SOURCE: TradeBeam

November 13, 2008 08:00 ET

TradeBeam i-Supply Provides Greater Visibility Into Supply Chain, Reduces Supply Risk and Optimizes Working Capital

Enhanced Collaborative Inventory Management Solution Provides GW Plastics Insight Into Suppliers' Inventory and Affords Terumo Medical Corporation an Inventory Level Reduction of Over 30 Percent

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - November 13, 2008) - TradeBeam, the leader in SaaS-based global trade management solutions (GTM), today announced key updates to i-Supply, the TradeBeam collaborative inventory management solution designed to provide manufacturers, suppliers and buyers with increased visibility into the supply chain.

Current economic pressures on manufacturers require a more rigorous approach to collaborative inventory management in order to minimize disruptions and increase predictability. With support for multiple inventory pull and push replenishment models, i-Supply enhances existing ERP, inventory, logistics, and warehouse management systems by making near real-time information visible via the web creating a more efficient and collaborative supply chain. "Providing a variety of options is an important feature, since it allows companies to evolve from traditional 'push' replenishment to more lean based pull strategies at their own pace," said John Fontanella in the November 2008 AMR Research Article, "i-Supply Takes the Gospel of Lean Beyond Automotive." "i-Supply also provides a unique and very intuitive service for vendor score-carding, and functionality to alert trading community members of discrepancies in actual versus planned performance."

Terumo Medical Corporation, a leading manufacturer of vital medical devices, supplies and accessories, is already experiencing the benefits. "We've implemented i-Supply in two of our plants and have already seen a great return on our investment," said Mark Lincoln, Terumo's Vice President of Operations. "Since deploying the product only a few months ago, we have reduced inventory by over 30 percent. Our efforts are focused on expanding the tool as fast as we can across all sites and suppliers."

The new TradeBeam i-Supply features an enhanced Lean Order Scheduling feature that enables the scheduling of multiple lean orders and pickups per day for as-needed inventory, bringing visibility to carriers and 3PL providers. The information shared between supplier and manufacturer ensures that actions are always based on the same data, which leads to reduced emergency shipments and premium freight charges. Manufacturers can also limit production downtime that comes from stock-outs and excess inventory throughout the supply chain.

TradeBeam also facilitates supplier attainment and connection through account management services, including training and support. "TradeBeam's i-Supply helps us to plan proactively, reducing our need for 'just-in-case' inventory," said Jean Flores, Materials Manager at GW Plastics. "i-Supply gives visibility into our customers' inventory levels, which has allowed our San Antonio plant to significantly reduce material levels without sacrificing delivery ratings."

i-Supply graphically displays component inventory status, including on-hand, forecast, usage, orders, shipments and receipts, as well as real-time notification exceptions. An improved dashboard interface delivers a near real-time summary view into inventory, shipping, receiving and supplier quality ratings. A user can filter, sort, and drill-down into forecast demand, supplier capacity, projected inventory, actual usage, authorization history, and critical inventory. i-Supply also allows customers to monitor inventory of multiple facilities from a single dashboard and has the ability to create new orders based on exception.

"We see i-Supply customers being able to address some of the biggest challenges in supply chain management issues today -- lean implementation, stronger inventory controls and true visibility over the global footprint," said Graham Napier, CEO of TradeBeam. "In today's economic circumstances, visibility into the supply chain is critical for manufacturers to significantly cut costs. The enhancements to i-Supply's already proven methods provide our customers a safety net that minimizes risk and reduces waste."

TradeBeam's i-Supply solution is available and operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 41 countries and 11 languages including Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), English, French, German, Korean, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish. For more information visit: http://www.tradebeam.com/solutions/visibility/collaborative_inventory_management/.

About TradeBeam

TradeBeam is a Global Trade Management (GTM) software and services company providing on demand solutions that streamline global trading for enterprises and their partners. TradeBeam's integrated solution provides import and export compliance and visibility including inventory management, shipment tracking, and supply chain event management, as well as global trade finance solutions such as open account and letter of credit management. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, TradeBeam has operations in the United States Europe, China, and India. www.tradebeam.com

About Terumo

Founded in 1972 as a Terumo Corporation subsidiary, Terumo Medical Corporation (TMC) develops, manufactures and markets high-quality medical devices used in a broad range of applications in numerous healthcare markets. TMC manufactures a broad portfolio of IV catheters and syringes, entry-site management products, and a line of sterile connection devices used in hospitals and blood banks worldwide.

About GW Plastics

GW Plastics is a global, high-precision injection molder, mold builder and contract manufacturer specializing in single-source responsibility for medium-to-high volume, close-tolerance components and assemblies. Ranked among the top 100 molders in North America, GW Plastics' leading-edge technologies, total quality commitment and pursuit of innovation have driven its steady growth since the company was founded in 1955. The financially strong, closely held organization services a portfolio of Fortune 1000 customers in the Healthcare, Consumer/Industrial and Automotive markets. In addition to the China facility, GW has four U.S. plants (two in Vermont; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona). GW also has a full-service production facility in Queretaro, Mexico.