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Transportation team races to record savings

Kimberly Clark

eChain is integral to Kimberly Clark i2 Transportation and SAP Order-to-Cash roll-out success.  eChain Technology joins Kimberly-Clark i2 TM and SAP R/3 Transportation Management Project lending business and solution leadership that helps drive significant transportation savings.  eChain supported design and development of required functionality and customized touchpoint integrations to SAP R/3, legacy systems, and external EDI clients and carriers. eChain owns the Track and Trace, EDI, and Performance Metrics solution development for KCC Transportation with successful completion at global rollout in August 2009.

Article By Barbara Kieker, Kimberly-Clark Contributing Writer

By the end of March, the rollout of the new Transportation Management System (TMS) in North America was complete. Two months later, at the end of May, savings on freight costs to get K-C finished products out the door had reached US$6.3 million, more than the $6 million in full-year savings forecasted for North America in 2008.

“Thanks to lots of hard work by the Transportation team, we’ve been able to deliver terrific savings with the new system,” says Amy Bare, TMS project manager. “Thanks to the commitment of the user community to the new Transportation Management System, we are on track to deliver twice the expected 2008 savings for North America,” says Amy Bare.

People make it work

The new Web-based TMS enables better optimization of carrier selection and load configurations for outbound freight. While the system provides the functionality, it’s the people on the Transportation teams that make it work. *The TMS project team – which included members from the K-C Transportation business team, K-C IT Services business partner team and Cognizant – worked to constantly improve supporting processes as the system was being implemented at different sites. This upfront work enabled the team to realize savings from improved performance more quickly once the rollout was complete.

Mary Robinson, director of Transportation Rates and Analysis, has been a part of new transportation system implementations in several other companies including Nestle USA and Clorox. She believes the upfront investment made before the system went live resulted in the successful implementation. “The TMS project team made the effort to understand how the system worked and what that would mean for the businesses,” she says. “They put metrics in place to ensure we followed the optimizations. As a result, there have been fewer surprises and less pain than I’ve experienced in other implementations.”

In addition, the system’s users within Transportation committed to learning the new system and creating processes as needed to resolve issues. After the rollout was complete, users were forced to solve many issues on their own as the TMS project team was reassigned to support work on the Order to Cash and inbound freight project. “It’s really the user community that has made the system successful,” Bare says. “They have done an outstanding job in a far from ideal situation.” “The TMS project team invested the time upfront to understand how the system would impact the businesses,” says Mary Robinson, director of Transportation Rates and Analysis.

Cognizant: A partnership that works

As K-C’s external partner for IT Applications Development, Cognizant did the development work on the new TMS. K-C IT business partners worked closely with Cognizant resources to communicate and manage business requirements. They used an onshore/offshore model, with resources located in Knoxville, Tennessee, and India.

“We have a fantastic relationship with the Cognizant team,” Bare says. “They took great ownership in delivering the project and it shows in the results.” Cognizant will continue to be involved with TMS going forward. They are responsible for ongoing system support. “Originally we were not overly excited at the prospect of working with an outsourcing partner as part of the BSD effort,” Bare says. “Now I have to say I can’t imagine doing the project without Cognizant.”

Inbound is next

Thanks to the effort of everyone involved, Transportation is on pace to deliver $15 million in 2008 savings in North America, which is more than double the original expectation. In Europe where the system was launched last year, savings for 2008 are on target. The next priority in the area of transportation savings is inbound freight – the expense associated with shipping to our plants the materials that go into K-C products. Inbound freight will be addressed as part of the larger IT project focused on K-C’s Order to Cash process.

Implementation of the new Order to Cash and inbound freight systems is currently scheduled for May 2009. “We expect our learnings from the implementation of the outbound freight system and processes will be a tremendous help with the inbound freight work next year,” Bare says.

