SAP Announces Series of New Products, Collaborative Ventures at CeBIT Trade Fair in Hanover, Germany
SAP AG used this year's CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, Germany to announce a number of new products and ventures with its global partners. The vendor introduced new software within its SAP Solutions Portfolio for GRC (governance, risk and compliance). The offering facilitates electronic communications with the modernized customs systems that are being implemented in all European Union member states, as required by the European Commission's eCustoms Initiative for export clearance. SAP software for the Automated Export System (AES) will be available both as a standalone product to new and existing SAP customers, and as part of the company's GRC Global Trade Services application. According to SAP, companies will be able to implement the new functionality quickly and without major interruption to their existing business processes and I.T. systems. SAP also introduced new capability for product tracking and authentication (PTA), utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The object event repository will allow companies to combine serialized data with information from enterprise resource planning and other business applications to improve regulatory compliance, manufacturing and supply-chain management, the vendor said. SAP has joined with TechniData AG, a partner for environmental compliance products, to make available integrated software that addresses tasks required by the newly enacted European Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation. The law requires companies producing or importing chemicals in quantities of more than one ton per year in Europe to document specific data about the handling of such substances. The combined offering will provide a REACH tool as an extension to the existing SAP Environment, Health & Safety application to integrate all phases of the REACH process, including registration, evaluation and authorization of chemical substances.
European eCustoms: http://www.sap.com
Object Event Repository: http://www.sap.com
REACH Compliance: http://www.sap.com
Infor Unveils Version 9 of SCM Warehouse Management Software
Infor has created version 9.0 of Infor SCM WM, the vendor's warehouse-management software. The tool provides business-specific capabilities for global manufacturing, distribution, logistics and retail companies. Warehouse management capabilities have been extended beyond the four walls of the distribution facility, the vendor said. Users get visibility of inventory both to customers and suppliers. Companies can more easily respond to changes in inventory demand and supply. WM 9.0 focuses on operations inside the warehouse, with support for radio-frequency (RF), voice, wave planning, cross-docking and labor-reporting systems. Outside the warehouse, capabilities include yard management, event management, performance management, transportation and logistics, and radio frequency identification (RFID). The newest version is available in Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. http://www.infor.com
Con-way Freight Completes Expansion of Indiana Freight Center
Con-way Freight, the less-than-truckload carrier, has wrapped up work on a major expansion of its freight-assembly center in Fremont, Ind. Covering more than 90,000 square feet, the facility has 60 new dock doors, increasing daily freight-handling capability by nearly 700,000 pounds. Con-way's Freight Assembly Centers (FACs) are high-volume facilities which act as freight-processing hubs for the nightly transshipment of cargoes within the company's nationwide network of more than 440 service centers. The expansion gives the Fremont FAC 204 dock doors to accommodate the more than 450 trailers and 120 trailers that utilize the center daily as their home base for local pickup and delivery within the greater Fremont metropolitan area. According to Con-way, the Fremont operation moves 3m pounds of freight each day. The new capacity was added to handle a recent influx of new business, as well as manage future growth, the company said. Con-way Freight is a subsidiary of Con-way Inc., the provider of transportation, logistics, supply-chain management and trailer manufacturing services. https://freight.con-way.com
JPMorgan Chase Launches Border Logistics Management Tool
JPMorgan Chase Vastera has launched a new Border Logistics Management offering. It consists of a comprehensive outsourced customs warehousing service, designed to improve the efficiency and visibility of goods moving between the U.S. and Mexico. It combines a number of supply chain, logistics and trade-compliance components into a single outsourced offering, covering U.S. and Mexican customs clearance, oversight and management of customs warehouses and customs brokers, trade-document preparation, trade flows and process visibility. Benefits of the service, according to the vendor, including reduced disruptions of product flowing across the U.S./Mexico border, simplified oversight of logistics processes through the centralization of service providers under one roof, minimization of customs warehouse and brokerage service provider selection, and streamlined cross-border trade operations. Border Logistics Management is currently being offered in support of shipments moving into and out of El Paso and Laredo, TX. It will be expanded throughout the year to additional sites along the U.S./Mexico border, JPMorgan Chase Vastera said. http://www.jpmorganchase.com
DHL Introduces Break Bulk Express Across U.S./Mexico Border
