Trucking Technology Report - April 4
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Today's Technology Headlines:
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Department of Defense Gets 'Netcentric'
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) commissioned the University of Maryland to develop a Web-based course in real-time supply chain management, because missing a shipment--especially under increasingly difficult conditions and shorter time frames--can have disastrous consequences.Devised by Dr. Sandor Boyson and Dr. Thomas M. Corsi of the R.H. Smith School of Business's Supply Chain Management Center, Managing the Real-Time Supply Chain is an online educational program that offers a basic comprehension of supply chain theory and management.
The program is split into two parts: Part one covers the technologies that are driving the development of a real-time supply chain, and part two focuses on business models and initiatives that implement such measures. An end-of-course simulation session offers students a chance to apply the lessons they have learned.
The course is only one of numerous programs developed at the Supply Chain Management Center's Netcentric Laboratory, which is backed by a number of leading technology firms. "What we are trying to show [in the lab] is a new kind of supply chain--one where everyone is basically together in a common real-time network that enables them to do business simultaneously across multiple geographic, time, and other dimensions and boundaries," explains Boyson.
Researchers have examined the supply-chain management practices of about 1,600 companies since 1993 to predict such trends as globalization and marketplace volatility. "We're starting to move in the direction of helping organizations model and simulate these kinds of technological innovations and what they would mean to their own business operations," Boyson notes. Transportation & Distribution (03/01); Hyland, Tricia
Companies Collaborate on Networks
Facilitators are quickly becoming integral players in offering collaborative products.Nistevo Executive Vice President Rick Parker notes that companies are aggressively seeking additional members for collaborative networks to conduct business in different industries and supply chains. Companies involved in collaborative networks must reach consensus about important matters, such as choosing methods to share savings on certain routes.
Nistevo.com's collaborative logistics network automates many routine procedures, such as calculating shipping costs so carriers can send invoices to shippers. Traffic World (04/02/01); Cottrill, Ken
XML Leading Data Transfer
Traditionally data transference between large companies required the use of electronic data exchange (EDI) a system generally designed to a company's own specifications to meet proprietary needs. Now, XML is becoming a leader in B2B exchanges without companies having to make huge investments in proprietary software.Users can log into an information exchange portal and submit orders or inventory notes in XML format that can be read by other user of the portal.
The shipping industry is embracing the XML world of the Internet as it seeks better ways to integrate systems and work collaboratively throughout the industry chain. The benefits of XML are two fold in that it separates style and data, allowing content to be delivered through various mediums, and it allows for extensible metadata information.
Freight shippers R & L Carriers contracted the help of Go Save On Freight (GOSOF.com) to find a solution to the company's problematic bill of lading processing system. GOSOF.com seeks to decrease the communication distance between shipping companies and customers. They set up an XML-based data collection system that allows shippers to generate and submit bills of lading electronically through the XML program or by means of an interactive Web site powered by Action Point's Dialog Server software. Paper bills of lading can be scanned into Action Point's InputAccel capture processing program, where document images are collected and data extracted for XML conversion.
GOSOF.com handles the majority of the network infrastructure and document imaging processing, leaving R & L to focus on maintaining their own internal shipping and billing software. Sending the bills of lading electronically lets the company know the contents of the trucks and how the content should be rearranged for shipping.
R & L benefits from the e-bill of lading system by cutting back on the number of loading dock personnel, and getting the trucker back on the road faster, and by being able to bill clients within the next day. Imaging & Document Solutions; Rapaport, Lowell
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