About eChain Technology

eChain Technology (http://www.echaintechnology.com) enables companies to achieve world class performance through best practice business strategy hands-on expertise and technology solutions. We provide leadership and execution in many areas of the corporate enterprise that remove all excess waste and cost from your operations leaving businesses with seamless solutions providing flawless execution that provide a significant cost savings.  Contact Lewis Kilby:lkilby@echaintechnology.com.  Mr. Lewis Kilby is a 20+ year business and solutions consultant and Managing Partner of eChain Technology.

eChain Supports ChemFree Dynamics AX ERP Install

eChain was selected to review and document ChemFree business needs and requirements for a replacement ERP solution. echain performed a gap fit analysis to several ERP alternatives with final presentation for a recommendation for Microsoft Dynamics AX (Axapta) based on several key factors. Following the selection, echain Technology supported the implementation providing project leadership and task and resource alignment for an accelerated project lifecycle. echain also led legacy master data analysis, transformation and migration, customer and item master cleansing and loading.

eChain provides ongoing AX consulting and AX customization and development for pre-go live, and post-go live needs.

Parts Washer provides environmentally safe cleaning system.

Able to hold 550 lb load, SmartWasher model SW-28XE features 2 brush stations with flexible nozzles, adjustable timer with 10 or 30 min continuous flow, adjustable thermostat, 300 gph pump, light kit, and parts basket. System utilizes bioremediation process which combines OzzyJuice® aqueous-based degreasing solution with OzzyMat(TM) specialized particulate trap impregnated with naturally occurring microbes to dissolve contaminants while purifying cleaning solution.

Introducing SW-28XE – Supersink Bioremediating Parts Washer

NORCROSS, GA – ChemFree Corp’s. SmartWasher line of cost-effective, sustainable, environmentally safe parts washing systems is getting bigger – and better.

The newest SmartWasher model, the SW-28XE, is a step above the rest. This new parts washer incorporates all the winning characteristics of our best selling SmartWasher product line: sustainability, bioremediation, OzzyJuice® degreasing solution and microbes impregnated in our OzzyMat(TM), with many more unique features. We have added a Super Sized sink to double your work surface, two brush stations with flexible nozzles, an adjustable timer with your choice of 10 or 30 minutes of continuous flow, an adjustable thermostat, a powerful 300 gph pump, a strong and durable, blow molded construction that can hold a whopping 550 lbs. of load, a light kit and a parts basket.

Most important, the SW-28XE employs ChemFree’s patented bioremediation process, which combines a powerful, aqueous-based degreasing solution called OzzyJuice® with a specialized particulate trap impregnated with safe, naturally occurring microbes called an OzzyMat(TM). OZZYJUICE AND OZZYMATS, WORK IN CONCERT DISSOLVING EVEN THE TOUGHEST CONTAMINANTS WHILE AT THE SAME TIME PURIFYING THE CLEANING SOLUTION, LEAVING NO HAZARDOUS BY-PRODUCTS AND ELIMINATING A HARMFUL WASTE STREAM.

ChemFree manufactures a wide range of SmartWasher units, all bioremediating, which allow the user to eliminate or dramatically reduce waste streams, eliminating the expense of hazardous waste removal contracts and associated liabilities.

“More than ever, organizations are looking for innovations that allow them to operate more responsibly. But innovations are not practical if they are expensive or hard to use. The products that we develop merge environmental responsibility with the things that businesses have always sought like cost effectiveness, safety, durability and most importantly, a product that works,” said Tom McNally, ChemFree’s Vice President.

ChemFree Corporation is committed to developing and marketing safe, effective parts cleaning systems that reduce the release of VOCs and eliminate the generation of liquid hazardous wastes for automotive, industrial, government and commercial users. ChemFree Corporation was founded in 1993, and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Intelligent Systems Corporation, a publicly traded corporation (AMEX symbol: INS).

