around departments as product

knowledge is no longer needed.

Stationery and administration savings arising

from Voice have also been significant with the

elimination of paper picking lists and labels

along with associated administrative tasks.

Invoices, which used to require manual input

with up to five separate picking notes for

each order, for instance, are now all produced

automatically on completion of picking. The

net result has been a significant saving of

administrative time, allowing staff to be

redeployed in more productive tasks.

Expectations fulfilled Laud concluded: “Pedigree are delighted with

the improvements we have obtained by

moving to Voice-controlled warehousing.

When we first invested in Accord Voice WMS

as part of a full Accord implementation we

believed that it outclassed specialist

standalone WMS in terms of functionality. The

improvements we have gained have verified

this, more than fulfilling our expectations.” n


VOICEtechnology

www.logisticsit.com

Success story

BCP at a glance BCP is one of the UK’s top suppliers ofVoice WMS and Supply Chain ERPsolutions. BCP implemented its first end-to-end Voice warehouse solution in the UKfood & drink industry in 2002 and 90 percent of BCP Voice implementations givewall-to-wall Voice control and efficiencyacross the warehouse.

Wall-to-Wall Voice Directed Warehouse Computing

Typical Benefits:-

Business Computer Projects Ltd

Visionary Solutions

Join our social networks Business Computer Projects


Warehouse Management n Success story

www.logisticsit.com

Mini Clipper Logistics has risen

from its humble beginnings as

a one man and a van

operation in 1971 to an £8.5

million company operating a

fleet of 30 trucks from its headquarters in

Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Founding

director Mick Masters, now retired, has

handed over the running of the company to

son Peter and the firm remains very much a

2nd generation family business.

The company has the capacity to store

25,000 pallets in its three main cluster sites

and distributes goods for a wide range of

industries, including clothing, food & drink,

leisure and homeware products for

independent stores and leading high street

retailers. “Our customers typically have an

annual logistics spend of up to £500,000, not

enough to be a major customer for the likes of

DHL or TNT, but ideal business for us,” said

Mini Clipper Logistics’ sales director Jayne

Masters. “We’re able to give people the

individual attention they need and to allow

them to have some influence in the way we

work together, so their values and brand are

maintained throughout the distribution

process. That’s very important when you’re

delivering directly to the customer.”

WMS upgrade

As the company has developed, the family

has been keen to take full advantage of the

latest technology, especially in its

warehousing operations which now account

for around 25 per cent of the business. Mini

Clipper Logistics has been using a

warehouse management system for several

years but with the increase in business and

the need to store goods across three sites it

became obvious that an upgrade was

necessary to provide the level of efficiency

their customers demanded. Two years ago a

decision was made to upgrade to the MACS

warehouse management system.

“One of the main benefits of the new MACS

system is that it is user friendly,” said Simon

Light, Mini Clipper’s warehouse operations

manager. “With the old system the admin staff

had to do a lot of the work simply because it

required a high level of computer literacy to

operate it, whereas now the warehouse

operatives carry out most of the order

processing themselves, which is far simpler

and more efficient.”

The warehouse staff are now able to pick the

items, confirm their order and produce

dispatch labels directly themselves without

having to wait for them to be processed by

the office. In the past orders were often

delayed simply because of the time it took to

complete the paperwork. The MACS system

then produces a Comma Separated Value file

(CSV) which is automatically sent to the

transport management system giving delivery

information and the service level required;

same-day, next-day, timed, etc. to the

transport manager. Previously this had to be

done manually which was slower and

vulnerable to human errors.

Problems solved

“The benefits of the MACS system became

very obvious last Christmas when we were

dispatching orders for a customer in the toy

industry,” said Light. The previous year we

dispatched on peak around 500 orders a day,

and that was a struggle, but using the MACS

system this rose to a maximum of 892 without

any problems and with the same number of

operatives.”

Reporting has also become much more

streamlined with reports showing stock

inventory and end-of-day manifests sent

automatically by e-mail with no manual

intervention from the warehouse staff.

Customers are also able to log onto Mini

Clipper’s website at any time to view transport

POD reports and other key information.

MACS system delivershigh-efficiency while retainingsmall company values

“ The blue-chip companies we deal with demand very high standardsof efficiency and reporting and without a state-of-the-art IT system asmall company like ours would not even have been considered.”

– Jayne Masters, Mini Clipper Logistics.

Customers who request Key Performance

Indicator stats at the end of each month

receive a pick success percentage which,

using the MACS system, is very impressive

with a typical figure of over 99.6 per cent

measured over a recent sample of 27,000

picks.

High standards

“Having the MACS system has enabled us to

obtain business we would otherwise not have

been able to secure,” said Jayne Masters.

“The blue-chip companies we deal with

demand very high standards of efficiency and

reporting and without a state-of-the-art IT

system a small company like ours would not

even have been considered. Using the MACS

system means we can compete with our

global logistics competitors and still retain the

levels of personal service that have been the

key to our success.” n

GEM Textile has signed a multi-

year agreement to implement

the Kewill Warehouse solution.

Based in Manchester, GEM

Textiles is a major wholesale

distributer supplying the retail trade with

household textiles. GEM Textile has been in

operation for over 30 years and supply several

of the major retail brands in the UK.

