ATSCO
Turns to RedTail's SaaS Solution to Enable EDI Commerce; Supports Direct Store
Distribution Model to Meet Needs of Key Customers
Reduces Implementation
Time From Months to Weeks; Supports ATSCO's Fulfillment of Stock Orders Within
48 Hours at Rates of 99.5%
WESTBOROUGH, Mass., March 4, 2008 – RedTail Solutions, a provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) supply chain solutions for
EDI and data synchronization, today announced that ATSCO Remanufacturing Inc.
is now utilizing RedTail's SaaS solution to enable EDI commerce. RedTail
supports the direct store distribution model that ATSCO requires to meet the
needs of key retailers in the automotive parts after market.
ATSCO is in the automotive and
heavy-duty steering components remanufacturing business. It was formed after
the current owner purchased the steering assets of American Remanufacturers
Inc. Once completed, the owner found he had limited time to build the
infrastructure to run the business and meet the stringent requirements of one
its primary trading partners.
Major retailers in the automotive
after market segment require efficient logistics and inventory management to
streamline their supply chains and guarantee delivery of "special orders,"
including remanufactured parts, to customers within 48 hours. As a supplier of
remanufactured steering components, ATSCO needed the capability to support
direct store delivery to thousands of locations within the specified 48-hour
time period. With such a short order life cycle, the burden is on the supplier
to fulfill the order and support the underlying EDI transactions with virtually
no margin for error.
Getting an ERP system up and running
quickly was a huge challenge in and of itself. Building a custom EDI solution
on top of that could take many months and a significant upfront investment.
Also, mission critical to its business process, EDI was not a core competency
for ATSCO. No one in the company had the expertise to implement and manage an
EDI solution in-house.
As a first step in rebuilding an IT
department, ATSCO turned to Sage MAS 200. Blytheco, a Sage software reseller
(VAR) and Master Developer, referred ATSCO to RedTail's SaaS as an alternative
to an on-premise EDI solution. ATSCO contacted RedTail about RedTail Transaction Manager™ to enable EDI with its trading
partners.
"RedTail's out of the box
integration to SageMAS 200 was
most important to our decision to work with RedTail," said Mickey Wright,
ATSCO's IT manager. "The value of its ability to support a direct store delivery
business process with a SaaS solution also proved to be huge."
Up and Running in Two
Weeks
RedTail had ATSCO up and running in
two weeks, and was soon processing hundreds of transactions every day between
ATSCO and its trading partners. The speed of implementation reduced
considerable business risk, as delays could have jeopardized the trading
partner relationships upon which business was dependent.
ATSCO's commitment to providing
fulfillment within 48 hours on stock orders required an extremely flexible and
dependable solution. RedTail's solution provides ATSCO with a streamlined
process that is completely integrated to its ERP and that helps to support
ATSCO's fulfillment rates of 99.5%.
RedTail can bring additional trading
partners into production for ATSCO at any time. That includes mapping the
required transactions, establishing the business rules of the trading
relationship, testing and validation. RedTail's SaaS for EDI allows ATSCO to
concentrate on growing its business and adding new key accounts, rather than
supporting transactions and specific business processes of its trading
partners. Cost savings accrue at the rate of 50% a year when compared with an
on-premise solution -- all of which can be re-directed towards product
improvements and the service levels so critical in the automotive after-market.
Supply Side Solution for Direct
Store and Drop Shipment Distribution Models
The automotive after market is not
the only industry that can drive huge costs out of its supply chain by not
holding inventory and by forcing its suppliers to deliver product directly to
the consumer or to a nearby retail outlet for pick-up. This is especially true
for special order products that do not lend themselves to stockpiling in
distribution centers. But it is
also the same model used for suppliers to Amazon.com, or any of the online
ordering centers of large retailers.
Redtail's SaaS solution can pass
transactions directly into the supplier's ERP system, automating order entry
and facilitating the batch processing and fulfillment of large volumes of
orders. However, it also allows the supplier to process orders individually and
to respond with the series of transactions that report status, including an ASN
(Advance Ship Notice). The solution also automatically prepares shipping labels
in batch or individual order mode. These capabilities are critical to support a
drop shipment business process. The ability to support all order level types
(distribution center/store/drop ship to consumer) as well as a variety of communication
protocols through a single integrated solution, allows suppliers with multiple
trading partners and high transaction volumes to streamline their business
processes, reduce transaction errors and achieve the highest levels of supply
chain visibility and compliance.
Interested parties can
read a more detailed version of this ATSCO Case Study.
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 servicesthat integrate seamlessly
with middle-market systems like Microsoft Dynamic (Great Plains) to enterprise
back office systems such as SAP®.
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.
All
companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective holders.
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CONTACT:
George Cohen
George
Cohen Communications
(617)
325-0011
george@gccpr.com