Healthcare Asset Tracking and Alerts with RFID

eChain Technology was selected to design and build a custom RFID Real-Time Locating Solution (RTLS) by a Private Healthcare Asset Manufacturer based in Miami Florida. This client was interested in quickly developing an Active RFID solution to track medical assets throughout a hospital or healthcare facility, provide real-time inventory and movement visibility, and alerts. echain designed a solution that used emerging technologies provided by Microsoft to meet the customer’s rapid time to market requirement.

eChain worked on behalf of customer with Microsoft as the sole Active RFID Technology Adoption Partner (TAP) for BizTalk RFID R2 to lead the needs assessment (BNA) and solution design for an Active RFID asset-management and tracking solution for medical asset tracking and alerts. We selected a key implementation partner and drove development of SharePoint-based Healthcare Asset Management solution using revolutionary active RFID/IR and BizTalk RFID. We developed and demonstrated the prototype solution to Microsoft Executives and key decision makers 5 months after the beginning of the project.

Related Article Microsoft BizTalk RFID Presentation
Microsoft White Paper about this solution:  Case Study_SYMX_RFID_Healthcare

TYPICAL BENEFITS

Typical Benefits from Innovative Supply-Chain Execution Efforts

Demand Planning Solution Consulting

The largest contributor to working capital and improved net income is operations/supply-chain cost reduction, and the foundation of the supply chain is the demand forecast.  Improving a company forecast has immediate and dramatic impact on reduced operations cost.

Forecast Management done right leads to Supply Chain Success. Improving company forecast accuracy by 10 to 20% can save millions of dollars in the first year.  echain can show you where and how much your forecast can reasonably be improved, and can implement forecast improvement measure that can provide you immediate value.  If you need a best-in-class forecasting application to accomplish improved demand forecast, we recommend and support i2 Demand Management.

We can help you with improved forecasting models and model selection, collaborative planning, sales and operations planning (S&OP), and alternative forecasting approaches (regression, delphi, aggregation and top-down/bottom-up forecasting)

Spreadsheet programs are well equipped to handle simple tasks, the user interface is easy and they meet most basic needs. However, most companies that rely on spreadsheet programs for their supply chain management needs are unaware that there are better alternatives- affordable inventory planning solutions that provide strategic value, improve visibility to the supply chain management process and propel company growth. echain Technology demand planning Services and i2 Technology opens up a whole new world for supply chain management – better demand planning, improved inventory planning and, ultimately, increased efficiency and profits.

The importance of effective demand management is best reflected by the value it delivers. Companies that have focused their efforts on understanding and managing demand are proven to have significantly reduced supply chain costs, better supply chain responsiveness, and higher revenue and profit than their competitors. With improved inventory planning, you achieve that balance between inventory investment and optimal customer service levels- leading to efficient supply chain management and enhanced profitability.

i2 Demand Management consists of i2 Demand Planner (DP), Demand Manager (DM). i2 Demand Planner, part of the i2 Supply Chain Management solution, delivers a powerful planning and forecasting tool-enabling enterprises to understand, anticipate and manage customer demand across their value chain. It optimizes collaboration, collection and rationalization of multiple forecasting inputs through a web-based userfriendly interface combined with industry-leading statistical techniques and unlimited causal factors. Multidimensional data representation supports demand-planning analysis. With i2 Demand Planner, companies can accurately model their business and increase timely internal and external communication with value chain partners – speeding time-to-market and increasing customer satisfaction.

The i2 solution: i2 Demand Manager

With this new focus on demand, the process of demand management has evolved beyond just the periodic generation of a—frequently inaccurate—demand forecast. i2 Demand Manager provides a continuous and tightly integrated process that not only gives organizations the ability to better predict demand but to also understand, communicate, shape, sense, and quickly respond to consumer demand. Some examples of this solution in action include providing visibility into consumer demand to the supplier level, understanding demand predictability to drive optimal inventory levels, or monitoring a new product’s consumer sales in real time so that product can be quickly repositioned to where it is selling the most or plans can be readjusted to meet unexpectedly high demand.

i2 Demand Manager has been created using i2’s experience from helping hundreds of market-leading companies build a best-practice process and software solution for managing consumer demand.