Kewill has a long history of delivering best of

breed logistics solutions on a local, regional

and global basis. Kewill Warehouse (WMS) has

a strong international pedigree and leverages

on experience from hundreds of successfully

delivered logistics projects. GEM Textiles has

chosen Kewill to provide a fully hosted solution,

where Kewill’s Managed Services team have

extensive experience hosting solutions for local,

international and global logistics clients.

Increasing demands

David McCallum, managing director at GEM

Textiles, commented: “We were seeking a best-

in-class hosted solution to support our

increasing warehouse demands. We are under

constant pressure to meet customer deadlines

and to ensure we are managing the costs

associated with our warehousing infrastructure.

We decided to invest in the Kewill Warehouse

solution to differentiate ourselves from our

competitors and ensure we meet our customer

needs for the long term. The Kewill Warehouse

solution will provide GEM Textiles with a proven

solution that is easy to roll-out and fully scalable

for our ever growing business.” n


Warehouse Management n Success story

www.logisticsit.com

Customers are able to log onto Mini Clipper’s website at any time to view transport POD reportsand other key information.

GEM Textiles to roll out KewillWarehouse Solution


Warehouse Management n Insight

www.logisticsit.com

The demand for sustainable

solutions in the supply chain has

increased greatly in the last few

years. Under the ‘green’ theme,

companies and governments have

started a large number of zero emission

campaigns with marketing, behavioural

stimulation and/or operational cost savings as

the leading motives. Until now, the possible

CO2 savings in air and road transportation

was often chosen as an area of attention. As a

result of the strong increase in the automation

of warehouse logistic processes, the

warehouse has now been placed on the

agenda as well.

Assumptions and facts

Vanderlande’s 'Sustainability' internal working

group began an investigation more than a

year ago to make a baseline measurement

concerning energy use in warehouses and to

analyse trends in reducing the CO2 footprint.

Vanderlande first investigated the influence of

automated warehouses on energy use within

the entire logistics chain. Automated

warehouses with miniloads, conveyors and

sortation systems appear, on average, to

account for 24 per cent of the total CO2

emissions in the chain. Assuming a highly

automated ‘goods-to-man’ based system with

miniloads and conveyors, automation

accounts for roughly half of this 24 per cent.

Fact 1: Energy use of a mechanically

processed order line is the same as for a

manually processed order line

Despite the fact that an automated order

picking process with miniloads, conveyors and

workstations uses more energy than order

picking with, for example, an order picking

cart, the energy use per order line is the same.

This is based on the following factors:

• Throughput per m3 of automated

warehouse volume is, on average, three

times higher than that for manual

processing.

• Miniloads do not require heat, lighting or air

conditioning to do their work. People do.

• Space utilisation in an automated

warehouse with miniloads or a shuttle

system is 35 per cent higher than in a

manual warehouse with shelving or flow

racks, because it makes better use of a

facility’s height.

Fact 2: The building and the layout make

the difference

For this, Vanderlande paid special attention to

lighting, cooling, heating and the energy use

of internal transport.

Lighting

Modern, sustainable lighting concepts save

up to 50 per cent energy compared to

conventional lighting. Nowadays, a lot of

attention is given to workstation lighting,

because this increases productivity, keeps

the workers alert and motivated.

Vanderlande’s Pick@Ease high-

performance order picking workstations

with Philips Dynamic Lighting are a good

example of this. By using brighter lighting

for fixed workstations, the number of LUX

used in the warehouse can be reduced by

30 per cent.

Cooling and heating

The combined use of soil heat exchangers,

improved insulation of roofs, walls and

loading docks, the reuse of heat from

compressors and other machines, and

night-time ventilation form approximately 30

per cent of the total potential energy

savings. Automated warehouses gain even

more from the fact that only workspace

where workers are present has to be

conditioned.

Creating the ʻgreenʼ automatedwarehouseThe increasing need for sustainability in logistics appears to be at odds with the increasingautomation of warehouses and distribution centres. But Vanderlande Industries uses five facts todemonstrate how ‘green’ improvements can be made in an automated warehouse.

Automated warehouses with miniloads, conveyors and sortation systems appear, on average, toaccount for 24 per cent of the total CO2 emissions in the chain.


Warehouse Management n Insight

www.logisticsit.com

Energy use of internal transport

For example a forklift truck which, on average,

moves 30 pallets with 40 cartons per hour: It

consumes 1.3 Watts of energy per carton. With

conveyors, the same transportation of 1200

cartons costs approximately 1.1 Watts of energy

per carton (and, of course, no personnel).

Vanderlande’s latest DOTM conveyor range has

been specifically developed to reduce the

energy use of internal transport even further.

Fact 3: Overly optimistic growth expectations

and peak scenarios result in an energy-

inefficient system

Often systems are designed in such a way that

their operational capacity is able to handle the

peak hour load on the peak day 5, or even 10,

years away. With the wrongly chosen

assumptions, overly optimistic growth

expectations and extra integrated system

capacity, this can eventually result in an over-

sized system, with an energy profile that is far

from ideal.

