DC Velocity - April 2015

Yale Materials Handling Corp. has been named a 2014 Good Design award winner by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for its NR/NDR-EB narrow-aisle reach truck series. … Invata Intralogistics, a supplier of purpose-built warehouse automaton solutions, has been awarded the Platinum Integrator Award from TGW, a supplier of logistics solutions. … Houston-based Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. (MCFA) recognized its top sales reps and sales managers with its 2014 Iron Man Reward and Recognition Program. The No. 1 MCFA Iron Man in all of North America was Willie Grubesic from MCFA’s Montreal (Canada) dealership, Hewitt Equipment Ltd. … Daifuku Co. Ltd. and ModusLink Global Solutions Inc. are among the 19 recipients of Intel Corp.’s Preferred Quality Supplier award. … The following forklift dealers received the President’s Award from Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) for excellence in parts, service, and equipment sales; customer satisfaction; and overall dealership operations: Allied Toyotalift, Atlantic Coast Toyotalift, Atlas Toyota Material Handling, Brodie Toyota-Lift, Conger Toyotalift, Hull Toyota Lift, Madland Toyota-Lift Inc., ProLift Industrial Equipment, SwiftLift Inc., The Lilly Co., Toyota Forklifts of Atlanta, Toyota Material Handling Northern California, Toyota Material Handling Ohio Inc., Toyotalift Inc., and Vesco Toyotalift. … YRC Freight, Estes, A. Duie Pyle, UPS Freight, and AAA Cooper all received 2014 Carrier of the Year awards from Unishippers Global Logistics LLC, a small-pack-age and freight shipping reseller. Unishippers itself was recognized in the annual Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500 list for 2015, ranking 335th overall. … Reddaway has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency-administered SmartWay Transport Partnership for ranking in the top tier of carbon efficiency among trucking firms. … In 2014, DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa received a total of 61 awards from external parties such as government bodies, trade associations, and the media. … Forbes has included HighJump Software, a global provider of supply chain management software, on its list of America’s Most Promising Companies. … Wisconsin Lift Truck Corp. has been awarded MVP (Most Valuable Partner) Status for 2015 in a program run by the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA).

accolades

In a move to consolidate the market for supply chain design software, Llamasoft Inc. has acquired the “Logic Tools” supply chain applications suite from IBM Corp. Terms were not disclosed.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Llamasoft said it would buy IBM’s “LogicNet Plus,” “Inventory and Product Flow Analyst,” and “Transportation Analyst” products. Llamasoft has been growing fast in recent years due to increased interest in the company’s specialties of supply chain modeling, analytics, and optimization. Under the transaction, Llamasoft will absorb the IBM supply chain technology and support team.

“We’re incredibly excited to have the opportunity to serve
Logic Tools customers and welcome them into the Llamasoft
user community, the largest community of supply chain
designers in the world,” said Llamasoft CEO Donald Hicks
in a statement. “Supply chain modeling is a must-have capa-
bility to survive and thrive in rapidly changing global market
conditions.”
Llamasoft and the IBM supply chain units operate in over-
lapping markets, meaning users will have one less option and
competitors will have to contend with a much larger rival.
“There’s one less choice now. This will put a lot of pressure
on the other vendors to really step up,” said James Cooke, a
principal analyst at the research firm Nucleus Research Inc.

Llamasoft offers cloud-based software solutions that clients can access via the Internet, thus avoiding the need to download the software onto an on-premises computer or server. The company offers applications with simple functionality and an easy interface for loading data into a supply chain model from any transportation management system (TMS), warehouse management system (WMS), or enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Cooke said.

The acquisition comes at a time when companies are putting more emphasis than ever on how they run their supply chains. “The market for supply chain design is growing as more companies realize they have to re-examine their networks and make sure their network of distribution centers and plants is in line with changing market conditions,” Cooke said.

One example would be a retailer transitioning from selling product across one channel, namely the traditional brick-and-mortar store, to selling across digital platforms and fulfilling orders from the warehouse or the store itself or through a “drop shipping” arrangement where the manufacturer or supplier handles the deliveries. That firm could use supply chain design software to simulate the impact on its logistics network of setting up its distribution center to serve both online customers and to replenish its stores, Cooke said.