A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 24
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
TransView Plans Web-Driven Trading Center
TransView Corp. has proposed creating a Web exchange to handle all the business-to-business trading operations on the Internet, which number in excess of 300.TransView President and Chief Executive Kevin Lynch, a onetime commodities broker, uses the phrase "liquid exchange" to describe an online marketplace which would allow shippers to sell unnecessary capacity for which they hold the contract to other shippers. The liquid exchange is to debut before year's end.
But supply-chain execution research director John Fontanella at AMR Research says Lynch's Web-exchange proposals are novel. "Ever think of treating transportation services as a commodity, like soybeans or pork bellies? This company has," says Fontanella. Journal of Commerce (08/24/99) P. 15; Atkinson, Helen
G.I. Trucking Co. Reluctantly Implements Fuel Surcharge
Starting Wednesday, G.I. Trucking will impose a fuel surcharge on line-haul shipments. The surcharge kicks in when diesel prices hit $1.15 a gallon. The added surcharge for each $0.01-per-gallon rise in fuel prices will be 0.1 percent for LTL shipments and 0.2 percent for TL shipments. "We are no longer able to subsidize the substantial increases in fuel costs, especially in the Western states," says company President Bill Reid. Business Wire (08/23/99)USPS, UPS in War of Words
In its July/August Memo to Mailers, the U.S. Postal Service says that competing parcel and overnight carriers are using an "orchestrated campaign of misinformation" to make the public and lawmakers turn against the Postal Service. The Postal Service did not name the other carriers, although it did make brief mention of the United Parcel Service lawsuit regarding the January postal rate hike. The other carriers are trying "to drive the Postal Service out of the parcel and overnight delivery business," said Postal Service Senior Vice President for Government Relations Deborah Willhite. Direct (09/01/99) Vol. 11, No. 11; P. 18; Alberta, Paul M.The Best 100: Dana Corp.
Dana Corp. of Toledo, Ohio, made it onto this year's IndustryWeek list of the 100 Best-Managed Companies. These 100 firms are expected to use their superior management skills to dominate their respective fields in the future.Between 1997 and 1998, the automotive and truck-parts maker grew its employment payroll from 49,000 to 86,000, while its revenue increased from $8 billion to $12.6 billion. It now does business in 32 countries, encouraging decentralized management by issuing a single page of policy guidelines rather than an entire manual. It runs Dana University to try to give each employee 40 hours' education annually. Different company operations can formulate programs independently to best meet their specific needs.
Last year, IndustryWeek put a Dana facility on its America's Best Plants list. IndustryWeek (08/16/99) Vol. 248, No. 15; P. 44; Edwards, Douglas J.
Defense E-Business Tool Streamlines Payment Process
U.S. Bankcorp recently won a contract to provide the Navy with a new e-business payment solution, called PowerTrack. PowerTrack is already in place at the Department of Defense, and may be extended to include other government agencies as well.PowerTrack improves the payment process by automatically sending out bills and distributing payments to appropriate carriers. The Defense Department uses PowerTrack to pay over $1 billion to transportation companies from the Army, Air Force, National Guard, Defense Logistics Agency, and the U.S. Transportation Command. The agency reports annual savings of about $11 million a year in reduced paper-based processing costs.
Ken Stombaugh, assistant for travel and traffic management in the Office of the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of the Defense, Transportation Policy, says PowerTrack affects over 500 DOD activities involving hundreds of carriers. However, Strombaugh says that although the system is vast, there have been few unexpected problems.
The PowerTrack system developed in 1997, when U.S. Bancorp held its "United Nations of logistics" brainstorming meeting. At the meeting, leading tech firms like Andersen Consulting, A.T. Kearney, and IBM contributed ideas for the development of a paperless e-payment system. Washington Technology (08/16/99) Vol. 14, No. 10; P. 44; Seitz, Patrick
Personnel: Freightliner Corp.
Bob Cariglia has been named Freightliner Trucks Division general manager of marketing, a position he previously held for the Freightliner Alliance parts-and-service unit. Automotive News (08/23/99) P. 25© copyright 1999 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