Key capabilities of i2 Demand Manager can include:

• Graphically-designed customized workflows that enable vendor-managed inventory, new product planning, and demand behavior segments that can then be easily integrated in a single, cohesive process
• Promotions management including “what-if” scenarios, automatic determination of optimal promotion scenario, and a patent-pending demand decomposition approach to determine true promotional lift
• Continuous monitoring of leading indicators, competitive activity, consumer sales, supply availability, and plan performance to trigger plan revisions, revise fulfillment strategies, and launch tactical demand-shaping

Benefits of i2 Demand Manager can include:

• Higher revenue and profit margins
• Reduced inventory levels
• Increased service-level performance and customer satisfaction
• Improved product availability while reducing carrying costs, risks, and cash-to-cash cycles
• Improved ability to understand demand behavior and predictability to develop lean manufacturing and proactive risk management strategies
• Improved forecast accuracy
• More effective promotions and new product launches
• Faster response to changes in the demand signal

SCM Solution Consulting

Supply Chain innovations in software and business processes can have a huge payoff in the connected Enterprise. Existing investments in Supply Chain solutions, such as demand management, inventory management, supply-chain planning and logistics realize noticeably positive return on investment once these systems are interconnected and persisted throughout the enterprise.

Supply-Chain Execution (SCEx) Services and i2 SCM solutions return millions of dollars to your company’s bottom line through innovative supply chain improvements: best in class solution selection, implementation, and business process improvement. We specialize in i2 Technology SCM solutions and can help you realize these kinds of returns from your i2 SCM Solutions investment.

eChain Technology provides comprehensive supply chain experience and leadership in global enterprise supply chain engagements. Our services include review, selection, design, implementation, integration, customization and training. We have particular Core Solutions with i2 Technology applications including multiple implementations and qualifications with Demand Planning/Demand Management, Transportation Manager/Transportation Planner, and Supply-Chain Planning.
i2 Supply-Chain Management (SCM) includes i2 Supply Chain Planner (SCP), Factory Planner (FP), Demand Fulfillment (DF), Demand Planner (DP). i2 Total Supply Management’s comprehensive set of industry-leading software and services delivers a closed-loop process designed for excellence in four key areas of supply management. To address global sourcing and distributed enterprise operation, capabilities are provided for total, repeatable visibility across sites. Companies achieve insight into category-to-part number, time, material, and direct and outsourced vendor spend, as well as related supply key performance indicators, such as delivery/quality. This visibility enables the evaluation of critical breakdown and landed-cost elements, as well as non-cost factors, including readiness for vendor-managed inventory and the qualitative value-added contributions of suppliers.

Transportation Solution Consulting

eChain has participated in many i2 TM implementations and projects including proof of concept, upgrades, implementations, configuration, EDI integration, Track and Trace, Event notification, customized interfaces using ABPP, transportation and carrier metrics reporting and financial integration. We have been part of the i2 Users Group, and been an i2 product expert and champion for many i2 customers.

i2 Transportation Management includes i2 Transportation Manager (TM), Transportation Optimizer, (TO), Supply-Chain Strategist (SCS), Transportation Modeler (TMod), Load Configurator. i2 creates value by synchronizing critical transportation and distribution business processes, resulting in optimal cost and service performance. Companies can minimize IT complexity and, through more accurate data, enhance collaboration with supply chain partners.

Transportation & Logistics Management

Given the extended supply chains within the global marketplace, companies need transportation strategies designed to achieve the service levels that customers demand while reducing costs. Companies today face numerous transportation challenges, including rising fuel costs, new regulatory mandates, and global operations with higher levels of lead time variability. All of these factors make transportation costs a larger percentage of the cost of goods sold.