DHL's new Break Bulk Express (BBX) service is aimed at companies shipping multiple packages in one day from Mexico to the U.S. The service consolidates multiple express shipments into single large bundles. DHL then separates the bundled shipment back into its individual package components, and delivers each to its separate destination. The result, claimed DHL, is lower costs related to customs clearance, delivery times and tracking, among other things. DHL said its Northbound BBX offering is a key component in the company's recently announced North America Trade Lane initiative, a five-year, $100m investment and buildout of infrastructure and services in North America. BBX can help to minimize the time that product is stored in the warehouse, DHL said. It also provides a means for manufacturers to send individually labeled products directly to store shelves. The vendor's Easy Ship software allows customers to track the location of each bundle, as well as each of the individual shipments that it comprises. BBX is currently available for customers shipping into the U.S. from more than 30 countries worldwide. http://www.dhl-usa.com
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Sato Releases Network Printer Equipped for RFID Technology
The new GL4e series of printers from Sato America, Inc. can be deployed with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for medium-duty industry applications. Sato is a maker of barcode, printing, labeling and RFID systems. The new GL4e series offers a field-upgradeable UHF RFID option, a printer-management utility known as SATOnet Connect, and on Online Data Verifier (ODV) option which validates barcode scanability at point of print, among other things. The SATOnet Connect printer's management-utility option provides real-time visibility and control over an organization's system of printers, Sato said. According to the vendor, the GL4e series is the first RFID printer in its class to provide the most extensive support to encoding Class 1 Gen 2 tags. Users can economically print barcode labels now, then incorporate RFID encoding capabilities as their needs change. The equipment can also meet UHF frequency standards for global implementation. http://www.satoamerica.com
LeanLogistics Makes Available New Version of On-Demand TMS
LeanLogistics has issued the latest release of its flagship transportation-management software, On-Demand TMS. Revision 4.6 adds new supplier inbound management functionality. Customers can now actively manage their inbound shipment processes, from purchase-order creation through proof of delivery. They can collaborate with supplies and carriers to implement a "Ready-to-Ship" process, LeanLogistics said. In the process, it claimed, companies can boost lead-time dependability, reduce inventory and out-of stocks, and shorten cycle times for orders and shipments. Through the On-Demand TMS Supplier Inbound module, the buying company gets access to information needed for planning and control of a shipment. The supplier provides key information, including the date that the shipment will be available for pickup, the ship-from location, and the shipment content. Such information allows users to optimize the overall shipment plan, assign and manage core carriers, and schedule pickups and deliveries, LeanLogistics said. http://www.leanlogistics.com
World Wide Technology Partners With AeroScout for RFID Product
A new partnership between World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) and AeroScout will deploy active radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for the healthcare, manufacturing and logistics markets. WWT is a systems integrator focusing on supply-chain applications. AeroScout is a provider of Wi-Fi-based active RFID systems. The deal calls for WWT to draw on AeroScout's capabilities, including a long-standing relationship with Cisco Systems, Inc., to help companies achieve improved asset utilization, security and tracking through a unified network for data, voice and location services. AeroScout's small, battery-powered active RFID tags and software platform work with standard networking equipment from Cisco to provide location-based services. As a result, customers can use standard Wi-Fi networks and active RFID technology to improve business processes through accurate, real-time asset tracking, the partners said. https://www.wwt.com
Stay-Linked Releases Version 8 of Terminal-Emulation App
Stay-Linked Corp. has released Stay-Linked Version 8, its terminal-emulation software for wireless terminal environments. The product is equipped with a new Pool License Server option, giving companies access to Stay-Linked's host-based, thin-client licensing model. Unlike device-side terminal-emulation systems, where licensing is applied on each device, Stay-Linked licensing is controlled on the host system where terminal users connect. According to the vendor, the tool is especially suited for companies that deploy critical applications in a distributed fashion. In the retail industry, for example, there is often a need to support terminal users performing real-time data collection in multiple remote distribution centers and in tens, hundreds or thousands of store locations. Version 8 also adds support for double-byte Asian character sets on terminal devices, using Stay-Linked's thin-client terminal emulation software to connect to the host system and manage the user's session. http://www.marketwire.com
Seeburger Adds Global VAN Service to its SAP EDI Adapter
Seeburger Inc. has added global value-added network (VAN) services for companies using the vendor's SAP XI EDI adapter to automate their supply-chain communications with trading partners. The service allows global businesses to consolidate all VAN contracts with a single provider, eliminating the need to manage multiple VAN contracts, Seeburger said. The extended services support all global data formats, including electronic data interchange (EDI), extensible markup language (XML), RosettaNET and EDIINT as well as flat or proprietary files; major communication protocols such as HTTP, FTP and SMTP, and any kind of connectivity including dial-up, frame relay, AS2, leased line or internet. The service also offers easy on-ramping from other VAN providers, real-time delivery of advance shipment notices (ASNs) and other time-sensitive documents, a choice of security protocols, online visibility into all electronic business transactions, and other features. http://www.seeburger.com
