Alameda, CA May 14, 2002 GT Nexus, a provider of e-logistics solutions, announced that it has signed a contract with The Home Depot to provide GT Nexus Planning applications for global ocean transportation procurement, rate and contract management, freight optimization and carrier collaboration.
The contract calls for GT Nexus to deploy and operate a technology platform connecting The Home Depot's international logistics operations and ocean carriers worldwide. GT Nexus also will provide integration and implementation services to bring carriers online and configure the applications to The Home Depot's specifications. The applications will be deployed through a GT Nexus Private Logistics Network.
According to the GT Nexus, the logistics network will enable The Home Depot to standardize and streamline global ocean transportation planning, procurement, bid analysis, contract negotiation and ocean carrier selection; and establish collaborative business rules and workflow with ocean carriers, among other things.
The Home Depot said that as its business has grown, so has the scope of its international ocean transportation operations. Increasing import volumes has brought more carriers into the company's network, along with a more complex and time-intensive logistics management challenge.
Because there were millions of dollars of ocean transportation spend involved, The Home Depot sought a technology solution to help the company optimize the distribution of global ocean freight across its carrier network, thereby better evaluating its logistics costs. Equally important was the need to streamline and automate ocean transportation contracting, which was mostly manual and paper-based, while providing better visibility, information quality and control, noted Erik Keller, global contract analyst for The Home Depot's international logistics group.
GT Nexus was built for international. They had proven applications already through several cycles of improvement, said Keller. Other large retail customers were using the system and getting the results we wanted. Another factor was integration experience. Carriers are integrated and operating on the network today. Lastly, GT Nexus took a partnership approach to our solution. That gave us confidence in their ability to respond to our business challenges.
Keller said the company expects a return on investment through savings from more efficient global ocean transportation contracting processes, and from optimizing its ocean freight network with the GT Nexus technology. The applications are provided on an annual subscription basis.
Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Implementation activities are underway with completion and system operation scheduled for the second quarter.
