Traffic World Releases Article On CarrierPoint-Provided
WebDispatch and Dynamic Shipping MarketPlacesm
Solutions to Ticona, a Unit of Celanese AG
TIMEOUT
ATLANTA, GA, May 21, 2001 /Traffic World/
Tag: 0105230039
Section: LOGISTICS MANAGMENT
Edition: TRAFFIC WORLD
Page: 16 KEN COTTRILL
 For
Original Article in PDF format, Click Here
When viewed from ground level, the Internet is not
necessarily some grand, world-beating corporate strategy.
For time-starved managers it can be a tool for breaking
the vicious circle of too many tasks chasing too few
hours.
That is how the logistics department at Summit, N.J.-based
Ticona has put the Internet to work. The technical polymers
business of German company Celanese AG, Ticona produces
and markets engineering polymers used in a wide range
of products from toys to industrial gears.
As the logistics group was downsized and restructured,
fewer individuals shared the daily workload, making
it more difficult to devote time to strategic tasks
such as developing better ways to meet freight cost-reduction
goals. The department calculated running near 129 percent
capacity, said Elaine Duras, logistics team leader.
When time is short priorities tend to be moving targets.
'If you prioritize your tasks into A, B and C items,
then A items you do every day, B are scheduled and you
meet certain goals, and C are probably done by the end
of the year during infrequent windows of down time,'
she explained. A concern was that C items could fall
off the list completely, added Duras.
The group examined their current tasks, associated
task hours and the man-hours available. For example
team member Stephen Wright, who manages national truckload
and regional LTL shipments, estimated that the nine
categories of routine tasks he was responsible for consumed
about 37 hours of his working week.
In an effort to eliminate time-consuming tasks such
as endless telephone calls to dispatchers, the logistics
team installed WebDispatch and Dynamic Shipping MarketPlace
applications supplied by Atlanta-based CarrierPoint
Inc. The system, which has been running since January,
operates like a private web-based exchange. Loads are
posted on the site and the information accessed by designated
core carriers. The trucking companies tender for the
business and when a bid is accepted the logistics team
is automatically notified. 'I call it ship-and-click,'
Wright said.
Ticona specifies what groups of truckers can bid for
each load, and there are two basic ways in which loads
are accepted. If a particular carrier is preferred in
a certain lane, relevant details are sent to that operator.
But if the choice of truckers is more open (for example
if a busy area like Chicago is in the schedule), the
shipment details can be sent to a group of carriers.
The aim is to appoint the optimum carrier while maintaining
the relationships Ticona has built up with transportation
service providers. 'I don't want to spin the wheels
of our core carriers. I want it to be a partnership,'
emphasized Wright.
That message helped convince the trucking companies
to become participants. While carriers were cautious
about the system initially, said Duras, once they realized
that the primary goal was to automate manual tasks and
provide more accurate, timely shipment information,
they were won over. 'I was pleasantly surprised by the
response,' she said.
As Wright stressed, this is not an auction. 'It's not
like we are going out on eBay. I am just tendering loads,
this is not a bidding process,' he said. The purchasing
department carries out contract negotiations so the
logistics team does not have to bargain over rates.
Ticona is paying a basic fee for each shipment until
it signs a contract and establishes an annual subscription
fee.
Wright estimated that the web-based system saves him
eight to 10 hours a week, a significant advance 'in
the battle I fight to free up time for efficiency,'
he said. Also, the operational analysis that was required
to justify the implementation presented senior management
with facts and figures they can easily understand.
A future possibility is to extend the system to manufacturing
plants that have to manage outbound product shipments.
Beyond that the challenge is how to connect the CarrierPoint
system to the company's existing SAP system. An SAP-generated
shipping report is published every morning, and being
able to automatically exchange information between that
report and the web-based load-tendering system would
yield more efficiencies. At present relevant shipment
details are copied from one system to the other. If
the electronic connection is too costly, then CarrierPoint's
existing functionality will be used. That involves searching
and selecting a repetitive load in the historical shipment
data and then using the 'copy' function to tender loads.
Duras agreed that connecting the different platforms
is a challenge, and not just from a transportation perspective.
'We already have customers coming in to our website
and placing their orders,' she pointed out. She said
Ticona already has realized a 5 percent efficiency gain
by implementing the web-based tool.
In addition, the logistics team has gained valuable
experience in dealing with software solutions vendors.
As Duras explained, 'These types of e-providers are
a whole new ball game' compared with the transportation
service providers that her team is familiar with. Just
as trucking companies have to earn the right to become
preferred core carriers, so vendors of web-based systems
will have to 'earn primary and secondary positions and
be rewarded in the same way that we reward providers
on wheels,' she said.
© 2001- Traffic World, The Journal of Commerce Group
About Ticona
Ticona, the technical polymers business of Celanese AG, Frankfurt, produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers and achieved sales of € 923 million in 2000. The company has about 2,400 employees worldwide and production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany, the UK, and Brazil. For more information about Ticona and Celanese, visit their Web sites at www.ticona.com and www.celanese.com.
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