Logistics Solution: PFDC USA Accelerates Entry Into U.S. Market Using RedTail's Software-as-a-Service For B2B E-commerce

RedTail Solutions, a provider of on-demand electronic trading solutions for EDI and data synchronization, recently announced that Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmetique USA (PFDC) has deployed its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings to facilitate the exchange of order, fulfillment and shipping information between PFDC's ERP system and software from its outsourced global logistics supplier, Mallory Alexander International.

As a result, PFDC was able to accelerate trading with key U.S. customers by dramatically reducing the time to implement, start-up costs and expertise required for a custom solution.

PFDC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Laboratories Pierre Fabre SA, was established in North America to expand and promote its Avène hydrotherapy line of products. As business grew, PFDC quickly reached the capacity limits of its logistics and customer service center located in Hazel Park, Mich. Faced with the need for a larger warehouse and more sophisticated capabilities, PFDC consolidated its manufacturing activities with a sister subsidiary and outsourced to Mallory its logistics functions, including warehouse, pick/pack receiving, shipping and handling of returns.

Although the decision to work with Mallory saved a great deal of time, when the operational reorganization and warehouse project was completed, PFDC had less than three months remaining to begin actively trading with key customers. Knowing that there would not be enough time to build a custom solution and to ensure that its solution would keep up with rapidly evolving supply chain standards as its U.S. business continued to expand into new, direct retail channels, PFDC turned to RedTail's SaaS solution for business-to-business ecommerce.

Manufacturers and suppliers generally use RedTail to exchange purchase orders, invoice and shipping information directly with their large key accounts. In this case, PFDC was able to take advantage of the solution's ability to integrate the SAGE Pro ERP system directly to a remote warehouse. RedTail worked with Sage VAR MicroStrategies, Inc. of Denville, NJ to effect the rapid deployment. Using the RedTail Transaction Manager™ and its wrap-around services, PFDC was able to exchange warehouse shipping orders, shipping advice, transfer of stock and inventory update reports with Mallory -- all without the need for costly in-house software and expertise.

According to PFDC's IT Manager Dan Paquette, "One of the major advantages of using RedTail Solutions is the interface to our SAGE ERP system. The fact that we could be up and running, with integration in a few weeks made it the clear choice over other alternatives. The services wrapped around the client application include all of the initial mapping and testing of transactions, maintenance of all of the communications infrastructure and data transformation software. RedTail drives the trading partner alignment that helped us define our business processes and then streamline them. The speed and reactivity with which things could get done by RedTail matched our own priorities. And the staff at RedTail is very professional and expert at what they do."

"With transactions flowing smoothly to Mallory, we are excited to help PFDC consolidate the rest of its direct retail channel business for large drug store chains, such as CVS, through RedTail's service offering," said Patricia Meisner, CEO of RedTail. "Many large retailers require their suppliers to implement Global Data Synchronization to receive product descriptions along with packaging and pricing information in order to streamline the ordering process and reduce transaction errors with their suppliers. RedTail is ready to help keep PFDC a step ahead of its trading partners and ready for further growth."

About RedTail Solutions, Inc.
RedTail Solutions, Inc. is a privately held company, located in Westborough, MA. It enables suppliers to compete at the highest level in today's supply chain by providing a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for b2b collaboration. This advanced platform provides a suite of hosted services via the internet that can integrate seamlessly with middle-market systems like Microsoft Dynamic (Great Plains) to enterprise back office systems such as SAP. Through this hosted and integrated platform, suppliers can connect and trade through a single solution with their key customers as well as third-party logistics providers in warehousing and transportation. There are more than 500,000 suppliers that participate in the global supply chain today that can gain immediate benefits by using RedTail's fully integrated and automated electronic collaboration through a single interface, helping them to eliminate transaction errors, reduce penalties for non-compliance and ultimately to streamline business processes. For more information, visit www.redtailsolutions.com.

SOURCE: RedTail Solutions, Inc.