Supply Chain: GT Nexus Gains Yazaki North America Inc. As New Customer For Global Supply Chain Visibility

GT Nexus announced recently that Yazaki North America, supplier of vehicle power and data solutions to the automotive industry, has selected the GT Nexus Trade and Logistics Portal to power Yazaki's global inventory visibility and control system. Delivered on-demand, as a service over the Web, the platform allows Yazaki to improve supply chain performance by lowering costs and delivering a more reliable service to its customers -- the automotive manufacturers (Original Equipment Makers, or OEMs).

Yazaki is a global automotive leader in producing electrical distribution systems, fiber optics, instrumentation, solid-state power centers, connection systems and electronics. Worldwide, the company employs over 150,000 people in 48 countries. North American headquarters are located in Canton, Michigan.

As a tier-one automotive supplier, Yazaki seeks to maintain very responsive supply chains that support tight, just-in-time delivery windows to OEM vehicle assembly lines. In an environment of increased global sourcing, disproportionate reliance on expensive airfreight shipments is often required to maintain JIT delivery flexibility. Before selecting GT Nexus, Yazaki had limited visibility to goods in-transit, complicating their ability to predictably meet customer demands. The new global inventory visibility system will help Yazaki operate a leaner, more flexible supply chain.

Yazaki's global supply chain employs over 30 logistics service providers. The data about global freight movement is locked up and isolated in partner systems.

"Achieving in-transit visibility is not so much about having the right applications; it's all about supply chain data," said Dawn Boike, Senior Manager of Logistics at Yazaki North America. "We selected GT Nexus because their platform was pre-integrated with many of our partners and they understand how to manage and improve the quality of the data they receive on our behalf -- and turn it into the information we need to run our supply chain."

The platform provides visibility into Yazaki's in-transit inventory pipeline by capturing and presenting shipment status information, with line item details (e.g., part numbers), as inventory moves from overseas manufacturing to warehouses in North America. Users around the world access the platform through a standard Web browser to see up-to-date status information of any part or shipment moving in Yazaki's supply chain.

Platform capabilities include:

• In-transit visibility - material (part number & quantity), across all transport modes
• Dynamic ETAs - to project delivery dates based on most recent supply chain events
• Exception Management - to detect and manage supply chain delays
• Landed Cost Monitoring - to determine total supply chain cost per unit of sourced product

"Automotive is a unique, high-volume, repetitive manufacturing environment," said Andy Stinnes, VP of Products and Strategy at GT Nexus. "Yazaki looked at the options and selected GT Nexus because our solution is flexible and can handle the unique needs of the automotive industry."

The immediate goal is for Yazaki to establish in-transit visibility to enable a lean and responsive global supply chain. Once the supply chain data hub is in place, the platform will be expanded to support a range of strategic, operational functions across the company.

"Strategically, we will use GT Nexus to measure the true, realized global logistics and freight cost per shipped product unit. This is the type of information we need to drive profitable sourcing, supply chain design, and product costing decisions," noted Tony Riccardi, Director of Manufacturing Services at Yazaki North America.

The platform is hosted and managed by GT Nexus. All applications are delivered on-demand over the Web. The visibility system went live for sea freight shipments in less than four weeks and is currently being expanded into additional transport modes and to provide part and quantity details for each shipment.

About GT Nexus

GT Nexus runs the world's only industry-backed, on-demand global trade & logistics portal. Today, more than 40,000 registered users, from over 15,000 organizations use a range of capabilities on the portal to optimize the global flow of goods and trade information from order point to final payment. GT Nexus connects the physical and financial supply chains. This allows buyers, sellers, banks and logistics providers to work over a common platform with a core set of information that supports multiple trade and logistics functions. Customers include Xerox, American Eagle Outfitters, Procter & Gamble, Weyerhaeuser and The Home Depot. For information, visit www.gtnexus.com.

About Yazaki Corporation

Yazaki Corporation is a global leader in the research, development and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions, as well as advanced electronic technologies for vehicle applications. Yazaki produces electrical distribution systems, fiber optics, instrumentation, solid-state power centers, connection systems and electronics. Worldwide, the company employs over 150,000 people in 48 countries, 1,500 of whom are based in the company's North American headquarters and research center campus in Canton, Michigan. For more information on Yazaki, log onto www.yazaki-na.com.

SOURCE: GT Nexus