SAP has announced that Panalpina, one of the world's largest providers of logistics services, will deploy the SAP Transportation Management application to help modernize the core transportation and logistics functions of its air and ocean freight businesses. With SAP Transportation Management, Panalpina will implement a logistics applications platform that connects its suppliers, partners and customers into a collaborative business network. Core transportation and logistics operations will be managed on the network, allowing unprecedented levels of inter-company collaboration, resulting in cost reductions, improved billing accuracy, enhanced shipment visibility and automated shipping operations. This initiative extends Panalpina's existing relationship with SAP in deploying standardized business processes.
Panalpina is one of the world's leading suppliers of forwarding and logistics services, specializing in intercontinental air and ocean freight shipments and associated supply chain management solutions. The company operates a network of over 500 branches in more than 90 countries. SAP Transportation Management supports all of Panalpina's modes of transport and includes core processes that improve collaboration and enable real-time shipment notification. In addition, Panalpina can now more readily position its service offerings to customers working with SAP systems and use the simplified integration to its SAP-based business network as a competitive differentiator.
“It is extremely important to us that the new IT solution provides clear business benefits to our customers,” says Monika Ribar, CEO, Panalpina. “The majority of our own customers and partners are already on SAP, which greatly improves standardization and communication between our systems. New application extensions can be quickly added to the system when needed and non-SAP systems can also be tied in easily. With SAP Transportation Management, Panalpina now has a business network that can promote growth over the next five to ten years.”
SAP Transportation Management Increases Competitiveness of Logistic Services Providers
SAP Transportation Management was released to the logistic services provider (LSP) market in November 2007 and is a core part of the SAP Business Suite family of business applications. The application is built from the ground up to address the specific needs of LSPs and the shipper industry. Built on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform and fully services-enabled, SAP Transportation Management allows deeply integrated business processes across various software applications and across organizational borders. This level of integration is becoming increasingly important as today's shipping and transportation processes progressively involve a diverse set of organizations that work together to orchestrate not only simple physical logistics movements, but also responsive supply chains.
By enabling them to effectively support the demands of their customers, LSPs can leverage SAP Transportation Management to help become more competitive in their target markets. Logistics services firms are expected to provide predictable, timely and cost-effective services in a complex and globalizing market. Therefore, technology plays a critical role in the growth and profitability of organizations in this highly competitive industry.
SAP Transportation Management offers comprehensive capabilities in freight management, transportation dispatching and execution, transportation charge management, and integrated financial oversight in customer billing and freight auditing. It supports all land, sea, multi-modal and air modes, including multi-leg, parcel, buy/sell–side rating, tendering, freight contract management, documentation, planning and execution. These functionalities are all interconnected to create a holistic solution for end-to-end business process execution within and across company boundaries.
“By co-innovating with our customers and partners, SAP was able to precisely define the 21st century solution for the shipping and transportation industry”, says Till Dengel, vice president and head of Industry Business Unit, Travel & Logistics Services, SAP AG. “The industry has become increasingly complex. With ongoing global expansion and intricate multi-customer relationships, business networks have lagged because technology couldn't deliver. SAP Transportation Management fills that technology gap, empowering logistics service providers with a comprehensive toolset for navigating this new landscape.” |
