Visible Supply Chain Management Acquires Fellow Logistics Provider

Visible Supply Chain Management | January 14, 2020

Salt Lake City-based Visible Supply Chain Management, a provider of shipping and fulfillment services for small- to mid-sized businesses, announced December 19 that it acquired Kansas Continental Express (KCX). Based in Emporia, Kansas, KCX is a provider of shipping logistics and freight transportation throughout North America. It will join Visible’s family of companies and will be known by the parent company name. “Most important to Visible is our customers’ continued success, and the purchase of KCX will expand our offering to new regions and extend new opportunities to both KCX and Visible clients,” said Casey Adams, president of Visible. “The relationship is mutually advantageous — it made sense for us to join forces.” Visible said KCX’s Midwest location provides synergies across numerous lines and opens new markets. KCX has been providing services and detailed tracking of companies’ freight from Canada to Mexico for nearly 30 years.

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The last stage of warehouse development project was completed last year by adding a new 7800 m2 building to the rest of Hegelmann Logistics facilities in Kaunas, Lithuania.


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Supply Chain

Logility Announces Garvis’ Acquisition to Enhance AI Forecasting

Logility | September 25, 2023

Logility, Inc., a leader in prescriptive supply chain planning solutions, has recently made a significant move by entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Garvis, an innovative SaaS startup. This strategic agreement, finalized earlier this month, combines the strengths of both companies to introduce a groundbreaking supply chain planning concept, DemandAI+. The industry is set to shift from traditional demand and inventory planning methods towards a faster, more responsive approach with DemandAI+. Piet Buyck, CEO, Garvis, mentioned, Our clients have realized epic results by using AI-driven algorithms and natural language interfaces to gain insights into the peaks and troughs of demand and quickly communicate that knowledge to the rest of the organization. [Source – Business Wire] The results had included a 70% reduction in weekly planning time, a 15-30% decrease in forecast error, and enhanced inventory management, all achieved with remarkably swift implementation times, added Piet. The forward-looking solution seamlessly merges Generative AI with machine learning algorithms, revolutionizing the planning landscape. Planners, executives, and non-planners can now obtain real-time answers to unanticipated questions, facilitating transparency and enabling more informed decision-making while drastically reducing planning time. This strategic alignment positions Logility and Garvis as pioneers in the evolution of supply chain planning, with DemandAI+ as a powerful tool for businesses seeking to stay agile and competitive in today's dynamic market. Integrating DemandAI+ into the Logility Digital Supply Chain Platform is pivotal in planning supply. The acquisition is anticipated to yield substantial benefits, with accretive results expected within 12 months. It solidifies Logility's position as a trailblazer in supply chain planning by harnessing the power of Generative AI, advanced AI-driven algorithms, and machine learning. This comprehensive approach encompasses everything from base demand to promotional lift, causal forecasts, external data, and user insights within a single solution, elevating forecast accuracy and ensuring organizations are well-aligned in today's ever-changing market landscape. With a track record of success in over 70 implementations, clients have experienced the transformative power of DemandAI+ in translating buying behavior, market dynamics, and various events into precise forecasts across products, locations, and customer segments. DemandAI+ empowers companies to respond swiftly to changing conditions, ultimately enhancing forecast accuracy and service levels, even for products with high promotion, strong seasonality, or intermittent demand patterns. About Logility Logility, Inc., a digital sustainable supply chain company, empowers businesses to capitalize on emerging opportunities, swiftly adapt to shifting market dynamics, and enhance the profitability of their intricate global operations. The Logility Digital Supply Chain Platform represents a fusion of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, facilitating the automation of planning processes, expediting cycle times, heightening precision, optimizing operational efficiency, dissolving organizational silos, and delivering unparalleled transparency. In addition, this SaaS-based platform revolutionizes an array of critical functions, including S&OP, integrated business planning (IBP), demand, inventory, and replenishment planning, global sourcing, quality and compliance management, product life cycle management, supply and inventory optimization, manufacturing planning and scheduling, and retail merchandise planning, assortment, and allocation.

