Alameda and Westlake Village, CA — May 23, 2003 — GT Nexus Inc., a provider of global logistics technology, and RiverOne Inc., a provider of supply chain management software and services for manufacturers, this week announced an alliance that will create an initiative for synchronized and integrated supply chain planning, execution and logistics management systems.
According to the companies, the initiative unifies supply chain management and logistics management processes, which typically are silo-based. The combined solutions address the management of "upstream" activities for automated procurement, production and inventory planning, and replenishment; and the management of "downstream" activities for distributed fulfillment, logistics management, cross-border transportation and global visibility over goods in motion and at rest.
"This alliance addresses the 'blind spot' many companies face with order fulfillment and inventory in transit, and then linking these back to upstream supply chain activity," noted Greg Johnsen, vice president of marketing and strategic alliances for GT Nexus.
In a typical process flow for the new initiative, for example, RiverOne's supply chain solutions pass purchase order identifiers to GT Nexus. The GT Nexus component then executes the downstream logistics activity, accepting purchase orders from the RiverOne system, directing goods in motion and providing detailed visibility and event management through the fulfillment-to-delivery cycle.
One of the features of the combined solution, the companies said, is the ability for customers to draw logistics-related performance information back into upstream supply chain processes on a real-time basis. The providers explained that this would enable customers to more accurately adjust production, inventory planning and replenishment assumptions.
"Especially in today's distributed environment, a key to achieving the highest service level from a given set of supply-chain resources is managing by exception. [The new initiative] provides customers an integrated, exception-based management environment for all goods in motion, across the fulfillment process," said Mark Levy, vice president of products for RiverOne.