Fact 4: Insight results in improvements

To find out where the biggest potential cost

savings lie, Vanderlande has developed a

special Energy Scan, which can accurately

determine the energy use in subsystems

over time. Within the sortation solutions, the

energy use of conveyors proves to be

substantially greater than that of the

sortation system itself. That is why

Vanderlande has developed the new DOTM

conveyor range which, by using different

belts, drives and software, reduces energy

use by 25 to 30 per cent. In addition,

Vanderlande’s new cross-belt sorter,

Crossorter 1500, is 80 per cent more

energy-efficient than conventional cross-belt

sorters. In ‘goods-to-man’ order picking

solutions, the miniload turned out to be an

interesting area of attention. In cases with

an average of 5 miniloads per system, more

than 60 per cent of the energy is consumed

by these miniloads. With its Quickstore

miniload Vanderlande was able to reduce

energy use by 20 per cent by using lighter

materials and by making use of acceleration

and deceleration energy and gravity.

Fact 5: Clever controls software offers a

great deal of potential

The system only has to run if something has

to be stored, transported or sorted. By

dividing all the equipment into a finely-

meshed network of transport fields, which

can be individually operated based on the

flow of cartons, packages or totes, an

average energy saving of 10 per cent can

be achieved. n

Please visit www.vanderlande.com/corporateresponsibility

MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT

THE GREEN AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE

According to SaaS WMS software

provider Snapfulfil, the practice

known in the IT industry as

‘vapourware’ is still very much in

evidence. Vapourware, which

first surfaced in the 1980s, is a practice

whereby an impending product launch,

typically hardware or software, is announced

to the consumer and / or corporate market,

but is not actually released, or only partially

completed at launch. More often than not the

motivation behind producing vapourware is to

encourage buyers to select a product and

then, once this business is secured, rush to

complete the work in time for the client to

actually use what they have ordered, despite

the inherent risks in this strategy.

Questionable practice

Recently Snapfulfil encountered a classic

case of this questionable practice while

negotiating for a new contract. Gavin Clark,

commercial director of Snapfulfil, explained:

“After the initial consultation period, the

prospective client stated that he understood

that Snapfulfil was a feature-rich and proven

SaaS WMS, but they had been offered a

competitive package for a lower monthly

subscription.”

He continued: “However having kept in touch

with the company, it became clear as soon as

the training process began, that the claims

made by the other vendor were in fact just

developments planned for the future and the

system could not fulfil the client’s

requirements for several months”.

Proven track record

Clark concluded: “The old adage ‘All that

glitters is not gold, often have you heard that

told’ springs to mind. Like many things in life,

the cheaper option may not always be the

right option and often corners are cut and

quality reduced to meet the lower price

point. When choosing business critical

solutions, a product that is well-

established, competent and versatile,

plus has a strong and proven track

record is more likely to deliver the real

benefits that your business needs.”

The good news is that, despite the

initial setback, the client in question

is still due to go live with its

Snapfulfil SaaS WMS on time, due to

the rapid deployment capabilities

inherent in the system. n


Warehouse Management n Opinion

www.logisticsit.com

WMS software in the Cloud,or is it just ʻVapourwareʼ?

Snapfulfil’s WMS buying tips • Ask the vendor to give detailed demonstrations; including how the system will handle

your particular requirements live in the system where possible.

• Ask yourself: Does the vendor have experience in your business vertical and howmight this experience bring additional benefits to the project?

• Ask the vendor if it shares the risk of the project with you. Money talks, so enquirewhether the vendor will accept payments over a longer term to keep it keen andinterested in your continued success.

• Talk to customer references on the phone. Site visits can be time consuming, but agood vendor will be able to provide a few references to call and discuss theimplementation and on-going support.

• Ask for a fixed price for implementation or, even better, ask if the vendor can providethose services for free.

• Upgrades can be even more costly than the software itself, so ask the vendor forcustomer references to learn about the time, cost and overall approach to upgrades.Did changes carry forward or did they require re-application? Was custom code/costinvolved?

• Make sure the vendor is well-established; one that has been successfully serving itstarget markets for a number of years. The ‘fly-by-night’ supplier scenario can provehighly injurious to your business inasmuch as you might find yourself left ‘holding thebaby’ when the provider disappears from the marketplace; unable to provide furtherupgrades, service or support for your WMS.

Gavin Clark: “Likemany things in life,the cheaper optionmay not always bethe right option andoften corners arecut and qualityreduced to meet thelower price point.”

We have 12 reasons why you should call us and a proven track record of success to match your business needs…

maybe we’re worth 5 minutesof your time?

Snapfulfi l can be implemented in your warehouse without up front investment, meaning we work with you as a partner, not a vendor…

Our number? it’s 0845 463 7627 or why not visit our website at:

w w w . s n a p f u l f i l . c o m

Just because we are the UK’s Premier Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of Warehouse Management Software, already helping hundreds of users to streamline their warehouse operations and drive down costs, shouldn’t mean you should call us… should it?

Snapfulfi l SaaS WMS…A Better Way


ByBox protects patientconfidentiality while streamliningsupply chain process

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Opinion

Carriers’ love affair with a ‘deliveryto your neighbour’ policy haspresented one of the biggestchallenges yet to thepharmaceutical and healthcare

sector in terms of protecting patientconfidentiality and data protection. Both areserious issues in their own right, but oneswhich have been further heightened ashealthcare and medicines are increasinglybeing delivered in the community or direct topatients’ homes.

