IDII News - New Website Features

• WMS & SCE Discussion - Ask a question! - Share your knowledge! - Discuss trends & frustrations!
  
  
• Warehouse & Logistics Software Directory (Edition 6) is Available! Expanded Edition Sample Pages. Order Now
  

• Free Book! The Auto ID Book (Bar Coding)
• New White Papers!
• New - Bluetooth in Logistics - Will it still slip between the cup and the lip? - Excellent
• New - Voice Technology in the Distribution Center - Excellent
• New - Optimizing Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)
• New - Optimizing Safety Stock
• In the last newsletter, IDII announced these white papers:
  
• New - Practical Guide to WMS - Good History & Insights of WMS Vertical
• New - Guide to Inventory Accuracy
• New - Cycle Counting and Physical Inventories
• New - Warehouse Optimization . . . The Little Things

Software Company News

• Ann Arbor Computer Unveils Internet Enabled Software for WMS Product. i View provides users of Ann Arbor's pcAIM warehouse management system with the ability to view the inventory levels and order status information of one or more warehouse facilities supported by a centralized pcAIM database. -i View allows authorized customers to view their inventory, generate reports and check on order status information. Security is maintained using password-protected logins.

  Vendor Managed Inventories - Vendors with access can review customer inventory levels, expected receipts, and shipping order history information enabling them to create faster more accurate forecasts of their customer's inventory requirements.

  Order Visibility -Shipping and logistics personnel using i View are able to see expected receipts, inventory levels, and shipping order information in a single warehouse, multiple warehouses, or across all warehouses on the system.

  Consignees - Shipping order recipients can view the shipped orders enroute to them using i View. Tracking numbers are also linked to carrier web sites inorder to support package-tracking requirements.

• Cadre Technologies (WMS,OMS, 3PL) - Terminal Corporation (3PL) selected its Cadence Warehouse Management, Order Management and Activity Billing Systems. The Cadence WMS system will manage all product receiving, putaway, picking, packing and inventory control at Terminal's multiple warehouses located in and around the Port of Baltimore. Cadence OMS integrates order entry capabilities directly into the warehouse system, utilizing critical, customer and product data directly from the WMS database. The Cadence Activity Billing System (ABS) will help Terminal accurately record logistic services performed for customer transactions.
  
  
• Logility (WMS, TMS, APS, Nasdaq:LGTY) Participates in Uniform Code Council (UCC) CPFR(R) Interoperability Testing Pioneering Test Expected To Expand Worldwide CPFR Market. A testing group, Drummond Group, announced the first round of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishing (CPFR) interoperability testing, sponsored by the Uniform Code Council (www.uc-council.org ).
  
  The interoperability test will use the EAN.UCC CPFR XML standard schemas. UCC has retained the services of the Drummond Group, Inc. (DGI) to write, operate and manage the testing process using the DGI Interoperability Compliance Processes(R), with support and guidance provided by the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association (VICS), which created the CPFR Voluntary Guidelines (www.cpfr.org ). And, VICS member companies are providing sample data for this project.

  As the first of its kind worldwide, this project will offer users a set of commercially available interoperable products, which support a collaborative process for trading partners across supply chains. The test uses EDI-INT AS2 technology to transport CPFR messages. The declared goal of this test is to expand the market for CPFR applications by ensuring interoperability between products that are offered by different vendors.

  Mercator Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCTR) announced XML Schema Importer Version 6.5. The new importer makes it possible for customers to accelerate their complete XML integration solutions to production. With a single keystroke, customers can import an XML schema, automatically creating a complete graphic model of the structure of an XML document. That model can then be used to define business rules for content-based routing, validation, transformation, and process flows.

• Customers have indicated plans to use the XML Schema Importer to accelerate their integration of legacy systems with new software that requires XML-formatted data, and to speed the creation of production links with business partners who have standardized on XML for their business-to-business (B2B) data exchanges.

• Mercator Software Inc. (Nasdaq: MCTR), Joins Web Services Interoperability Organization. As part of the WS-I Community, Mercator will have access to tools and materials made available by WS-I to ensure that its services interoperate with others. Mercator will also play an active role in promoting interoperable standards and developing a broad set of deliverables supporting Web services implementations.

