18 DC VELOCITY MAY 2017 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
JDA Software Group Inc. has added capabilities to its Intelligent
Fulfillment portfolio that could allow users to connect their supply
chain planning and execution processes spanning factories, warehouses, and stores, and someday suggest solutions to freight delays
before they happen, the company said.
The updates include changes to JDA’s Demand, Fulfillment,
Transportation Management, and Warehouse Management plat-
forms, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company said during its annual
user conference in Las Vegas.
Through these added abilities, JDA’s software can tap into new
intelligence streams that give visibility into capacity challenges,
potential execution bottlenecks, and real-world disruptions that
impact the bottom line, Fabrizio Brasca, JDA’s vice president,
solution strategy, intelligent fulfillment, said in a release. That
power is crucial for companies in the digital economy that need
to shift from linear batch-oriented planning to synchronous con-straint-aware planning, Brasca said.
Among other changes, JDA announced deeper integrations
between its transportation management system (TMS) and technology partners TransVoyant LLC, FourKites Inc., and Inttra
Inc. The deals enable improved carrier connectivity, efficient
onboarding, real-time visibility, and predictive analytics, JDA said.
The company also announced forthcoming integrations with new
partners MacroPoint LLC and 10-4 Systems Inc. that could give
shippers and third-party logistics companies (3PLs) real-time visibility into load status.
The strategy reflects JDA’s renewed focus on expanding its software capabilities through deeper relationships with technology
partners. At the conference, JDA disclosed more details about its
“Partner Advantage” program launched in February, saying it was
now offering streamlined templates to replace the complex contracts it had used to define the terms of its relationships with its
150 certified partners.
For its long-term roadmap, JDA plans to add to the expanded
visibility and analytics by equipping its software platforms to
generate predictions about future cargo flow and then make automated decisions based on that data, Brasca said in an interview.
“Visibility is great, but you need to be able to do something with
it,” he said. “Don’t just tell me where the shipment is, tell me where
it’s going to be.”
JDA sees bright future in visibility for TMS
go figure …
65%
The average utilization of XPO Logistics’ less-than-truckload (LTL) fleet. Every 1-percent increase in
trailer utilization translates into $9 million in annual
profit, XPO said.
SOURCE: COMPANY DATA
tenders of large volumes at their facilities.
Instead, shippers rely on USPS or local courier
services to handle intra-city shipments.
However, UPS and FedEx are reconfiguring
their networks to efficiently accommodate
much more e-commerce throughput, and the
person said the efforts would include the types
of moves qualifying for zone 1 pricing. FedEx
Ground, the ground parcel unit that handles
most FedEx e-commerce deliveries, has added
four major U.S. hubs and 19 automated stations
in the past year alone, a 10 million-square-foot
expansion. UPS is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to automate its “tier 1” U.S.
hubs that today handle a little more than half
its domestic volume. The modernization should
improve network productivity by up to 25 percent when the work is done sometime in 2019,
Rob Martinez, president and CEO of consultancy Shipware LLC, said recently.
UPS declined comment, while FedEx did not
respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
THE PUSH TO GO LOCAL
Until recent years, very-short-haul deliveries
accounted for a small fraction of the carriers’
traffic mix. But the growth of e-commerce and
increasing customer demands for shorter delivery times have placed greater emphasis on the
need for robust local delivery networks.
To provide local deliveries of packages moving through their networks, FedEx and UPS use
a post office product known as “Parcel Select,”
where companies induct packages deep into
the postal system for final delivery to residences via USPS’s cadre of letter carriers. The product has been extremely popular with USPS’s
customers.
However, soaring e-commerce volumes have
given FedEx and UPS the confidence that they
can build the package density necessary to
cost-effectively handle local shipments themselves rather than turn them over to USPS and
share part of the revenue.
In a government filing in February, USPS
warned that efforts by UPS, FedEx, and Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., the biggest user of
Parcel Select, to expand their shipping capabilities and divert business from USPS could
jeopardize the annual double-digit growth of
Parcel Select, which has become a key component of its business.
—Mark Solomon
