Keeping tabs

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1998

The number of tracking and tracing products available today means shippers now have a wide variety of options to help them collect, manage, and transmit tracking data more effectively.

Ten years ago, tracking and tracing products were a rarity, but it's a very different story today. The development of operational strategies like Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing, Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), and Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) means that shippers, carriers, and their mutual customers need to know where inventory is at all times. And they need to get that information quickly and

accurately. Fortunately, their needs are being met by a wide variety of tracking and tracing products that are on the market today. Here is just a sampling of some of the newest of these products.

Century Distribution Systems Inc. has introduced a new Internet-based freight-tracking software package, "Enterprise-PCL." Enterprise-PCL makes detailed information about any customer's merchandise from purchase-order creation to cargo delivery at final destination available through Century's Web site. All the user needs to access Enterprise-PCL is a Web browser.

By using Enterprise-PCL, customers can access Century's tracking database. The database manages shipment activity such as ship date and estimated time of arrival, vessel or flight details, quantities shipped, container numbers, bill-of-lading numbers, status updates from the carrier, customs-clearance status, and cargo availability.

Enterprise-PCL is a secure system; all customers register with Century and obtain a confidential password prior to accessing any data.