Integrating Technology, People and Processes

The company sought to electronically collect, coordinate, monitor and validate information from importers and customs brokers

Centrx, A BDP Knowledge Venture, a division of BDP International, manages global trade and supply chain solutions for the chemical, health care, and oil and gas industries. The company’s service portfolio includes trade compliance consulting, managed trade compliance services and supply chain consulting. Centrx has a team of international supply chain practitioners with a proven track record of providing global solutions through the integration of people, processes and technology.

Challenge

In the past, Centrx used spreadsheets to facilitate the exchange of information,  and to classify and validate parts and products between its customers and their customs brokers. This proved to be a very time-consuming process, as information had to be inputted, audited and validated manually for each client, which sometimes created logistics bottlenecks.

Solution

Centrx needed a solution that would automate the information exchange process and serve as an integration layer between its customers and their logistics service providers. The company was seeking a solution that could electronically collect, coordinate, monitor and validate information from importers and their customs brokers. Centrx needed a scalable and customizable tool that enabled them to receive broker feeds of customs data and manage its central parts database for all compliance elements, such as tariff codes.

Having a tool that allowed them to compare compliance data with daily activity to ensure trade compliance was also crucial. Centrx also wanted a platform that could speed up the information feed time from customers. In order to integrate all these needs Centrx chose GTKonnect’s Post Entry (Imports), Parts and Free Trade software modules.

Results

After about a year of integrating the GTKonnect software, Centrx already sees a significant time savings in inputting, managing and sharing information with its clients by shifting from a paper process to a web-based system. The company uses GTKonnect to validate, verify and push out master data on parts to customs brokers. The information that is sent to customs (entry data) is then sent back by brokers to GTKonnect for auditing, validation and to make any necessary corrections by Centrx.

By using GTKonnect’s software, Centrx is now able to electronically send information out to brokers, who can ensure their customers’ trade compliance with customs more easily in real time. Centrx also uses the software platform to compare data against the chosen trade compliance fields, which allows the company to automatically spot potential problems through an exception report to trigger quick fix response.

As a consultant, Centrx determines if parts qualify for a trade program; the company uses GTKonnect’s Free Trade Agreement module to generate trade agreement certificates for those that do.

“GTKonnect enables the integration of critical trade compliance elements between our clients and their logistics service providers. We are able to send out valuable part data to these providers, and in turn, receive timely transactional data from all of the providers. This integration drives the tactical and executional levels of our clients’ trade compliance programs,” said Ryan K. Rodgers, director of global consulting services for Centrx. “GTKonnect’s software helps speed up the audit process and provides information quicker to our clients.”

In the near future, Centrx plans to use the GTKonnect software platform to classify parts, and to coordinate the management and distribution of trade certificates.

“We like working with GTKonnect because they are always willing to work with us, and to improve on and build out additional functionality that we need,” Rodgers said. “GTKonnect also allows us to input, send and receive information from any customer site. We can log in to the system from wherever we are, making it very convenient and easy to collaborate.”

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