Outsourced Logistics

Weber Distribution, a leading third party logistics and supply chain management provider, announced that it has signed a multi-year contract with The Vitamin Shoppe (NYSE: VSI), a leading specialty retailer and direct marketer of nutritional products, to warehouse and distribute many of their top volume items throughout the Western United States.

Weber currently handles weekly shipments of vitamins and nutritional supplements to replenish approximately 100 Vitamin Shoppe stores located throughout the entire Western region including Hawaii. Weber is performing a high volume pick and pack operation, which is extremely time sensitive on adherence to expiration dates. The entire process is radio frequency based in order to provide real time access to the latest fulfillment activities and reporting through Weber’s web portal.

At its 303,000 square foot food-grade facility in Fontana, California, Weber receives product directly from many of the 700 Vitamin Shoppe vendors. Vitamin Shoppe’s product lines include vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, herbs, sports nutrition formulas, homeopathic remedies, green living products, as well as health and beauty aids.

“We selected Weber because of their prominent position as a regional distribution and fulfillment provider in the Western United States,” said Rich Tannenbaum, vice president supply chain for The Vitamin Shoppe. “They have ample capacity to handle The Vitamin Shoppe’s current and future business requirements as the company grows and expands, and they have a highly experienced management team who is familiar with The Vitamin Shoppe operations and our pick and pack requirements. Weber offers a technology platform to give us the visibility we need to run our supply chain.”

In addition to distribution and inventory control services, Weber has equipped the facility with a customized quality control room where personnel from Vitamin Shoppe can perform quality processes and sampling of products to ensure all shipments meet Vitamin Shoppe’s high standards.

According to Bill Butler, Weber’s president and CEO, communication between VSI and Weber was excellent during the implementation process and many levels of relationships have been developed throughout the entire supply chain. “The Vitamin Shoppe’s supply chain team and senior management are very impressive and we have enjoyed the working relationship. We are also thrilled to support Vitamin Shoppe’s on-going business expansion,” said Butler. “Vitamin Shoppe fits perfectly into our specialty retail focus. We are excited to not only meet, but exceed their distribution expectations in the coming months and years.”

About Vitamin Shoppe Industries, Inc.

Vitamin Shoppe (NYSE: VSI) is a leading specialty retailer and direct marketer of nutritional products based in North Bergen, New Jersey. The company sells vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, herbs, sports nutrition formulas, homeopathic remedies, green living products, and health and beauty aids to customers located primarily in the United States. The company carries national brand products as well as exclusive products under the Vitamin Shoppe, BodyTech, MD Select, and VS Basics proprietary brands. The Vitamin Shoppe conducts business through more than 450 company-owned retail stores, national mail order catalogs, and websites, www.VitaminShoppe.com, and www.EcoShoppe.com and has a social community site at www.VSconnect.com.

About Weber Distribution

Weber Distribution has evolved into a nationwide provider of logistics solutions. Weber’s expertise includes non-asset freight management, temperature sensitive asset-based LTL and TL services, dedicated and shared warehousing, distribution, cross-docking/pool distribution, transloading, network optimization modeling and analysis, retail compliance, order fulfillment, material handling, supply chain management, real estate development, and personnel staffing. Weber specializes in providing its clients with unique innovative logistics solutions primarily to these vertical markets:

 Retailers/Importers

 Food & Beverage/CPG

 Chemical/Specialty Products

 Confectionary

Weber serves many well-known and respected companies such as Walmart, Target, Safeway, General Mills, Hershey, Nestlé, Spectrum Brands, California Innovations, Scholastic Books, and PPG Industries. As a result of its on-going innovation, experience and dedication, Weber has been the recipient of numerous industry awards, including:

 100 Great Supply Chain Partners

 Inbound Logistics’ Top 100 3PLs

 Logistics Management’s Top 50 3PLs

 The Los Angeles Business Journal’s Top 100 Privately-Held Companies

 Food Logistics Magazine’s Top 70 3PLs

 Food Logistics Magazine’s FL100 listing of the top technology solution and service providers to the food industry.

Ocean World Lines Promotes New Vice President OWL Asia

Opens new offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Qingdao

Ocean World Lines (OWL), a global door-to-door and end-to-end NVOCC, announced today that it has promoted Eric Seamon to the position of vice president OWL Asia, effective immediately.

