Joint venture between China Post, Australia Post to provide customers with real-time logistics services
Hong Kong and Gaithersburg, MD — September 15, 2005 — Sai Cheng Logistics International Co. Ltd., a joint venture between China Post and Australia Post, said it has selected GXS Enterprise Gateway to integrate its internal business applications with customers' workflows.
China Post and Australia Post signed a joint venture agreement in July 2004 to create Sai Cheng Logistics, a one-stop integrated logistics shop for companies doing business between China and Australia. GXS Enterprise Gateway will be used to enable Sai Cheng Logistics to build a supply chain network that integrates its warehouse management system with its application infrastructure while providing customers real-time shipment track-and-trace capabilities.
Made available through a strategic partnership between Fairfax, Va.-based webMethods and GXS, GXS Enterprise Gateway provides enterprise customers with a single B2B integration platform for centralizing, monitoring and optimizing real-time supply chain data and processes. The solution uses a service-oriented architecture that provides Sai Cheng the flexibility to meet current as well as future B2B integration needs. With GXS Enterprise Gateway, Sai Cheng said it is deploying a reliable and streamlined B2B e-commerce system that will enable it to effectively control interactions with customers in Australia, China and around the globe.
"Since this joint venture was announced last year, we have set an ambitious timeline to become fully operational. Adoption of GXS Enterprise Gateway is very much in line with our fast-track approach," said Grant Kelly, general manager of Sai Cheng Logistics International Co. Ltd. GXS Enterprise Gateway will help us unify our IT infrastructure, based on open industry standards, which can integrate our internal applications with customer' business processes. The depth of logistics industry knowledge and supply chain management expertise GXS brings to this project will help ensure rapid implementation and fast results."
B2B integration is an emerging trend that crosses vertical industry and geographic barriers and is increasingly recognized as a necessary step toward greater business process efficiency. Forrester Research, in its recent Wave report entitled, Forrester Wave: Integration Suites: Q3, 2005, confirmed this evolution and included GXS as a Leader among integration suite providers. GXS is a longtime powerhouse in the B2B integration world, and it has entered the integration suite space via its strategic partnership with webMethods. This partnership&enhances both vendors' integration offerings. GXS has a strong global presence that will become increasingly important as multinational firms attempt to increase the effectiveness of their application- and process-based interactions.
Under its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession agreement, China fully opened its logistics market to international investment in 2004 and its huge potential for third-party logistics services has been widely recognized. Based in Shanghai, Sai Cheng Logistics provides companies with global access to a spectrum of supply chain services from point of manufacture to point of consumption. Its Shanghai hub will be the first of a network of integrated logistics facilities positioned near major manufacturing centers in China. These will link to similar logistics hubs along the eastern seaboard of Australia.
— For more information on the latest trends in the logistics space, see the article "The Analyst Corner: Fulfillment & Logistics" in the August/September 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