  WS-I is an open industry effort chartered to promote Web services interoperability across platforms, applications, and programming languages. Mercator Web services will allow customers access to both application information and services via the Internet without the need to alter existing applications and IT infrastructure — and will support all required Web services standards, including SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL. In its beta phase, Mercator Web services will be tested with six (6) Mercator customers across a range of vertical industries. The first generation of Mercator Web services is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2002.

• PeopleSoft (ERP, SCM, HR, CRM, Nasdaq:PSFT) and Agile Software (Nasdaq:AGIL) Enter Alliance to Provide Product Life Cycle Management Solution. PeopleSoft's Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions will be integrated with Agile's comprehensive suite of Product Chain Management (PCM) applications. The solution will enable companies to manage the complete product life cycle from development to end-of-life including sourcing, production, sales, service and distribution.

  "PeopleSoft's and Agile's applications instantly connect our product designers to our manufacturing, bringing together our entire Design-to-Acceptance business process," said Thor Wallace, chief information officer of Analogic. "Previously, when we received customer feedback and our engineers wanted to alter a product's design or specification, there was no process to rapidly implement changes. By integrating PeopleSoft's and Agile's applications, we synchronize product design and manufacturing to implement change orders instantly. As a result, we've reduced our processing time from days to hours."

  Critical business processes like New Product Introduction, Product Change Management and Total Product Cost Management will be addressed by the combined solution. The integrated applications will enable suppliers, customers, employees and partners to share key information such as design adjustments, product changes and customer requirements for new products.

• Pfastship (SMS, TMS) and V3 Systems (WMS) Form Alliance to Integrate Shipping Data and WMS / SCE Enterprise Applications. Users of Pfastship Can View Disposition of Shipped Items Through Integration with V3 Systems' WMS, SCE and iSCM Technology.
  
  
• Provia Software (WMS, SCE, Workflow, 3PL) announced FourSite 4.1, Provia's leading 3PL solution is now available for the UNIX, Windows 2000 and SQL server platforms and with Oracle or Informix database support. The latest version of Provia's FourSite contains enhancements including:
  1. RF Receipts - Added warning message if received quantity exceeds expected quantity
  2. RF Trailer Loading - Users can now load material from pack locations
  3. RF Move Stock -Can now move stock into an assembly location
  4. Reports - Added index to improve speed of stock status by date report; added product department to the items under minimum report; added ability to show both net and gross weight on the list lot history report; added ability to run the transportation mode report for multiple customers; added transport information and more selection fields to the pre-route audit report
  5. Archiving - Users can choose to exclude carton data from the archive process; streamlined archiving process to speed archiving
  6. Location Setup - If a customer or product is changed on a forward pick location, FourSite automatically cancels outstanding replenishments
  7. Orders/Receipts - A quick trailer pop-up screen was added to allow for quick entry of trailer numbers
  8. EDI - Users can now send extract error report to a file, an email address or a fax number
     
  
  
• RT Systems (WMS, SMS, 1989) Announces New Shipping Module "RT SHIP" that Interfaces with it's WMS. RT Systems has recently announced a new shipping module interfaced with RT LOCATOR. It is called RT SHIP and handles the complexities of selecting a shipper, printing manifests and bills of lading, and providing the shipper manifest data and tracking numbers. RT SHIP can include a scale, scanning and verification at a pack station and is compliant with UPS, Fed Ex, Fed Ex Ground, USPS, DHL, BAX as well as LTL freight carriers. We plan on demonstrating RT SHIP at the up coming Distribution / Computer (D/C) Expo May 22 and 23 in Chicago.

  RT Systems has discussed an interface with a leader in the voice data entry field and now offers VoiceSelect, a voice directed picking system. With VoiceSelect, directed hands free picking can be accomplished while performing pick quality verification verbally. This system offers great improvements in pick efficiency while drastically reducing shipping errors. It has found great acceptance in food and retail distribution.