Seamon brings more than 20 years of industry experience to the newly created position as OWL expands its presence in the region with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Qingdao. Seamon is responsible for overseeing operations, sales, marketing, finance, human resources and further expansion for all offices and services within the Asia Pacific region. In the first quarter of 2011, OWL will have new offices in Ningbo, Xiamen, and Shenzhen. OWL will continue to expand throughout China and the Far East with plans to open offices in Dalian, Tianjin, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and Bangladesh by the end of 2011.

Seamon previously worked as OWL’s regional vice president, Asia Pacific. Prior to OWL, Seamon was with Manalytics International as their senior supply chain consultant for retail and 3PL. He was responsible for strategic sales planning, project design, and research with a heavy focus on network redesign and Asia optimization.

He held several positions for UPS Supply Chain Solutions, including director of product development for their Cargo Management services based in Atlanta, Georgia and director of business development and marketing, Asia Pacific. As director of marketing and business development, Seamon earned multiple promotions and reorganized the Asia business development unit with a focus on trade lane specific sales, product education, data management and marketing. As regional director, Great Lakes region, he increased the region’s net profit by 128%.

Seamon also worked for Fritz Companies (prior to the acquisition of UPS) as trade-lane director, Transpacific trade; global account manager, consolidated services; solutions manager, consolidated services; and inbound transportation manager. He was named a member of the North America operating committee at Fritz Companies’ in May of 2000.

“We have been known as a large North American export NVOCC, but over the last few years we have built a very strong transpacific eastbound business. Eric’s intimate knowledge of the Asia market and in-depth product knowledge is helping us to put the best and brightest young managers in place and attract the most loyal staff, customers, and suppliers within those markets,” said Alan Baer, OWL’s president. “We now offer our shippers more sophisticated and higher value technology by creating a global customer service platform throughout Asia – just like we have been offering in North America and Europe.”

“On top of our geographic expansion in Asia, we have improved our service portfolio and built out OWL AIR and OWL Cargo Management, our air freight forwarding operations and origin PO and consolidation services,” said Baer. “We always felt that we had the best visibility and alerting tool in the business and now we have an end-to-end service offering to feed it.”

Ocean World Lines, known in the industry by its iconic owl logo, is one of the largest fully bonded NVOCC’s in the world. OWL maintains more than 45 service contracts with the top ocean carriers and handles today’s most complex global supply chain requirements.

Founded in 1979, OWL works with importers, exporters and freight forwarders to move all types of cargo and provide global door-to-door/end-to-end service. OWL offers a single source experience for its customers coupled with leading-edge technology for a truly value-based solution.

With over 200 employees worldwide, OWL has offices located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Qingdao, Singapore, Tokyo, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Long Beach, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, San Francisco, Seattle, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, and Ipswich, as well as a network of agents worldwide.

OWL is a subsidiary of Pacer International, a leading North American freight transportation and logistics service provider that offers a broad array of services to facilitate the movement of freight from origin to destination.

Revenue increases 42 percent on quarter-over-quarter and 32 percent year-over-year basis, driven by strong software license revenue growth and new customer acquisitions

LONG BEACH, CA – (August 4, 2010) – Apriso®, a leading provider of manufacturing software solutions to achieve and sustain operational excellence, today announced revenue growth has accelerated in the second quarter of 2010. Total revenue grew 42 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis and 32 percent year-over-year basis. Software license revenue more than doubled on a year-over-year basis; growth was driven by existing customers expanding their FlexNet® solutions and by four new customers selecting Apriso as their provider for enterprise manufacturing operations management.

“The growth of our software license revenue is indicative of the substantial value Apriso is delivering global manufacturers as they look for scalable enterprise solutions to drive continuous improvement, realize higher quality, while reducing their IT and manufacturing costs,” stated Jim Henderson, president and CEO of Apriso. “Along with adding to new customers and markets, our existing customers continue to expand their Apriso footprints, contributing to our expansion in 2010 and their improved manufacturing operational excellence.”

Customer Activity

A total 23 customer sites have gone live in the first half of 2010 with new FlexNet® applications, reflecting Apriso’s continued global expansion, with live sites now in Lithuania and Romania. Cleantech continues to be a strong focus in the second quarter, with the announcement that Boston Power selected Apriso’s FlexNet as their enterprise Manufacturing Execution System. In addition, a high profile electric car manufacturer selected Apriso as their foundation for manufacturing operations management. During the quarter, software and services were implemented at manufacturers in the consumer goods, packaging, aerospace &defense, life sciences and industrial equipment industries.

