IBM has opened in Beijing what it says is the first supply chain innovation center dedicated to helping companies worldwide integrate and transform their global supply chain capabilities.

"Helping companies transform and extend their supply chains in a globally integrated economy requires new thinking, new methods and new tools," says Sanjeev Nagrath, Global Leader, Supply Chain Management, IBM Global Business Services. "China, which is one of the fastest-growing economies and a key link in global supply chains is an ideal place to locate our new innovation center to create solutions for companies in not only emerging markets, but anywhere in the world."

The center will showcase several innovative solutions for companies, including:

• Virtual Command Center: this service-oriented architecture-based supply chain visibility solution integrates and synchronizes information-supply, demand and logistics. The solution enables companies to gain visibility into the status and performance of the supply chain to facilitate effective decision-making in a sense and respond environment.
• Supply Chain Optimization tools and modelers enable companies to design and operate agile and adaptable supply chain processes and networks.
• Carbon Tradeoff Modeler: helps companies include carbon output-footprinting-as a key variable when optimizing the supply chain allowing them to understand the outcome of critical trade-offs.

The IBM Supply Chain Innovation Center is available immediately and can be leveraged by any IBM client worldwide.

Visit www.ibm.com