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Supply Chain

New Coupa Solution Modernizes Supply Chain Collaboration

prnewswire | September 29, 2023

As companies continue to wrestle with supply chain risks jeopardizing their business-critical revenue streams, Coupa Software, a leader in Business Spend Management (BSM), today announced a new solution to improve supply assurance and business continuity. Coupa's Supply Chain Collaboration empowers companies to avoid risk while driving profitability, increasing agility, and improving communication between buyers and suppliers. Coupa's unified platform drives agility, transparency, and resiliency across supply chains, so products and materials are where and when they're needed. This new solution creates better collaboration between teams and suppliers and provides the ability to quickly assess sourcing alternatives and balance trade-offs ranging from changes to delivery dates to item quantity. "Ensuring supply chain continuity is a top priority for businesses everywhere. We heard from companies around the globe that existing market solutions for supply chain collaboration were falling down. Forcing companies to resort to spreadsheets and emails to track critical supply that would keep factories running and retail stores operating," said Raja Hammoud, executive vice president of products at Coupa. "Those days are over. Coupa Supply Chain Collaboration was co-innovated with the world's leading supply chain companies to deliver modern, consumerized experiences and effortless collaboration between businesses and all their trading partners." Coupa's new Supply Chain Collaboration Suite will help businesses with purchasing, forecasting, inventory, and quality control as the suite expands. Key benefits available today include: Streamlined Communication: Through real-time communication supply chain planners and suppliers can easily share instant updates to quality, price, delivery dates, and more to avoid unwanted surprises or delays. Intuitive, Unified Approach: Integrates with ERP, MRP, and Supply Chain Planning solutions to provide a connected, unified view to all suppliers/trading partners and buyers. Improved Working Capital: With more predictable operations, businesses can reduce inventory carrying costs and minimize carrying excess capacity due to unplanned downtime to better optimize working capital through a single platform for direct and indirect spend. Increased Agility: With real-time notifications and alerts, businesses can act smarter and faster to resolve issues for direct materials without time-consuming, error-prone manual reviews. "Supply chains are highly complex and current collaboration technologies aren't always easy to use, leaving many businesses no choice but to rely on manual approaches and phone calls," said Simon Ellis, Group VP at IDC. "Seamless collaboration is critical to effective supply chain management and resiliency. Organizations need full visibility into both their suppliers' operations and their own, as well as a simple method for working together. Coupa has a history of prioritizing user adoption with easy-to-use tools to drive efficiencies and savings and this suite is no different." Purchase Order (PO) Collaboration, the first component of the solution that is now generally available, ensures supply assurance by providing bidirectional visibility into POs for planners and suppliers. Suppliers can confirm quantities, prices, and promise dates at a line-item level. This ensures buyers and suppliers have accurate, real-time information while automatically communicating any necessary actions. The entire purchase order lifecycle from PO generation to advanced shipping notice to receipt of goods is managed through Coupa's platform. About Coupa Software Coupa is the cloud-based Business Spend Management (BSM) platform that unifies processes across supply chain, procurement, and finance functions. Coupa empowers organizations around the world to maximize value and operationalize purpose through their business spend.

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Supply Chain

Everstream and Slave-Free Alliance Partner for Ethical Supply Chains

Everstream Analytics | September 15, 2023

Everstream Analytics and Slave-Free Alliance (SFA) have partnered to protect global supply chains against modern slavery. Everstream brings multi-tier supplier discovery and AI-powered risk monitoring, while SFA provides forced labor intelligence. Together, they aim to expose and eliminate these risks and enhance supply chain capabilities. Modern slavery affects 50 million people worldwide, and its complexity makes supply chains vulnerable. Over forty percent of these victims are imprisoned in upper-middle-income to high-income nations, highlighting the universality of this issue. Everstream is committed to eradicating this issue as SFA's global strategic and exclusive technology partner. According to Slave-Free Alliance, 77% of companies expect to find modern slavery in their supply chains. The intricate and opaque nature of contemporary global supply networks exposes companies to substantial risks of forced labor. Within the United States, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, and the imminent EU Supply Chain Law establish a framework in which manufacturers bear responsibility for any instances of exploitation within their supply chains, irrespective of their prior awareness of such occurrences. Noncompliance may lead to hefty fines and reputational harm. This strategic partnership empowers enterprises with deeper visibility into potential risks and facilitates swift issue resolution, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations. Tim Nelson, CEO of Hope for Justice and Slave-Free Alliance, commented, This partnership will advance our ultimate goal of bringing an end to modern slavery in supply chains. With the help of Everstream's technology and our team of forced labor experts, we will create global strategies and provide thoughtful solutions to protect people and supply chains from the threat of modern slavery. [Source – Business Wire] Everstream and Slave-Free Alliance's collaborative efforts extend beyond their partnership. They are committed to sharing their insights and expertise on modern slavery risks and mitigation strategies at prominent events like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). With this partnership, the two companies will empower organizations globally to construct ethical and compliant supply chains while contributing to the fight against modern slavery. By combining their resources and knowledge, Everstream and SFA are dedicated to significantly impacting this critical issue and helping companies uphold the highest ethical standards in their operations. About Everstream Analytics Everstream Analytics, a leading force in the global supply chain, is committed to redefining industry standards. By harnessing artificial intelligence and predictive analytics capabilities, Everstream Analytics empowers businesses with insights and risk analytics, glorifying an era of innovative and environmentally conscious supply chain practices. Its renowned solution seamlessly integrates with procurement, logistics, and business continuity platforms, providing a comprehensive information ecosystem and astute analysis. Leveraging a vast proprietary dataset, Everstream Analytics ensures precise predictions, enabling businesses to optimize their supply chains and transform them into invaluable business assets.

