RedPrairie Corp. an optimization company, recently announced a new release of its Ee supply chain execution solution suite. The enhanced solution provides upgraded capabilities for better flow of goods, tighter integration between warehouse and transportation management solutions, advanced recall and quality assurance capabilities and new parcel manifesting functionality.
"Supply chain operations have undergone tremendous changes in today's consumer driven marketplace. Storage warehouses are being retooled as flow-through processing centers where inbound and outbound shipments are synchronized to optimize the inventory flow in a multi-channel order fulfillment operation. This agile movement of goods must be visible and efficient," explains Tom Kozenski, RedPrairie Vice President Product Strategy
To assist in closer integration, TMS can plan the sequence in which distribution orders are fulfilled by the WMS based on the most economical shipment plan meeting customer service requirements. The store shipment schedule is used by TMS to optimize routes and ensure that customer delivery agreements are met. Carriers and suppliers can coordinate appointment scheduling within the WMS and TMS.
To address issues of quality the updated solution offers enhanced web-based QA / Recall capabilities to enable track-and-trace from the point of origin to the ultimate destination.
Additionally, the parcel manifesting system is embedded within WMS and TMS to provide certified least-cost shipping by all the major parcel carriers. It handles domestic and international shipments and provides shipment visibility to the customer's door.
"With parcel shipments becoming a larger percentage of transportation spend, it has increased the importance of parcel manifesting applications," says Adrian Gonzalez, Director Logistics Executive Council for ARC Advisory Group. "It is an especially critical factor for sectors such as retail, service parts and direct to consumer."