Surely the distribution of such sensitive andoften vital items should be afforded the samelevel of confidentiality and care as is providedwithin GP and hospital environments. Sadly,however, that is not always the case. In theabsence of any specific instructions by thesender, any carrier nowadays can leave apackage with a neighbour or in a ‘safe’location if the recipient is out. The trend isseemingly unstoppable.

Changing needs

Logistics has long been seen as the ‘Cinderellaservice’ of a business – a function that isnecessary but one where, through thetraditional delivery model, the only differentialhas been cost and reliability. However as theneeds of the pharmaceutical industry arechanging so must the distribution process toensure a means whereby 100 per centconfidentiality can be protected at all timeswhile at the same time delivering cost savings.

ByBox can offer a solution. Through its lockernetwork it has been leading a distributionrevolution providing a viable alternative to thetraditional delivery model. For many yearsByBox has worked extensively within thesector distributing parts for equipmentmanufacturers and promotional material andsamples for pharmaceutical suppliers; all ofwhom have benefited from the company’sability to develop supply chain solutions that

derive benefits both in terms of cost savingsand increased productivity and efficiency.ByBox is acutely aware of the need for timelyand secure deliveries whilst at the same timekeeping the cost base to a minimum.Customers include GlaxoSmithKline, Fujitsuand Siemens.

ByBox already has an established network ofmore than 18,000 lockers situated at over 1500locations in the UK to ensure that vital parts,materials and consumables are receivedquickly and efficiently. Totally secure, thelockers are only accessible by key, card or anaccess code. Once a delivery has been madeinto a locker the recipient will receive a text oremail notification advising that the goods areready for collection. It is also the perfectsolution as there is no human interaction at thetime of collection – nor is there even anaddress or name required, just a contactnumber to provide collection instructions.

However, the full flexibility and versatility of alocker network is only as good as its ITplatform. ByBox’s supply chain platformThinventory integrates seamlessly with itsphysical supply chain network, offering

cohesive end-to-end reporting software toboost efficiency, through to reliability andstock transparency. Additionally, the systemhas a full track and trace facility via thewebsite providing total visibility 24 hours aday, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. It isa system that not only demonstrates ByBox’stechnological prowess but also its inherentunderstanding of the needs of the market.Customers are able to take advantage of thefull range of Thinventory services to drivesupply chain efficiency while at the same timereducing costs.

ByBox helps customers reduce same-daydelivery costs by up to 50 per cent,eliminating time wasted by personnel drivingto obtain parts and materials while at thesame time helping customers reduce theircarbon footprint. Deliveries can be made byByBox pre-8am to one its lockers or ifrequired pre-10am direct to the customer site.

Anonymity protected

The pharmaceutical sector is highlycompetitive and it is essential that businesses

By Mark Garritt, managing director, ByBox.

Through ByBox’s locker network it has been leading a distribution revolution providing a viablealternative to the traditional delivery model.


Opinion TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

deliver an exceptional level of service if theyare to keep pace with the market. The ByBoxoffering covers all aspects of the distributionfunction. For the end user it protects identityand offers anonymity, while for businesses itoffers the assurance that engineers and repscan collect their required materials for theday’s work ahead. It is a method of deliverythat is proving to be increasingly successful.Not everyone wants their neighbours to knowabout their business, especially when itcomes to private matters such as their health.Furthermore, engineers and reps do not wantto have to waste time travelling to get theirsupplies. ByBox’s service enables them to getstarted earlier, fit more jobs into the day andso improve productivity.

It is a totally flexible solution and one thatByBox is able to offer thanks to its award-winning software platform Thinventory, whichallows customers to drive their efficiency,reduce costs and improve service levels fromend-to-end while at the same time providingtotal visibility of all movements across thesupply chain. Thinventory is one of the mostexciting developments in ByBox’s history and it

has constantly evolved to offer our customersan enhanced level of service. Indeed it fulfilsour original vision of minimising stock andmaximising productivity through an integratedsupply chain platform – an ethos on which thecompany was founded. The system is already

being embraced by a number of ourcustomers in the pharmaceutical sector whoare benefiting from our safe and securedistribution solution which meets the demandsof the marketplace. n

www.logisticsit.com


TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Success story

Paragon software helps Glanbiacut 106,000 km from delivery routes

Glanbia, the global nutritionalsand dairy business group, iscutting 106,000 km a year fromits delivery vehicle routes byusing Paragon transport

optimisation software to plan efficient deliveries.The routing software is also improving vehicleutilisation by 15 per cent and reducing theannual number of routes by 10 per cent. Thespinoff is an overall reduction in CO2 emissionsof over 100 tonnes per year and improvedservice levels to the marketplace.

Glanbia's transport challenge involves dailyplanning and optimising of same day direct tostore deliveries that have a narrow two-hour6am to 8am delivery window and Coldboxdepot deliveries between 4pm and 6am thefollowing day.

Substantial efficiency gains

Paul Devlin, Glanbia Consumer FoodsIreland’s senior route planner, said: “It's reallyimportant that we make the best use of ourvehicle fleet and that loads are maximisedand routes optimised. Paragon gives us thepower to do that and, when used inconjunction with our SAP business software,has resulted in efficiency gains across ourdairy product delivery operation which spansthe entire Republic of Ireland."