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Supply Chain

Cleo Enhances Ecosystem Integration Platform to Optimize Supply Chain Execution

Cleo | September 27, 2023

Cleo, the pioneer and global leader of the Ecosystem Integration software category and provider of the Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) platform, today announced availability of multiple new platform innovations designed to help organizations optimize supply chain execution through improved control, automation, and visibility of integrations between their ecosystem and their back-office systems. Cleo President and CEO Mahesh Rajasekharan said, “We’re charting a clear path to frictionless, intelligence-driven ecosystem integration, which will be a cornerstone of our customers’ ability to optimize supply chain execution. CIC 2023 will empower organizations with the insights they need to make better decisions and improve their ecosystem relationships. Our promise to our customers and the market is simple and straightforward: We will continue to push the innovation envelope, with the goal of providing more control to supply chain executives through real-time visibility, automation, AI, and orchestration solutions.” Cleo’s CIC 2023 platform is the company’s most powerful platform release to date and includes multiple enhancements and new functionality to support the design, operation, and management of these ecosystem integrations, including: Improved integration design and deployment capabilities for increased velocity in time to value Enhancements to all Accelerators, which are pre-built, out-of-the-box Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, Grocery, and Warehousing integrations for automating X12 EDI transactions between a company’s trading partner ecosystem straight into core business applications like Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM and BC, Oracle NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Shopify, and Amazon Seller Central among others. Ease-of-use updates to several connectors including eBay, Shopify, and Amazon to rapidly build ecosystem integrations. Portfolio expansion for infrastructure and business connectivity with new and enhanced connectors including Amazon, Shopify, Microsoft SharePoint, Google Cloud Storage, and RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF). Increased visibility and control to improve supply chain operations Launched a workload prioritization solution that allows organizations to put business priority first through granular control over business-critical and time-sensitive transactions (by document type or trading partner) that ensure key customer commitments are never missed. Enabled stronger, more informed, and more confident decision-making through flexibly customizable reporting timeframes which promote tighter alignment between reporting needs and business operations Released advanced message search capability to discover messages faster. Enables operations to improve customer experience during troubleshooting and monitoring of ecosystem transactions. Enhanced exception management for faster issue handling and prevention More robust certificate management that translates to proactive measures to ensure seamless business continuity with key generation, certificate generation, and rollover Advanced troubleshooting and granular drill-down capabilities enabling operations teams to reduce error resolution time by up to 20% -- resulting in improved ecosystem relationships. Deeper automation and improved configurability allow integration operations personas to ensure timely delivery of transactions through automatic retries & concurrent sends of errored processes Reimaged integration development experience and usability provides a fresh approach for developers Refreshed user interface of the platform integration development environment, allowing a streamlined experience for self-service API and EDI integration. Redesigned business process development experience streamlines updating and orchestrating of integrations, allowing organizations to quickly implement new integrations and make changes as their business evolves. Extensible integration logic with a full range of custom actions that empowers users to drive efficiency through comprehensive local commands executed at the orchestration level Optimizing supply chain execution requires breaking down functional silos, automating critical, time-sensitive business processes, increasing visibility and insights to make better decisions, and providing every organizational persona with control they need to complete day-to-day operations. The key lies in deploying end-to-end ecosystem integrations that bring together different components of a supply chain into a cohesive and seamless digital backbone. CIC, long recognized as one of the industry’s most powerful cloud integration solutions, is currently used by more than 4,200 logistics, manufacturing, distribution and retail companies throughout the world. About Cleo Integration Cloud Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) is a cloud-based integration platform, purpose-built to design, build, operate, and optimize critical ecosystem integration processes. The CIC platform brings end-to-end integration visibility across API, MFT, EDI, and non-EDI integrations, giving technical and business users the confidence to rapidly onboard trading partners, enable integration between applications, and accelerate revenue-generating business processes. On the platform, businesses have the choice of self-service, managed services, or a blended approach – ensuring complete flexibility and control over their B2B integration strategy. About Cleo Cleo is an ecosystem integration software company focused on business outcomes, ensuring each customer’s potential is realized by delivering solutions that make it easy to discover and create value through the movement and integration of B2B enterprise data. Cleo gives customers strategic, “outside-in” visibility into the critical end-to-end business flows happening across their ecosystems of partners and customers, marketplaces, and internal cloud and on-premise applications. Our solutions empower teams to drive business agility, accelerate onboarding, facilitate the modernization of key business processes, and capture new revenue streams by reimagining and remastering their digital ecosystem through robust application, B2B, and data integration technologies.

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