Product Updates

In June, Apriso announced availability of FlexNet 9.5, one of the company’s most extensive software upgrades ever completed. This new version of FlexNet has redefined manufacturing Business Process Management (BPM) by offering advanced blueprinting and prototyping capabilities to support an agile approach to implementation and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes. New user interfaces enable greater productivity and flexibility. An extended partnership with Predisys delivers an improved, integrated architecture to harness the power of Statistical Process Control (SPC) across multiple plants and across end-to-end manufacturing processes.

Awards

Apriso was selected by Inbound Logistics Magazine as a top logistics provider, based on Apriso’s ability to drive supply chain excellence by synchronizing material flows with production for greater flexibility, ROI and ease of implementation.

About Apriso

Apriso Corporation is a software company dedicated to providing competitive advantage for its customers. It does so by enabling manufacturers to adapt quickly and easily to market changes and unexpected events by supporting continuous improvement on a global scale. Apriso’s FlexNet is a BPM platform-based solution for global manufacturing operations management that delivers visibility into, control over and synchronization across manufacturing and the product supply network. Apriso serves 180+ customers in 40+ countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its customers include General Motors, Lear, Honeywell, L’Oréal, Trixell, Lockheed Martin, Becton Dickinson, Saint-Gobain, Novelis and Essilor. For more information, please go to www.apriso.com.

Apriso and FlexNet are registered trademarks of Apriso Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Gordon Benzie

Apriso Corporation

(562) 951-8054

gordon.benzie@apriso.com

Michael Gallo

Gutenberg Communications

(212) 239-8594

mgallo@gutenbergpr.com

SANTA FE SPRINGS, California – Weber Distribution, a leading third party logistics and supply chain management provider for 85 years, announced today that Dennis McDonough, their vice president, client solutions, has been elected to president of the Distribution Management Association (DMA), effective immediately.

As president of the DMA, McDonough is responsible for controlling the Board of Directors and the mission of the organization which is to develop cooperation, understanding and coordination among the logistics, supply chain, and various transportation related organizations. DMA encourages growth of its members and member companies by facilitating opportunities to exchange ideas, discuss industry related problems, and keep abreast of government legislation. The organization’s vision is to develop a full service trade association with legislative influence, educational input and access to government resources, which serves as a single point of contact for the logistics industry.

McDonough joined Weber last year and has with more than 30 years of industry experience in logistics-related services and sales. In the position of vice president, client solutions at Weber, he is responsible for developing new business solutions and managing the needs of Weber’s existing customers.

Prior to Weber, McDonough worked for a national 3PL provider where he established the company’s strategy within the retail, electronics and healthcare industries. McDonough was also responsible for overseeing human resources with a staff of approximately 450 employees and he previously held the title of vice president, transportation and value-added services for the company.

His 30 years of industry experience also includes: president/founder for Liberty Logistics Services based in Ontario, California; director of business development for Burnham Service Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia; regional sales manager for USCO Distribution Services, Inc. in Naugatuck, Connecticut; vice president operations and sales for RPM Transportation Inc./Royal Hawaiian Express; and warehouse manager for Interamerican Public Distribution Corporation.

McDonough is a member of the Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC), Council of Supply Chain Management Professional (CSCMP) the Los Angeles Transportation Club (LATC) and the National Confectionary Association (NCA).

About Weber Distribution

Weber Distribution has evolved into a nationwide provider of logistics solutions. Weber’s expertise includes non-asset freight management, asset-based LTL and TL services, including temperature-controlled, dedicated and shared warehousing, distribution, cross-docking/pool distribution, transloading, network optimization modeling and analysis, retail compliance, order fulfillment, material handling, supply chain management, real estate development, and personnel staffing.

Weber specializes in providing its clients with unique logistics solutions primarily to these vertical markets:

-Import

-Retail

-Food & Beverage

-Consumer Packaged Goods

-Chemical/Specialty Products

-Paper

Weber serves many well-known and respected companies such as Walmart, Target, Safeway, General Mills, Hershey, Nestlé, Applica Consumer Products, California Innovations, Scholastic Books, and PPG Industries. As a result of its on-going innovation, experience and dedication, Weber has been the recipient of numerous industry awards, including:

-100 Great Supply Chain Partners

-Inbound Logistics’ Top 100 3PLs

-Logistics Management’s Top 50 3PLs

-The Los Angeles Business Journal’s Top 100 Privately-Held Companies

-Food Logistics Magazine’s Top 70 3PLs

-Food Logistics Magazine’s FL100 listing of the top technology solution and service providers to the food industry.

