Interactions

Vendor – Warehouse Interaction

Some vendor compliance programs require only the basics: One or more departments
within an organization issues regularly updated documents outlining general
requirements. That approach works for companies such as a diversified U.S.
manufacturer of engineered products serving the furnishings, aerospace, and automotive
markets. The company's inbound less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation requirements
change little, and it has consistently enjoyed 99-percent-plus compliance levels, says
Dwayne Kitchens, contracts and rates manager for the Carthage, Mo.-based company
Basic vendor portals offer a convenient way to push out compliance information and
static or dynamic routing guides, a step up from e-mail and PDFs. Some portals also help
vendors create EDI documents, leveling the playing field for smaller suppliers. And
service providers such as Data2Logistics complement portals with call-in routing
centers, serving as a control tower to solve more complex shipping challenges.

At the leading edge of compliance programs, consignees operate cloud-based portals

offering a broad range of functionality, including bi-directional communication, as well
as transactional business processes.

These portals might include dynamic routing tools to match loads to best-fit freight
terms, including order consolidation; choice of carrier and use of multi-stop truckload;
static or dynamic pooling; zone skipping; triangle routes; and backhauls. Some portals
are also used to manage purchase orders and shipment visibility, exchange EDI data, and
resolve chargeback issues, as well as to generate documents for bills of lading,
commercial invoices, and labels. Vendor portals are increasingly integrating with
consignee applications including transportation, warehouse, and order management
systems to send and receive complete inbound shipment data, and execute scorecards
and chargeback reports.

"We're moving toward broader portals, including a single sign-on to multiple functions,"
says Stephen Craig, senior managing partner, freight management for enVista, a supply
chain consulting and IT services firm based in Indianapolis, Ind.

Such innovations are making it easier for vendors and consignees to communicate and
achieve compliance improvements.

"These tools enable you to bring a purchase order to a transportation management

system, present the logistics components to vendors, and, with a lot of alerts and
reminders, get them to make a route request or ready-to-ship statement," says Craig.
"This has increased the fill rates for many consignees."

It's also easier for vendors to get through the route request process than entering a portal
cold and using an error-prone manual data-entry process. This approach also allows the
consignee to run optimization on the routing, and match route requests to 856 ASN
transactions so they can measure vendor performance from purchase order through
advanced shipping notice.

Complete vendor compliance reporting requires integration across transportation and

warehousing systems. Transportation systems reveal information about proper routing
and EDI messaging, while consignees use warehousing systems to record data about
whether a shipment was packed, palletized, and labeled according to specs. By bringing
this data together, consignees can create an overall compliance score, and even reward
high-scoring vendors by auditing their shipments less frequently, and speeding their
goods toward a faster sale.

Products and other housewares. "We see that happening continuously as more retailers
come up to speed."

Retailers are also extending their compliance requirements to private label suppliers,
and even agents, according to Compliance Networks.

One significant technology advancement is the ability to apply analytics to data. Dynamic
routing applies optimization algorithms to orders, routes, and carrier selection, enabling
consignees to analyze vendor performance history to uncover patterns and identify root
causes of systemic shipping problems.

Data2Logistics furthers the compliance cause by tapping its expertise as a freight audit
and payment provider to close the loop on compliance. "Because we invoice, we can see
what the vendor did, such as whether it used the least-cost carrier and the actual cost of
shipment," says Holm-Andersen.

Warehouse – DE Interaction

Security – Warehouse Interaction

Labour – Warehouse Interaction

Supervisor – Warehouse Interaction