Extension to collaborative product line enables faster order fulfillment
Austin, TX — August 11, 2004 — ClearOrbit, a provider of real-time supply chain execution (SCE) software solutions, has announced the availability of SO Drop Shipment (SOD). The company said SOD allows users to manage the ordering, shipping and inventory management transactions associated with partners that are drop-shipping items based on booked sales orders.
ClearOrbit explained that SOD is accessible from any global location, and it provides drop-ship partners with a database-driven collaboration tool that gives real-time visibility to sales orders that require shipment of inventory stored at off-site or remote locations based on data housed in the manufacturers' or distributors' enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
When a sales order is executed, and a partner ships a product, SOD then generates the appropriate bar code labels for each container as the software generates all necessary shipping documentation. SOD also automatically notifies customer service representatives, letting them know the items have been sent to the end-user customer. Finally, SOD manages the ERP transactions required to account for the shipment.
"Customers are becoming more aggressive with regard to cycle time, hence the need for companies to find ways to expedite the order-to-delivery process," said Adrian Gonzalez, director, Logistics Executive Council, ARC Advisory Group. "Eliminating nodes from the supply chain by implementing drop shipments or other 'Distribution Center bypass' strategies is one approach, but it can only succeed if trading partners have the resources to execute on your behalf." He added that the SOD is a good example of how technology can be extended to trading partners so that distributed business processes can be executed while maintaining continuity of information and transactions.
ClearObrit said that some of the other features of SOD include automatic pick release of products shipped from the partner's inventory location in the ERP, enforcement of inventory rules, the ability to assign a unique package tracking number, and bar code label and shipping documentation compliance.
