DC Velocity - October 2009

FP4/0.GB

strategicinsight CHINA/PAC RIM

whelmed manual warehouses and DCs. One of the earliest WMS installations was by P.G. Logistics, one of China’s first and largest 3PLs. In 2003, the 3PL implemented a WMS from Infor in a distribution center it managed for Phillips Electronics. P.G. Logistics has since extended the WMS to several other facilities to serve multinational customers like Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Samsung Electronics, and Unilever.

Other Chinese 3PLs quickly followed suit, incorporating warehousing software into their own operations. In 2006, for instance, Fanhang Logistics implemented RedPrairie’s WMS solution. The following year, Hongxun Logistics selected HighJump Software’s WMS. Tingtong Logistics is currently rolling out Manhattan Associates’ ILS Integrated Logistics Solutions to 50 sites across China.

Earlier this year, Manhattan was named the top WMS provider in Asia by ARC Advisory Group in its Warehouse Management Systems Worldwide Outlook market analysis. But Western WMS suppliers should keep an eye out for potential domestic competition. In 2007, China’s CDC Corp., a global software giant, strengthened its WMS offerings when it bought U.S.-based Catalyst International and folded it into its CDC Supply Chain division.

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Follow that container!

Like logistics software, wireless technology and RFID are hot topics in China nowadays. China has an active RFID association, and the technology is a frequent subject of conference sessions and workshops. There is even a trade show devoted to radio-frequency identification: the China International RFID Technologies and Applications Show in Logistics, Manufacturing, and Anti-counterfeiting.

Given the vast distances between China’s population centers and its fractured inland transportation system, it’s no wonder RFID and other tracking and security technologies are generating interest. Savi Networks is just one of the developers that have jumped on this opportunity. In August, Savi announced that Shanghai-based Coscon Logistics would begin real-time, global positioning system (GPS) tracking of both domestic and international shipments using Savi’s sensors.

Another player in container security in China is Powers International, which offers a satellite-based system. Late last year, Powers began collaborating with European Datacomm–Asia and Beijing-based Trade-Route to offer EDC-76, a “smart” container that provides origin-to-destina-tion location and status information.

Wireless communication is showing up inside China’s warehouses and DCs. Beijing-based 3PL Southwest Logistics has gone into wireless in a big way at its Southwest Logistics Center, a complex of eight warehouses plus offices and employee dormitories scattered throughout Beijing’s Yushuzhuang district. The complex, which totals some 3 million square feet, provides receiving, storage, packaging, and domestic shipping and distribution services for more than 200 book publishers.