The dairy operation runs six days a weekbetween 6am and 10pm from the Ballitore,Co. Kildare distribution centre. It suppliesmajor retailers and 145 agents, who aresubcontracted to distribute Glanbia productsfrom the Coldbox locations. With more than4500 weekly deliveries across 136 routes,serviced by nine hauliers and contending withmore than 250 individual delivery windows,Glanbia was keen to see how Paragon couldimprove the operation and improveefficiencies wherever possible.

Having first set up the base case withinformation about depots, agents, hauliersand customers to model the current routesand costs, Glanbia was then able to try outvarious scenarios aimed at improvingefficiencies. Several options were testedinvolving more flexible delivery times for

Coldbox locations, and the greatestefficiencies came from standardising Coldboxtime windows at a regional level, whilecombining Coldbox deliveries with time-constrained direct store deliveries. As a result,routing efficiencies yielded a 15 per cent gainin vehicle utilisation, a 10 per cent drop inloads per week, and a fuel reduction equatingto over 100 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Powerful strategic tool

Denis Conway, national logistics manager atGlanbia Consumer Foods Ireland, said:"Paragon is a very powerful strategic tool. Itallows us to test all potential delivery

scenarios offline without affecting our realworld routes. Using the routes designed byParagon we can easily recognise whereimprovements can be made and implementthem. With the constant increase in fuel costsand the drive to reduce our transport carbonfootprint, we have been able to makesignificant reductions in usage and emissionswhile improving efficiencies of our deliveryoperation."

John Mee, supply chain manager at GlanbiaConsumer Foods Ireland, concluded: "We arenaturally delighted with the Paragon software– the transport cost savings we are makinghave ensured that Paragon was a cost-effective investment.” n

Paragon Software Systems at a glance Paragon Software Systems is a provider of transport optimisation solutions, with over 2300routing & scheduling systems installed in more than 750 client sites in 45 countries.Paragon helps companies to reduce transport costs by up to 20 per cent through moreefficient deployment of vehicles and drivers. Headquartered in Dorking, UK and with USoffices in Dallas, Paragon has over 30 years of routing & scheduling knowhow. Paragon isemployed by transport operations ranging from just ten vehicles at a single site to hundredsof vehicles operating from several sites. The system is used for routing and schedulingoptimisation; managing transport resources; strategic planning; scheduling home deliveriescontinuously as orders are being confirmed; and managing the execution of the transportplan in real time using vehicle tracking technology. Paragon assists many leadingcompanies with their logistics including ASDA, Royal Mail Group, Harrods, Sainsbury's, ABAgri, Ceva Logistics, Wincanton, DHL Exel, Norbert Dentressangle, Linde, Fuller's, JohnLewis, Tesco, Keystone Distribution and Raleigh.


Cargolux accelerates its eCargo ambitions with Champ

Champ Cargosystems hasattracted Cargolux InternationalAirlines, the global all-cargocarrier, as a customer for itsTraxon cargoHUB and

cargoWEB+ applications. These IT solutionsenable Cargolux to further improve its e-services and contribute to the reduction ofcommunication costs. Aiming to increaseconnectivity, efficiency, and customersatisfaction while reducing cost, Cargoluxuses Traxon cargoHUB for its electronicmessaging. This includes the electronicexchange of FWB (Master Air Waybill Data),FHL (House Air Waybill Consolidation List),and FSU (Freight Status Update) messagesworldwide. The integrated host-to-hostsolution supports numerous transmissionprotocols and is compatible with all commonmessage formats.

The agreement with Champ Cargosystemsgives Cargolux access to the global Champnetwork. It enables the Luxembourg all-cargocarrier to do business with all logisticsservices providers and partners in the aircargo industry on a single uniform platformusing stable host-to-host messaging services.In addition, Cargolux has the option to useseveral other Champ Cargosystems productsvia Traxon cargoHUB.

Intuitive system

As the company is keen to serve small,medium-sized, and large customers equallywell, it has recently enhanced its Internet andself-service capabilities with the help ofTraxon cargoWEB+. This application, brandedfor Cargolux, is aimed at forwarders that arenot yet EDI capable, but need to send FWBand FHL messages. Franco Nanna, head ofmanagement network support at Cargolux,commented: “On one hand, the TraxoncargoHUB service is providing us with reliableconnectivity and seamless data transmission– the proactive information we are gettingfrom Champ for unnecessary EDI exchange ishelping us to achieve further cost savings. Onthe other hand, Traxon cargoWEB+ is highlyappreciated by our customer user community,because it is intuitive and boosting

productivity. The art of electroniccommunication emphasises the existence of atransparent dialogue.”

Using Traxon cargoWEB+, Cargolux’scustomers may look up flight schedules,check allotment capacity, capture andtransmit AWB and HAWB data and createsingle or multiple bookings for free sale orallotment capacity, all at once and without anythird-party help. Other features includebooking history reporting and

shipper/consignee capture. The application iscompliant with IATA standards andrecommended practices. It increases userefficiency and data quality as it coaches theuser while entering data. It is user-friendly witha paper AWB look and feel. It reducestransaction costs as well as simplifies andspeeds up goods acceptance and customspre-clearance.

Process standardisation

Christian Cavez, director enterprise servicesat Champ

Cargosystems, said: “Traxon cargoHUB andcargoWEB+ are part of the comprehensiveportfolio offered by Champ Cargosystems,enabling Cargolux to further standardise theirprocesses, simplify business procedures andachieve a higher efficiency at lower costs.These new services are the vital foundationsin the drive towards paperless freight. TraxoncargoWEB+ gives Cargolux a totally self-service booking interface whilst reducing itscommunication costs.”

