It is not often that ERPs — especially SMBs — venture out into building their own global transportation solutions, and especially those addressing ocean transportation, so SYSPRO USA’s demonstration to ChainLink of its Voyage & Container Tracking solution was a surprise.When we look at software releases we are evaluating two things:
1. Is this impactful; i.e. is the vendor demonstrating substantial capabilities, versus flimsy code (i.e. to declare they ‘have something’)?
2. Is this REALLY new; i.e. is the solution unavailable in the target market from most other vendors, or is it just one of many similar solutions buyers might purchase elsewhere?
After seeing this solution, SYSPRO U.S. wins on both counts. I was convinced that they really added something important, exploiting a fairly unique opportunity competitively. The result:SYSPRO is delivering a new body of useful knowledge and capabilities for U.S. manufacturers/distributors.
SYSPRO’s Voyage & Container Tracking solution integrates outbound, ocean, ground and inbound warehouse information to create tracking and analytics for the consignee (importer).
Questions shippers and importers want answers to:
- Is the shipment ready to send from shipper?
- Has the container arrived at port for shipment, been loaded and on its way?
- What is the ETA?
- Has the shipment arrived? What is the disposition of my container? Are there issues in port? Has it been quarantined or on its way to the next leg of the journey?
- Where in the route is it now?
- Can I count on the products being where I need them for consumption — either ‘available to promise’ for my customers, or include it in the manufacturing schedule?
- Can I evaluate the performance of the intermediaries?
- Can I evaluate the route choices?
There is no doubt that to succeed at answering all these questions it takes a lot of integration from multiple data sources. Usually players in the supply chain segment do a decent job, but don’t put the total integrated ERP picture together for shipper/consignees. Solutions like GT-Nexus and Descartes do this, or users can get these services from their Freight Forwarders/Customs Brokers who have integrated their best of breed platforms for their customers.But SYSPROU.S.’s offering gives SMBs a single holistic and natively built ERP + container shipping system solution.
SYSPRO U.S. has created a solution that looks at important data end to end — from supplier through customer.The fact that it is part of SYSRPO’s overall solution, allows users to see line item purchase order and other information normally in the operational systems.1
What’s in it?
Voyage & Container Tracking has several major components to the solution:
Release Matrix: Visibility of Inventory that is planned and available — thoseitems outlined in purchase orders and sales orders. Before the packaging and shipment, SYSPRO allows users to assess what’s available, adjust quantities and view expected departure/delivery dates with the supplier.
Container Management: Determining which of the released products/parts/goods will travel in which containers, at which times. An interesting note here is that the solution helps shippers to maximize container usage, regardless of products shipped. Considering the higher cost of transportation, this is a real benefit.
Disposition Management: Upon arrival in port, companies can manage the delivery and processing of their containers. Disposition includes visibility to container contents, quarantine holds, transactional processing and voyage modification.
Analytics: Report and analyze transportation time, inventory costs, transportation costs, carrier performance, etc. Importers are then able to analyze and make better choices on their global freight management.
Wormser Puts a Pretty Face on their Ocean Transportation
Wormser Corporation, a worldwide importer and manufacturer of cosmetic components operating in six sites for their global operations, is the pretty face for SYSPRO’s release of this new product. Beyond the ERP implementation, Wormser worked with SYSPRO on their first rollout of Container Tracking.Wormser is a poster child for SMBs who have to perform in highly competitive markets and need to see their global operations and those of their supply chain to be successful. Including Container Tracking in the overall solutions allows Wormser to streamline its supply chain, gaining greater tracking and predictability of inbound shipments. More than a cosmetic improvement!
For SYSPRO USA and its customers, this is a really big deal.
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1 Solutions like GT-Nexus, Descartes have integrated PO and Transportation data. Descartes also includes customs data. These types of solutions can be feeders to SYSPRO’s Container Tracking, if a user chooses that approach, or uses these solutions and integrates to other SYSPRO modules.Or a more adventuresome user can integrate all the source data and act as their own freight forwarder (a non-occurrence today among SMBs who typically rely on the freight forwarders for much of this work.) — Return to article text above
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