IDII News - New Website Features

• Our website is becoming a "web portal" of supply chain software information.... Main page & home page are revised. Motivational Quotes added to home page! New books have been added. ERP, Supply Chain Management, Project Management sections have been expanded.
  
• Our Technical White Papers continue to grow & grow! New white papers are selected by the editors.
  
• IDII is currently assisting two clients in WMS software selection projects, plus helping many others through our WMS RFP & TMS RFP products. IDII is actively reviewing WMS Software Vendor Solutions and is currently in progress of building the 2003 LEADING WMS SOLUTIONS FOR 25 RF USERS & ABOVE research report.
  

• Valuable Educational & Technical White Papers
• New - Achieving Measurable Results in Logistics - Excellent
• New - Productivity Management in Retail Distribution - Excellent
• New - High Performance Logistics - Key Trends, Opportunities And Results - Excellent
• New - The New Era of Digital Logistics - Very Good
  
• New - RFID Tagging Technology - Excellent
• New - Voice Technology Primer - Very Good
  
• Announced in Last Newsletter
• New - Warehousing Web-Visibility Toolkit for Logistics Service Providers (3PL) - Excellent
• New - Exploring Mobile Applications Technology Landscape - Very Good

Technology & Software Product News

• Cadre Technologies (WMS, TMS, OMS, 3PL) announces Advanced Web Order Entry. The new web storefront connects users directly to the Cadence Warehouse Management and Order Management systems to build orders, check order status and acquire product information. Cadence Web Order organizes customer specific product catalogs for users to search for and select products, add them to shopping carts, build quotes and orders, and check inventory availability. All product information, customer records, and inventory status is contained in the centralized Cadence database.

  Cadence Web Order provides many features including catalog drill-downs, product images and style sheets, multiple shipping addresses/distribution lists, order templates for recurring orders, availability by either quantity or yes/no confirmation, electronic file items for distribution of documents, and complementary item/up-sale recommendation. It is highly configurable to allow variable themes and order rules for different clients and their customers.

   

• Catalyst International Inc. (WMS, NASDAQ: CLYS) announced that Kunzler & Co., Inc. has selected Catalyst to manage its distribution centers. Meat processor will implement CatalystCommand™ to manage three distribution centers in Pennsylvania.
  
• Drake Certivo Inc., a global provider of standards implementation acceleration products, announced the launch of its company's testing services designed to support the RosettaNet Ready(TM) Software Compliance Program, Drake Certivo has expanded its product line with the Jump-Start Solution Suite(TM), a comprehensive combination of tools, services and processes, to support implementation compliance for trading partners. Components include solution certification, trading partner certification, interoperability testing, Jump-Start testing and the Jump-Start Tool Kit.
  
  
• EXE Technologies (Nasdaq:EXEED, WMS, 3PL) announced that it has taken a number of additional cost reduction actions. These actions include headcount reductions of approximately 50 employees, discretionary spending cuts, and other cost reductions throughout the company's global operations. The cost reductions are expected to reduce quarterly costs by over $2 million.
  Editor's Note: EXE was #2 in the WMS community a few years back, but financial management has been lacking severely. Financial management is just as critical as having technically superior products. BOTH are required, but so many software companies only focus on the "product" and technical functionality.
  
  
• GEOCOMtms (TMS) announced a breakthrough in Fleet routing & Scheduling with the addition of the “fuzzy zones” optimization to its flagship A.MAZE Route application. This allows customers to flex their zones in response to dynamic demand, thus maintaining the concept of territories while targeting highest asset utilization.

  Traditional routing systems have forced users to define fixed zones with rigid boundaries. However, in real life, these boundaries may not be completely rigid. Most of the time, there exist overlaps between territories that can be beneficial. There is always a requirement to assign vehicles or drivers to specific territories, but depending on the volume of orders, the boundaries will move or flex. Defining this flexibility is a very efficient way to optimize assets’ allocation.”

  
  
• Pitney Bowes to offer Integrated HazMat Solutions. Pitney Bowes announced a reseller agreement with Hazmat Software LLC of Longwood, Fla. The agreement brings together PB TMS Enterprise web-based transportation management system with Hazmat Software's best-in-class hazardous materials documentation software, EasyShip Platinum Web. Reseller agreement with Hazmat Software LLC will enable commercial shippers to meet stringent DOT, IATA and carrier requirements for hazardous material documentation.
  
