Trade portals better integrate suppliers, logistics providers in global trade management

To help companies control procurement, Management Dynamics released Trade Portals, a product line to help companies extend purchasing, origin logistics, and compliance processes to trading partners.

December 9, 2009

Management Dynamics’ Trade Portals configure these points of collaboration with trading partners: suppliers, forwarders and customs brokers.

Management Dynamics Inc., provider of global trade management (GTM) solutions, announced the release of Trade Portals, a new product line to help companies extend purchasing, origin logistics, and compliance processes to their trading partners, the company said in a Dec. 8 announcement. By collaborating across a shared process with suppliers, forwarders, logistics providers and brokers, companies can reduce cycle time, lower supply chain execution costs, and better support compliance initiatives, such as Customs 10+2.

As companies re-engineer supply chains and shift production overseas, they often lose control over the procurement process, especially with regards to how it should integrate with their import compliance programs. Many importers face challenges when trying to manage a remote supply base. Examples include: coordination and management of confirmed orders, the monitoring of ship windows, coordination with origin logistics providers, and integration of the export transaction details with import entries.

Management Dynamics’ Trade Portals software is comprised of three, on-demand, enterprise-class modules including Supplier PO Management, Supplier Solicitation Management, and Origin Management. It is designed to allow importers to configure these points of collaboration with key trading partners including suppliers, forwarders and customs brokers, the company said.

"With hundreds of suppliers and over 7,500 shipments to manage annually, we needed to empower our suppliers to review purchase orders and create shipments for approval," John Wainwright, Vice President Customs Compliance, Leggett & Platt. "Management Dynamics’ Trade Portal solution helps us automate the workflow between suppliers and the shipment creation process – from point of purchase order, all the way through pre-customs entry – enabling us to centralize and streamline our global procurement process."

Management Dynamics’ Trade Portal modules are highly configurable, on-demand solutions that can support multiple process variations, the company said, with the following key capabilities:

– Purchase Order life cycle management through shipment to invoice;

– State-of-the-art dashboard views and workflow tool;

– A multi-organization and role-based security model to organize suppliers and logistics providers by country or region and to establish standard operating procedures for each group;

– Multi-lingual support with language preference that can be assigned by user to improve supplier adoption;

– Flexible integration options including direct XML or EDI connectivity, spreadsheet uploads and web forms for manual data entry;

– Document generation engine creates all necessary supporting documentation prior to shipment that can be distributed via email with pre-defined rules; and

– Integration with Management Dynamics’ Supply Chain Visibility, Trade Import and Trade Agreements solutions.

"Top global supply chain operational initiatives today are focused on extending and synchronizing key execution processes with all trading parties," said Nathan Pieri, SVP Marketing and Product Management for Management Dynamics. "Our new Trade Portals product line targets process gains in supplier collaboration and origin management to deliver key benefits of reducing supply chain execution costs and better supporting new security requirements like Customs 10+2."

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– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, online products editor, Manufacturing Business Technology , MBT www.mbtmag.com