Trucking Technology Alert - Dec. 26
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Today's Technology Headlines:
- T-Systems Keeps Trucker's IT Works Moving
- Christmas Wonderland Uses Custom-Designed Logistics
- Best Buy Employs i2 Technologies
- Christmas Wonderland Uses Custom-Designed Logistics
T-Systems Keeps Trucker's IT Works Moving
T-Systems International, a subsidiary of Germany-based Deutsche Telekom, is one of the best kept secrets in the managed service market.T-Systems is one of four business units that make up Deutsche Telekom, with a mandate similar to Electronic Data Systems and other American competitors. The company posted revenues of $10 billion in 2000, and it currently employs 40,000 people, making it the second-largest company in the Deutsche Telekom family. T-Systems currently has two data centers in the United States, one in New York and the other in Chicago. IT managers that have outsourced Web hosing and other enterprise computing functions such as supply chain support, intranet management, and email server maintenance say T-Systems has better customer management processes and service reliability, and it is very competitively priced.
Christmas Wonderland Uses Custom-Designed Logistics
Frankenmuth, Mich.-based Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the biggest Christmas store in the world, is using custom-designed software from Montreal-based Gemmar Systems International (GIS) to handle its logistics.The store, which is 320,000 square feet in size, sells over 50,000 items, half imported and half from the United States. Altogether, the store imports items from 70 different countries in Europe and the Far East, and it works with freight forwarders to consolidate shipments. According to Wayne Bronner, president and CEO of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the company uses BAX Global as its freight forwarder in the Far East and ITG as its freight forwarder in Germany. Because of its unique logistics requirements, Bronner's created a "soup-to-nuts" retail solution, combining custom-made applications from GIS with software models from the same company. Bronner's also purchased accounting software from one of GSI's partners, Great Plains Dynamics.
Scott Miller, assistant manager of the accounting/computer department at Bronner's, says that GSI's software deals with sales fulfillment, sales, receiving, and purchasing. Bronner purchased a number of modules, including: Retail-1 Image, for viewing and scanning images on a computer; Retail-1 Store, for store and point-of-sale operations; Retail-1 Merchant, for inventory and merchandising management; and Retail-1 Open-To-Buy, for merchandise planning. Traffic World (12/24/01) Vol. 265, No. 52, P. 15; Hickey, Kathleen
Best Buy Employs i2 Technologies
Best Buy is using an in-house management transportation system developed by i2 Technologies for the first time this holiday season to handle consolidation, purchasing, and tracking needs.The system allows Best Buy to manage shipments from its entire cadre of domestic suppliers. Best Buy's director of supply chain operations for transportation, Eric Morley, noted the system gives the retailer added visibility to take advantage of opportunities to consolidate shipments. Morley said as Best Buy's operations expanded, the prepaid shipment policy previously used became too expensive.
Best Buy employs transportation management modules for a variety of applications, including network modeling, carrier selection, and to receive data sent from carriers and suppliers via the Web. The new system slashed Best Buy's expenses during this holiday season by 7.5% in comparison to last year. InternetWeek (12/24/01) No. 889, P. 8; Wilson, Tim
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