James Fernandez, vice president globalcommercial operation at ChampCargosystems, added: “Champ has a proventrack record of innovative productdevelopment, execution and implementationthat instils confidence in our customers. Ourstrength is our customer orientation. Oursolutions offer additional functionalities notavailable elsewhere. Winning Cargolux as acustomer for Traxon cargoHUB and TraxoncargoWEB+ demonstrates the value additiongiven to the client by offering an integratedproduct portfolio that includes all parts of theprocess as well as different communicationoptions.” n

Success story TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

On one hand, the Traxon cargoHUB service is providing us with reliableconnectivity and seamless data transmission – the proactive information we aregetting from Champ for unnecessary EDI exchange is helping us to achievefurther cost savings. On the other hand, Traxon cargoWEB+ is highlyappreciated by our customer user community, because it is intuitive andboosting productivity. The art of electronic communication emphasises theexistence of a transparent dialogue.”

– Franco Nanna, Cargolux.

“

www.logisticsit.com

tmWare enables rapidgrowth for County Logistics

County Logistics, based in Kent,are a third-party transportoperation delivering fresh fruitand vegetables nationwide.Using a combination of its own

transport fleet and subcontractors, Countycollects goods from customers for onwarddeliver to stores and markets across thecountry. Managing the operation on paperrequired a large table and a lot of manhours. County can only issue invoices onreceipt of a POD and managing directorAdam Irvine would spend the large majorityof his time surrounded by mountains ofpaperwork as he tried to reconcile jobs toenable invoices to be released. Any loss ofpaperwork could result in non-payment, acritical issue for any business.

Automated system tmWare was chosen as the solution toaddress these problems. By electronicallymanaging jobs and uploading signed PODs,

invoices can be automatically released onupload of the POD. The implementation oftmWare allows County to input jobs manuallyor interface directly with its customers’systems. Jobs are then automatically

displayed by region on tmWare's planningscreen, where County can plan loads andprint all associated documentation. Once adriver returns with his signed PODs, they arescanned and the images uploaded to

tmWare. The Auto Indexing module uses abarcode printed on the POD to automaticallyassign it to the correct job.

Where customers’ own paperwork is used asmall barcoded label is printed off andattached to the document, allowing the

system to index it in the same way.Once the POD is

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Success story

www.logisticsit.com44 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS October 2012

The efficiencies gained with the implementation of tmWare have enabledCounty to focus on growing its business and improving service levels. Thecompany has comfortably grown from 15 to 45 daily vehicle movements as aresult of having the ability to manage more jobs. County has already utilisedmany features of the tmWare system to give customers a higher level ofinformation and visibility.”

“


filed against the job it is released for invoicing and an invoice isgenerated. Because invoicing is dependent on successful receipt of aPOD tmWare also gives County the option to receive POD by SMS. Adriver is sent consignment details and texts back with a code to denotepositive or failed deliveries and a name for who receipted theconsignment. The system picks up the date and time stamp from thetext and releases the job for invoicing. As POD SMS does not require thedeployment of expensive in cab hardware it is a very cost-effective wayto achieve real-time PODs to ensure the invoicing process is as efficientas possible.

Cost-effective

As a Cloud-based solution with a monthly service charge, County wasable to rapidly deploy the solution on a cost-effective basis. BeingCloud-based means the system is an effective collaboration tool forcustomers and partners. Key customers are given access to view thestatus of their jobs and what trips they have been planned on. They canalso view the signed paperwork for the jobs to reconcile against theinvoices they receive. This reduces the time spent by County having toproduce paperwork at the demand of the customer. In addition,subcontractor partners are given access to view and print paperwork forloads that have been planned for them by County. This bridges the gapof getting POD paperwork to a subcontractor who is doing a collectionand onward delivery without visiting the County depot.

Growth

The efficiencies gained with the implementation of tmWare have enabledCounty to focus on growing its business and improving service levels.The company has comfortably grown from 15 to 45 daily vehiclemovements as a result of having the ability to manage more jobs. Countyhas already utilised many features of the tmWare system to givecustomers a higher level of information and visibility. The company willcontinue to work with tmWare to make enhancements and improvementsto benefit both parties. "tmWare has revolutionised my business,"concluded Adam Irvine. n

County Logistics collects goods from customers for onward deliver tostores and markets across the country.


Driving greater efficiencies

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with James de Roo, business developmentmanager UK at PTV Group, about how logistics professionals can save time and cost, as wellas improve safety levels and reduce their carbon footprint, through deploying the right type of

transportation management solution functionality.

The transportation industry isconstantly striving to improve itsperformance from a time, cost,safety and environmentperspective, as well as setting out

to enhance its service to end customers. Withthese goals in mind an increasing number oflogistics companies are setting out to improvetheir logistics operations; everything fromrouting and trip planning while alsocalculating toll charges and CO2 emissions.James de Roo of PTV (www.ptvgroup.com)points out that another key focus is driverperformance. “There is certainly a desireamong logistics organisations to ensure drivertime is best utilised, thus saving on fuel andensuring more accurate and speedy deliveryto the customer,” he said. “Also, companieswant their drivers to drive as safely andresponsibly as possible, therefore reducingvehicle wear and tear as well avoidingaccidents. And, of course, this can have abearing on the cost of insurance premiumstoo.”

