Deloitte Consulting LLP (Deloitte Consulting) and Oracle announced today that they have established a Supply Chain Innovation Center powered by Oracle. The Center will concentrate on seven initiatives: Transportation Management, Oracle Lean Transformation, Advanced Supply Chain, Enterprise Asset Management, Product Life Cycle Management, Service Parts Logistics and Tax-Advantaged ERP.
The Center will facilitate research and the development of thoughtware, as well as the evaluation of simulations that model and leverage industry-specific functionality in the Oracle® E-Business Suite to better position both Oracle and Deloitte Consulting to help companies in their efforts to maximize value and address unique, industry-specific business challenges related to supply chain management (SCM). The Supply Chain Innovation Center powered by Oracle activities will also incorporate input from both Oracle and Deloitte Consulting clients regarding the issues facing particular industry segments and the types of solutions required to resolve them and it will also leverage the resources of Pennsylvania State University for their leading-edge thinking on supply chain practices.

"Deloitte Consulting and Oracle have a long and productive history of working together in the Supply Chain arena," commented John Wookey, Oracle Senior Vice President of Applications Development. "The Supply Chain Innovation Center provides a lens through which we can focus our joint efforts even further to develop service offerings that can help our supply chain clients in their efforts to create value. The initiatives we have chosen not only address some of the most pressing issues that our clients are grappling with but they also emphasize innovative ways for our clients to create value."

The Supply Chain Innovation Center grew out of the preferred relationship that Deloitte Consulting and Oracle have in the SCM space. Because of Deloitte Consulting's industry knowledge, Oracle chose Deloitte Consulting as a preferred collaborator in providing insight into product development and in implementing SCM solutions for manufacturing clients. Jon Williams, Managing Director, Enterprise Applications for Deloitte Consulting explains: "The Center is a natural extension of our relationship with Oracle in the supply chain arena. Both Oracle and Deloitte Consulting are deeply interested in helping our clients in their efforts to create value, and the Center provides a practical structure for bringing together the appropriate knowledge, skills, experience and technology--from consulting, enterprise solutions, the business community, and academia--to develop approaches designed to help manufacturers with their efforts to resolve real business issues that are problematic for them."

Under the Supply Chain Innovation Center structure, Oracle will provide application development resources, ERP knowledge, skills and experience, and marketing support; Penn State will provide thought leadership, input into requirements development and research capabilities; and Deloitte Consulting will provide multidisciplinary capabilities across supply chain management, service parts logistics, Lean/Six Sigma, transportation logistics, enterprise applications, new product development, enterprise operations, and tax. The new Center will also receive support from the Center for Supply Chain Research (CSCR) at Penn State University. Deloitte Consulting and CSCR have recently entered into a relationship that will allow access to their leading-edge thinking on supply chain practices.
http://www.deloitte.com