Supply chain visibility is so important to Levi Strauss & Company that the San Francisco-based apparel company created a program called the Electronic Transportation Access Visibility Project, or ETA. According to Lisa Chan, an internal logistics process consultant and ETA team leader, the goal of the project has been to create a customized web-based track-and-trace, alerting, and reporting capability. The core of the project is Management Dynamics's BridgePoint application, and it has proved to be a source of competitive advantage for the company.

In fact, the top management of Levi Strauss North America and Global selected the ETA Visibility Project Team to win the company's 2005 Excellence Award for its work. "Excellence Awards are given to Levi Strauss employees and teams of employees in North America who have made outstanding contributions to our business and/or the community, and who demonstrate key business behaviors and company values," Chan says. "These awards are the highest level of recognition within the North America business unit.

"This award was presented in April 2006 to our team, and could not have been achieved without the efforts of Management Dynamics," says Chan. "Throughout the arduous process of implementation and needing to meet Levi Strauss's specific business requirements, Management Dynamics has always provided terrific service."

The ETA Visibility Project Team and the tool that it created has provided Levi Strauss with more complete and accurate data regarding finished goods destined for the U.S., which has allowed the apparel maker to better manage incoming products and to proactively address issues by exception. Additionally, Levi Strauss is able to greatly reduce the time involved with supply chain monitoring since all the information is now located in once place. More time can be spent pursuing continuous improvements and strategic business initiatives.

"We really appreciate the efforts of Management Dynamics on this project," says Chan. "It has been a rewarding experience for our team and for the company."