Customers have increasing demands for transportation performance, higher on-time delivery performance, and reduced damage-in-transit. They expect transportation providers to be flexible and quickly adapt to order changes. Add to all of this an increased need for global freight visibility and control, and companies are scrambling to find the right solution to quickly address these challenges.
Transportation and Logistics Management accomplishes this by supporting processes including carrier contract negotiations, transportation network modeling, shipment order handling, freight planning, order execution and monitoring, and freight financial settlement. The solution suite encompasses transportation procurement, planning, execution, and monitoring.
i2 solutions for transportation and logistics have been designed and proven to empower transportation as a strategic enterprise by enabling industry best practices in the areas of design, procurement, planning, execution, and visibility. These solutions consistently create quantifiable value by synchronizing those critical transportation and distribution processes across multiple modes, enterprises, and borders, while driving optimal operating efficiencies and greater service performance.

eChain i2 Solution Services

Selection, Design, Prototyping and Bluepriniting

As part of your selection and design process, we provide independent, non-biased expertise and leadership that crosses solution boundaries to drive a total enterprise solution design

Performance and Capabilities Assessment and Tuning

Our consultants have deep solution and business skills necessary to fine-tune your i2 applications to the current economic conditions. Get the most out of your current solution investment by tuning your forecasting algorithms, transportation management optimization strategies, supply-chain network, integrations, and your business processes

Project Staffing

eChain provides you with an alternative source for your i2 implementation project staffing needs. We have very experienced and entrepreneurial solution consultants, we are competitively priced, typically more experienced, and are focused on delivering a complete solution to your company

Total Solution Focus

eChain provides broader exposure and expertise to design and implement a total solution around your i2 application including Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), SAP IDoc integration, EDI integration, dashboard development for managing your integrations and transformations, RFID integration to i2, S&OP and other Business Intelligence (BI) metrics reporting and data visibility structures

i2 Technologies Solutions & Services

Need a Professional Alternative for your i2 Technologies Solutions consulting and Implementation Needs?
It is time to review your supply-chain capabilities and performance and invest in best of breed i2 solutions that will remove excess cost from your operations.

eChain Technology employs some of the world’s best experts in supply-chain solution selection, capabilities assessment, implementation and integration of these solutions into your extended enterprise. We have a core expertise on i2 Technologies applications and solutions (Demand Planning, Supply-Chain Planning, Transportation Management, others…) and have been an integral part of many successful i2 engagements.

eChain has continuously worked with i2 Technology projects and implementations since our founding in 2001. Our associates have even more experience with i2 in both Functional and Technical roles. We provide an independent view of i2 capabilities without the sales pitch and in your integrated enterprise setting. We are often engaged by companies prior to an i2 purchase decision to help with a realistic client evaluation and to set up a proof of concept of the functioning software. We are also uniquely positioned to provide scope, design and architecture support once the project has been initiated.

We can enhance your current i2 solution, assist with an upgrade or new implementation. We provide end to end i2 consulting support for solution design, implementation, integrations to Oracle, SAP and other legacy or partner systems. We also provide modeling and model tuning to improve performance from your current i2 solution investment.

Showcase Project Success Stories

eChain Delivers Over $100 Million to Two Client Companies!

i2 Solution Experts eChain Technology supply-chain experts provide patent background research and analysis enabling i2 to claim $83.3 million from SAP to settle patent suit.  more		i2 Implementation Consulting eChain provides design and execution support for Kimberly-Clark i2/SAP Transportation project that returns $6.3 million in first 2 months more

eChain Designs and Delivers Cutting-Edge Solutions!

Solution Design and Delivery eChain designed and developed a custom analytical strategic marketing analysis and content management solution for FedEx.  The solution incorporates SPSS for survey aggregation and content management scoring and tagging  brochure

BizTalk, SharePoint and RFID solutions eChain was selected to design and build a custom Active RFID (RTLS) by a Private Healthcare Manufacturer to track medical assets, provide real-time inventory and movement visibility, and alerts. echain designed a solution that used emerging technologies (BizTalk RFID R2, SharePoint) to meet the customer’s rapid time to market requirement and delivered a functioning prototype in 4 months. more