  
• Pitney Bowes Distribution Solutions (TMS, PBDS) a division of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), today announced an alliance with Supplier Systems Corporation. This alliance will connect users of Pitney Bowes' PB TMS Enterprise web-based transportation management system with Supplier Systems' best-in-class family of retail compliance and pack verification solutions, known as 856Express.
  
  
• RedPrairie Corporation (WMS, TMS, LMS) announced release 2.0 of DLx® Integrator, its enterprise applications integration framework for logistics, with a graphical network monitor and embedded event management. New capabilities are:
  
  * Real-time, graphical network monitor - this unique capability allows users to see any transactional problems that exist across the network, with the ability to drill down to detect and repair the underlying problem. It provides a single console to enable IT staff to manage these transactional flows across the network.
  
  * Embedded event management - this function proactively notifies appropriate personnel if a transactional problem occurs (e.g. an interface to a material handling system is down or an order download with a data quality problem was detected) so that corrective action can be taken promptly. This will save operating costs by minimizing system down time and lost productivity due to bad data or disruption of information flow. These alerts can be communicated via multiple media, such email, pager, and cell phone, with easily configurable subscription, scheduling and escalation features.
  
  
• SAMSys Technologies (RFID) has signed a VAR agreement with European-based Scanology, an Auto ID solutions provider for coding, printing, reading and verification. Scanology will fully implement SAMSys' technology at its facility in Boxmeer, Netherlands. The technology will be a core component of Scanology's portfolio of Auto ID solutions, complementing existing techniques and delivering new functionality to its customers.
  
  

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

• "Never promise more than you can perform."
  - Publilius Syrus
  

• "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor."
  - Ecclesiastes 4:9
  

• Forklifts, Material Handling Equipment & Warehouse Management Systems - http://www.usaforklift.com/Directory.html - Extremely Useful set of links!
• SAP-WM Discussion Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sap-wm
• WMS-Software Discussion Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wms_software
• List of Educational & Technical Newsletters - http://www.idii.com/resource/publications.htm
• RFID Information - Newsletter - Research - http://www.idtechex.com
• RFP Consulting (with Educational Info!) - http://www.rfphandbook.com
  

Online Book Catalog - Intuitive Categories

Books on Shipping, Warehousing, Distribution, Operations, WMS, ERP, MRP, CRM, Supply Chain, Customer Service, Logistics, Facility Layout & Design, Metrics & Measurements. Software Providers SAP, Peoplesoft.

IT & Project Management Books: Software Project Management - IT Management - Software Testing - RFP Development - Proposal Writing.

ERP Optimization: Using Your Existing System to Support Profitable E-Business Initiatives Order From Amazon

"Warehouse & Logistics Software Directory" Order From Amazon or IDII

IT Project Management: On Track from Start to Finish Order From Amazon

"Supply Chain Management Based on SAP Systems" Order From Amazon

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

Valuable Future Events - List Your Event or Convention

IWLA Annual Conference - March 23 - 26, 2003. Miami Beach, FL at the Eden Roc, a Renaissance Resort and Spa. For more information see http://www.iwla.com

ProMat 2003 - February 10 - 13, 2003. ProMat 2003 will provide business, IT and operations professionals with a comprehensive solutions showcase of 700 exhibitors and nearly 80 educational sessions. Focus is Material Handling and Software. See http://www.promat2003.com

RedShift, RedPrairie's User Conference - April 2-4, 2003 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. Learn how you can achieve improved logistics results within your company and your extended supply chain at this event. RedShift will be packed with useful industry information, RedPrairie solution updates and plenty of time for networking and fun. For more information or to register, visit www.redprairie.com

National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment (NCOF) - April 13 - 16, 2003 - Orlando, FL. The Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Exhibits: April 14 and 15 The Conference Exclusively for Direct-to-Customer Operations and Fulfillment Management.

Distribution/Computer EXPO 2003 - May 20 - 22, 2003 - Navy Pier - Chicago, IL. The largest Exposition for logistics and supply chain technology including; distribution, transportation, and warehousing. Held in conjunction is the D/C EXPO seminars focusing on the latest trends and advances in logistics and supply chain technologies. Visit our website at www.logistar.com or call our toll free number - 800-338-4112.