PTV Map&Guide

So, in order to best manage their dailyscheduling tasks and improve overall dailyperformance, de Roo believes PTVMap&Guide (www.mapandguide.com) offerslogistics professionals a highly compellingsolution. Map&Guide is available as desktopproduct, in the Cloud or can be integratedwithin the user organisation‘s corporate

intranet system. “With PTV Map&Guidelogistics companies can plan their route morereliably, saving time by optimising thesequence of stop-off points, includingindividual times slots,” explained de Roo.“Additionally, companies can calculate theirtransporation costs in advance, includingthose related to toll and fuel usage. Acompetitive advantage can also be securedwith Map&Guide’s CO2e reports, allowingusers to tap into a new customer base with aTÜV-certified emissions calculation.”

de Roo also pointed out that PTV Map&Guidecan undertake route planning based on anindividual vehicle’s unique profiling; based onheight, weight or even road restrictions for theparticular type of vehicle. He added that thesystem can also take into consideration thedriver’s operating times and rest periods etc.“And we can match this data up with anydemands end customers are putting on thelogistics company, making sure the algorithmthat is created covers all these differentelements,” he said.

xServer

PTV also offers a series of softwarecomponents as part of its xServer(http://xserver.ptvgroup.com) toolbox. PTVprovides these components to vendors ofsolutions within the TransportationManagement, Telematics, Sales Planning,Territory Planning and Scheduling space, aswell as sell directly to the end user in order to

enhance their existing solution. “Our xServercomponents cover the full scope of logisticsfunctionality; from geocoding addresses andmapping to route optimisation andnavigation,” explained de Roo. “A lot ofcompanies want to improve routing andoptimisation while also taking intoconsideration a certain vehicle’s particularprofile. The extensive functionality available inour toolbox can facilitate this, as well asallowing our customers to integrate extrafunctionality as and when required in order tofollow the trends and requirements within theirend user base. And these components canbe adapted for the particular requirements ofthe vendors and their end customers. Byintegrating these components into their ownapplications or in their company networktransportation management solutionproviders, or the logistics professionalsthemselves, can quickly and easily extendtheir range of functions.” de Roo alsoexplained that the PTV xServers are modularby design; meaning PTV customers only needto license the modules they actually need.“We have many years of experience in thefields of digital maps, geocoding, routing andtrip optimisation, and our xServers reflect allthis knowhow,” he said.

Carbon reduction

The further reduction of vehicles’ carbonfootprint is likely to become an even greaterrequirement in the near future. Therefore,looking at the broad picture, de Roo reflects

TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT Interview


that Transportation Management solutions will be increasingly required tosave time and cost as well as ensure greater environmental responsibilityand optimum safety on the road. “And, of course, achieving such overallbenefits can mean the ROI in a logistics company’s TransportationManagement solution can be achieved within a compellingly shorttimeline,” he added.

FTA agreement

In order to encourage greater efficiencies within the UK logistics sector,including greater CO2 reductions, the PTV Group and the FreightTransportation Association (FTA) signed a co-operation agreement in Junethis year. The agreement allows association members of all sizes to benefitfrom a substantial volume discount on PTV Map&Guide Internet solution.Theo de Pencier, chief executive of FTA, commented that the FTA is alwayslooking for new technologies which its members may benefit from. In additionto planning and optimising routes for road freight transport, toll costcalculation, integrated lorry attributes and restrictions, as well as driving andrest periods, the FTA finds calculation of CO2 emissions particularlyinteresting. "This is an important issue that the industry must deal with,”added de Pencier. “PTV Map&Guide provides the right instrument.”

de Roo concluded: “It’s all about ensuring logistics professionals can attaingreater efficiencies on the road. This has multiple benefits for thecompanies themselves, as well as for their end customers.” n

Interview TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

James de Roo

.

Gartner identified the top 15

performers headquartered in

Europe, based on a

combination of financial

metrics – revenue growth,

return on assets (ROA) and inventory – and

opinion (Gartner supply

chain analyst and peer

opinion). Unilever, Inditex,

H&M and Nestlé were the

leaders, which are also

listed in the global Gartner

Supply Chain Top 25. Six

new companies entered

the European top 15

ranking this year: H&M,

AstraZeneca, Reckitt

Benckiser, Syngenta,

Roche and Volkswagen.

Local characteristics

"The ranking comprises companies

headquartered in a variety of European

countries, predominantly the UK and

Switzerland," said Christian Titze, research

director at Gartner. "Top European supply

chains span the automotive, chemical,

consumer goods, life sciences and retail

industries. Leading companies have the right

combination of organisational structure and

governance to balance global reach with the

ability to take local characteristics into

account."

Unilever is ranked No. 1 in the European

Supply Chain Top 15. This company has a

global virtual manufacturing network that can

quickly cater to fluctuations in local demand.

Unilever also has the ability to design its

products proactively for profitability.

At No. 2, Inditex is the highest-ranked retailer.

This company keeps in tune with its

customers in order to sense and shape ideas,

trends and tastes around the world. To this

end, Inditex has made conscious trade-offs

between higher production costs and speed-

to-market, with manufacturing capabilities in

Spain for some products.

