Logistics technology: New Infor application improves global trade processes for shippers

Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 10/29/2007

ATLANTA—Infor, a provider of supply chain management software technology, recently announced at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Annual Conference in Philadelphia last week it has released a new transportation management system (TMS) application that, it says, allows shippers to simplify the complex nature of global trade and addresses various facets of transportation management.

Entitled Infor SCM Transportation Management 9.0, the company said the Web-based application manages inbound and inbound transportation processes from order inception to delivery for retailers, distributors, and manufacturers. Infor added that it designed this version with the ongoing emergence of globalization in mind, explaining that Infor SCM Transportation Management 9.0 “integrates transportation optimization with management onto a single platform.” 

The ways in which the company said this version does this integration is by providing increased visibility and control of inventory, costs, transportation planning, execution, and international trade compliance processes for truck, rail, ocean, intermodal, and air transportation. And it added that this version provides companies, regardless of size, required business-specific functionality they need and also levels the playing field for small- and medium-sized businesses.

“We designed this to address shippers of all sizes, whether a shipper is at the large shippers moving thousands of shipments on a monthly basis, mid-size [up to 2,000 monthly shipments] or the smaller end of the spectrum,” said Eric Nilsson, Infor senior director of product management, in an interview with Logistics Management earlier today. “What we have is an [application] we can offer from a solution footprint capability wise that is based on a shipper’s needs and price point.”

Nilsson also noted there were other reasons for bringing this platform into a smaller or “mid-market” play, given its large-sized and mid-market customer base, which prompted the company’s decision to bring this type of multi-faceted application to those types of customers.

“It looks like Infor is building this application for that small or medium-sized company with not as much transportation spend as a big company,” observed John Fontanella, AMR Research vice president.

Function(ality) speaking
Because Infor SCM Transportation Management 9.0 is designed to address all modes of transportation, the company said this was its goal from the product’s inception. This is due to the fact, he said that certain parts of a company are focused on a certain mode, while other groups are focused on another.

“Generally, a TMS is better at some [modes] than others,” said AMR’s Fontanella. “This platform in international in nature, though, and is more mode friendly because of that.”

Bringing all of the modes together really allows for better visibility throughout the entire supply chain,” said Nilsson. “A company may be shipping a product from Asia via an ocean carrier that is then put on rail or truck when arriving at a port, and they need a solution that can provide the visibility and track a product and be able to tender it throughout the entire journey of the shipment.”

Another main component of this recent release is that Infor has established a trade data partnership with global trade management services provide Management Dynamics in which it has extended its country coverage for trade compliance from 50 to 120 countries.

“We have always had international trade compliance functionality in our [applications],” said Nilsson. “What this partnership allows us to do is provide trade functionality from ay country to any country; it does not have to be just into or out of the United States.”

Nilsson also explained how this partnership provides shippers with things like restricted party lookup, harmonized tariffs, Customs documentation, and compliance screening, as well as reduced delivery times and decreased inventory requirements, among others.