  Both of these new RT Systems products, RT SHIP and VoiceSelect, will integrate into the traditional RT LOCATOR database and expand the functionality to include distribution with more complex picking, packing and shipping requirements.
  

• Texas Instruments Radio Frequency Identification Systems (TI RFid) announced UK retailer Marks & Spencer is using Texas Instruments' low-cost RFID smart labels to track more than three million items throughout the supply chain. Systems integrator Intellident is replacing existing barcodes with TI's RFid technology. This change to the system will provide Marks & Spencer with a significant cost and speed advantage in tracking and managing its refrigerated food products.
  
  
• TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) and G-Log (TMS, ITL) announced that G-Log has selected TIBCO ActiveExchange™ to offer its customers an enhanced platform for seamless Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Business-to-Business (B2B) connectivity. The implementation of TIBCO ActiveExchange will enhance the connectivity of the G-Log's systems environment with a flexible and scalable infrastructure that supports real time data exchange between internal systems, partners, suppliers and customers, and facilitates supply chain efficiencies. By providing a single platform for EAI and B2B that accelerates integration with other organizations and automatic pre-built conversions from EDI to XML, TIBCO ActiveExchange handles the communication between systems and enables G-Log to focus its efforts on logistics and transportation.
  
  

• Vertex Interactive, Inc. (WMS, TMS, NASDAQ:VETX) announces the Plus++ I/O Engine enhancement to its SAP Practice offering. As part of its SAP R/3 Practice, Vertex offers a "single sourced" solution from SAPConsole implementation and ABAP coding for data collection to bar code & Radio Frequency (RF) network design, training and on-going support. The recent Plus++ I/O Engine enhancement will provide increased performance, added functionality, and simplify the implementation of mobile data collection for SAPConsole.
  

Quotes to Ponder - List of Quotes to Ponder from prior issues.

• "Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right."
  - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  

• "Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it"
  - Proverbs 8:33
  

• Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) web site located at http://www.agvsystems.com/.
  This site is intended to be a reference site for AGVS. It is full of unbiased information relating to the history of AGVS, types of systems, how to concept and prepare bid specs, how to evaluate AGV suppliers, etc. In addition, there are tools for estimating the AGV fleet size for a give application along with a significant library of pictures and video clips.
  

"ADVANCED WMS RFI Search Bundle" Available from IDII only
Obal, Philip	Advanced Version is available only from IDII

"Warehouse Management Handbook" See Reviews & Order From Amazon
"Warehouse & Distribution Automation Handbook" See Reviews & Order From Amazon
"Warehousing Tips" by Ken Ackerman See Reviews & Order From Amazon

Valuable Future Events - List Your Event or Convention

The 20th annual Distribution/Computer EXPO is the largest trade show featuring software and systems for Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Distribution, Transportation and Warehousing. Over 1,000 information management system for those applications will be exhibited. 61 Educational Seminars on using software and systems and the Internet for those applications will take place on May 21-22. The EXPO exhibit is on May 22-23. For complete EXPO and Seminar details go to http://www.logistar2.com/THESHOW.htm

ASRS/AGVS Users' Association 2002 Annual Conference - "Integrating ASRS/AGV's/Carousels Into Facility Operations" - June 9-12, 2002 - Hyatt Newporter, Newport Beach, CA

The ASRS/AGVS Users' Association will host its annual conference in Newport Beach, California in June. Twelve presentations, plant tours, numerous breakout sessions and special interest sessions will offer many opportunities to meet with fellow ASRS – AGVS – Carousel users and system suppliers to hear the latest information regarding technology advances and warehouse management systems, and to see solutions to operational and management problems for your organization. Special features of the 2002 conference are the keynote breakfast, plant tours and lunch that follows, and the annual conference vendors' night. Past attendees have said that the ASRS/AGVS Users' Conference is like no other in that it gives all attendees, both users and vendors, many opportunities to discuss common problems, company system needs, etc., and to hear what other users have done to implement their systems of ASRS – AGV's – Carousels into their operations. More information at www.ASRS.org
www.ASRS.org