DC Velocity - October 2009

South of the border: APL Logistics and Con-way Freight have expanded their day-definite OceanGuaranteed service into Mexico. The service, which combines ocean and truck transportation to deliver less-than-containerload (LCL) cargo from Asia to a customer’s store door, had previously been available only to customers in the United States and Canada. This latest expansion broadens the program’s coverage to all major metropolitan markets in Mexico, extending the reach of day-definite deliveries to shippers throughout North America.

Under the service, OceanGuaranteed cargo will move from Asia to the United States on vessels operated by APL. Once the cargo arrives in Los Angeles, Con-way Freight takes over, hauling it to Laredo, Texas. From there, the cargo will cross the border to Mexico with delivery via a Con-way Freight affiliate to the final destination.

Originally a China-to-United States service, OceanGuaranteed was expanded last year into Canada. With the addition of Mexico, origin ports in Asia are now connected for the first time to every major North American market via day-definite delivery service. (APL Logistics, www.apllo-gistics.com)

Time is money: USF Holland has launched a new Guaranteed Window Delivery service. With the service, customers can request four levels of window precision to meet their time-specific delivery needs. Single-Hour provides deliveries within a one-hour time window (e.g., between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on a specific day). Multi-Hour is for deliveries within a multiple-hour time window (e.g., between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on a specific day). Single-Day is designed for deliveries on a specific day that is different than normal delivery standards (e.g., within normal business hours on the second day beyond normal delivery schedules). And Multi-Day is for deliveries that must be made within a multiple-day window (e.g., between normal business hours Wednesday through Friday on specific dates).

Shipments moved under the new Holland Guaranteed Window Delivery services arrive on time—not early, not late—and receive priority handling and visibility. Customers can use Holland Guaranteed Window Delivery services to reduce charge-backs, improve vendor scorecard performance, and manage inventories and production costs with precision.

Lanes eligible for the Holland Guaranteed Window Delivery service can be viewed when customers perform transit time or rate quotations lookups on the company’s Web site. (USF Holland, www.usfnet.com)

Collaborative planning: Insight Inc., a company that specializes in supply chain planning solutions, offers a strategic planning tool that incorporates both marketing and supply chain strategy and operations, thus enabling companies to develop a corporate strategy focused on maximizing profits. Jointly developed with Dybvig Consulting, a supply chain consulting organization, Insight Integrated Enterprise Strategy (IES) builds on the functionality of Insight’s flagship product, SAILS 21, adding sophisticated marketing-oriented analytical features.

IES drops the traditional assumption of fixed demand for a given planning scenario, replacing it with marketing campaigns, wherein both the cost and demand impact of proposed marketing strategies take their place alongside supply chain strategies and costs. The solution assigns targeted marketing expenditures to those markets, channels, and products with the greatest margin, given available supply chain capacity. Equally important, especially in times of business turbulence and contraction, the solution can remove resources and demand from unprofitable markets, channels, and products. (Insight Inc., www.insight-mss.com)

Earth friendly: Freightgate, a provider of Web 2.0 technology supply chain software solutions, has added carbon footprint functionality to its PLTX Platform for the Logistics Management Lifecycle. This new carbon footprint functionality will help organizations capture, analyze, and optimize the carbon footprint of their supply chains.

Using Freightgate’s WISA (What-If Scenario Analysis) module within its PLTX Platform, a company will be able to generate different supply chain scenarios in order to compare their operational, financial, and environmental impacts. The WISA results will help determine which scenario is most environmentally sound, while at the same time being financially and operationally viable. (Freightgate, (714) 799-2833, www.freightgate.com)

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