Firm awarded contract to handle publishing, printing and distribution for educational measurement organization
New York — November 3, 2004 — Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world's largest private educational measurement organization, said it has selected Accenture to handle its end-to-end supply chain, including the publishing, printing and distribution of tests and test-related materials, in a five-year, $142 million contract.
Under the agreement, Accenture said it will manage all aspects of ETS' supply chain including the printing, publishing, warehousing, distribution, tracking and shipping of tests and test materials globally. ETS administers or scores approximately 24 million tests annually, including the College Board's SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) tests, the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam, and numerous state K-12 testing contracts. ETS will then focus on test design, administration, test security and reporting of test results.
"By working with Accenture to manage our supply chain functions, we can place even more focus on our core mission of advancing quality and equity in education through fair and valid testing," said Kurt Landgraf, president and CEO, ETS. "We also expect that the efficiencies gained through this agreement will allow us to streamline our costs and provide world class service to our customers and clients."
Accenture will work with ETS to consolidate and simplify supply chain processes, logistics and infrastructure to improve overall operational efficiency. As part of that effort, Accenture said it will implement custom and off-the-shelf software for forecasting, inventory planning, production planning and scheduling, warehouse management and transportation.
"We are privileged to provide these supply chain services to ETS' global organization," said Rob D'Avanzo, a partner in Accenture's Supply Chain Management practice. "An efficient and simplified supply chain process will help ETS to achieve more control and efficiency over their entire operation."