H&M, the No. 3, is the

world's second-largest

clothing retailer. As a

fast-moving retailer, it

takes an innovative

approach to designer

events, one that pools

consumer interest. It

has also started

experimenting with

augmented-reality

technology, which links the growth of social

media and sales to determine how consumers

will use virtual technologies in the future.

Food giant Nestlé is No. 4. Nestlé

complements its successful Nespresso model

with plans to manage its different types of

coffee with segmentation strategies and

different routes to market.

The right balance

"Earlier this year we announced Gartner's

Global Supply Chain Top 25, but regional

analysis identifies issues and best practices

unique to each region," said Vladimir

Krasojevic, research director at Gartner.

"Supply chain leaders in Europe are focusing

on cost reductions, supply chain innovation

and the increasing business importance of

sustainability, and the need to balance global

reach with local needs.” n

48 ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS October 2012 www.logisticsit.com

Gartner ranks top EuropeanSupply Chain organisations for 2012

Gartner, Inc. revealed its annual ranking of the top 15 supply chain organisationsheadquartered in Europe at its Supply Chain Executive Conference, held in London last

month. The goal of Gartner's Supply Chain Top 15 in Europe research initiative is to raiseawareness of the supply chain discipline and how it impacts businesses.

Supply chain leaders inEurope are focusing on costreductions, supply chain innovationand the increasing businessimportance of sustainability, andthe need to balance global reachwith local needs.”

– Vladimir Krasojevic, Gartner.

“

The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25, now in its eighth year, uses a methodology with twomain components: financial and opinion. Public financial data provides a view intohow companies have performed in the past, while the opinion offers insight into thesupply chain leadership of the future. These components are combined to reach atotal composite score for each company considered. The list of companies derivesinitially from a combination of the Fortune Global 500 and the Forbes Global 2000, witha revenue cut-off of US$10 billion. This list is then pared down to the manufacturing,retail and distribution sectors to eliminate certain industries, such as financial servicesand insurance, that do not have physical supply chains.

Supply Chain Analysis

At the opening Lord Jones

commented: "Training that takes

place in a Premier Inn by the

side of a dual carriageway is not

going to inspire anyone." And he

contrasted this with the Supply Chain

Academy, with its painstakingly restored

training rooms and impressive facilities set in

eight acres of landscaped gardens. "This

Academy makes a statement, and the

statement is that learning and skills

development are critically important,” he

continued: “The Supply Chain Academy is an

inspirational venue for those new to business

and for those for whom business is deeply

ingrained."

Global challenges

The Academy has already been engaged in

training, with major names such as Marks and

Spencer taking on the challenges that the

new major global players, India and China are

setting. The Academy is breaking new ground

with T-shaped management training, giving

experienced managers a wider knowledge to

enable them to work collaboratively in all

areas of their business.

Zen Yaworsky, programme director at the

Academy, commented: "As well as

businesses who manage their own supply

chains, those companies who service these

businesses – accountancy, legal, insurance,

banking and property companies – are all

registering an interest or engaging with the

Academy. They recognise the need to

develop an intelligent business empathy with

their customers.”

Turning ideas into

profitable ventures

Echoing Lord Jones's

assertion that Britain

needs creative and

strongly business-minded

management to help it

out of recession, the

Academy has announced

that it is committed to

developing

‘intrapreneurs’; managers

who have the commercial

energy and inspiration to

turn ideas and innovation

into profitable ventures

within a company.

Yaworsky went on to say:

"Our vision is to support

industry, not only through

developing high-level

practice, but by unifying

capabilities across the

supply chain. We want to encourage

intrapreneurialsm. We want to give industry

the tools to release value from their supply

chains."

The tools that the Academy employs involve

course material covering Supply Chain Risk

Management, Negotiation Techniques, Cost

Structure Analysis, Business Finance, The

Law of Terms and Conditions, Direct

Sourcing, Process Improvement, Planning

and Forecasting, Customer Service, Inventory

Management and Supply Chain Design

among a field of other course offers.

Partnership

The Academy has partnered with industry

experts, trade institutions and bodies to

develop its high-value training offering. It is a

totally privately funded venture and the offer

is for both day and residential courses to

allow flexibility for the manager or executive.

Lord Digby concluded: "...if you don't want

China to eat your lunch and India your dinner

then you need to invest in making sure that

you know how to run the business that you

are in better than you have ever done before.

The Supply Chain Academy is going to

contribute to that effort and I congratulate

them." The Academy is based in the London

Borough of Havering; 25 minutes from

Fenchurch Street Station. n

49ITMANUFACTURING&LOGISTICS

Supply Chain

www.logisticsit.com

Industry news

October 2012

Lord Digby Jones opens newSupply Chain Academy

UK business got a significant boost last month after Lord Digby Jones officiallyopened the Supply Chain Academy at Upminster, London, the country's

newest educational establishment focusing purely on excellence in globalbusiness supply chain management.

...if you don't want China to eat your lunch and India your dinner then youneed to invest in making sure that you know how to run the business that youare in better than you have ever done before.”

– Lord Digby Jones.

“

Zen Yaworsky, programme director at the Supply ChainAcademy (left), with Lord Digby Jones at the openingceremony.

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