Plano, TX, July 14, 2010— Asset Intelligence, a leading provider of supply chain asset tracking solutions and a subsidiary of I.D. Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDSY), today announced the launch of a new product: VeriWise™ Track & Trace, a low-cost trailer and container tracking system that provides real-time information to improve the utilization, efficiency, and cargo security of trailer and container fleets.

VeriWise™ Track & Trace is designed for quick, flexible installation on a wide range of cargo-carrying assets; the system can be installed on dry vans, flatbed trailers, intermodal containers, chassis, and storage containers. A magnetic mount option is available for temporary installations, which enables easy movement between assets. VeriWise™ Track & Trace is also designed for years of maintenance-free operation, with patented power management technology to provide exceptionally long battery life.

“VeriWise™ Track & Trace is an affordable, effective, easy-to-deploy solution that can quickly drive out cost and inefficiency from trailer and container fleet operations, as well as increase the security of those assets,” said Darryl Miller, Chief Operating Officer of I.D. Systems. “The introduction of our Track & Trace system enables organizations with basic trailer and container tracking needs to proactively improve fleet management. VeriWise™ Track & Trace also expands the range of products provided by Asset Intelligence and I.D. Systems, which further strengthens our position as one of the world’s preeminent provider of supply chain asset management solutions.”

About I.D. Systems & Asset Intelligence:

Based in Hackensack, New Jersey, with subsidiaries in Germany and the United Kingdom, I.D. Systems is a leading provider of solutions for securing, controlling, tracking, and managing high-value enterprise assets, including vehicles, powered equipment, trailers, containers, baggage, and cargo. The Company’s patented technologies address the needs of organizations to monitor and analyze their assets to improve safety, security, efficiency, and productivity. For more information, visit www.id-systems.com.

Asset Intelligence, a subsidiary of I.D. Systems based in Plano, Texas, is a leading provider of trailer and container tracking solutions for manufacturers, retailers, shippers and freight transportation providers. It offers a full range of solutions to improve safety, security and productivity throughout global supply chains.

“Safe Harbor” statement:

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to I.D. Systems’ beliefs, plans, goals, objectives, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions, and future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond I.D. Systems’ control, and which may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. For example, forward-looking statements include: statements regarding prospects for additional customers; market forecasts; projections of earnings, revenues, synergies, accretion or other financial information; and plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations, including integration plans in connection with the acquisition. The risks and uncertainties referred to above include, but are not limited to, future economic and business conditions, the loss of key customers or reduction in the purchase of products by any such customers, the failure of the market for I.D. Systems’ products to continue to develop, the possibility that I.D. Systems may not be able to integrate successfully the business, operations and employees of acquired businesses, the inability to protect I.D. Systems’ intellectual property, the inability to manage growth, the effects of competition from a variety of local, regional, national and other providers of wireless solutions, and other risks detailed from time to time in I.D. Systems’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. These risks could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward looking statements made by, or on behalf of, I.D. Systems. I.D. Systems assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release, and expressly disclaims any obligation to do so, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Ocean World Lines Introduces Cargo Management Services in AsiaOpens new offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Qingdao to support service

Lake Success, New York – With vessel space tighter than ever between North America and the Far East, Ocean World Lines (OWL), a global door-to-door and end-to-end NVOCC, announced today that it has introduced cargo management services in Asia to help importers better manage their inventory levels and improve vendor compliance, supported by an expanding network of offices in the region.

The new cargo management services, including worldwide door-to-door air, ocean and ground transportation, offers a total supply chain solution from local oversight of the manufacturing process to securing the best projected booking date for the shipment.

OWL has also opened new offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Qingdao to support the new services in Asia. “By operating our own offices in the region, we become our customers’ logistics arm in Asia with personal relationships at every point, including factories, terminals, equipment operators and all modes of shipping,” said Eric Seamon, vice president OWL Asia.

“We provide a truly one-stop shop experience and our new cargo management services improve our customers’ vendor compliance. We speak the language, we understand the culture, we have personal relationships with the factories and we make sure everything is compliant with PO commitments. In other words, our team maintains very close tabs on our customers’ suppliers to ensure everything runs smoothly,” said Seamon.

Through the service OWL helps importers manage their inventory levels by providing purchase orders as they are issued and showing inventory orders as they are created. The new service is operated in conjunction with the company’s new OWL360º® online visibility solution, which instantly alerts the customer for approval of any discrepancies once the order is ready to be shipped.

“We contact our customers’ vendors 21 days, 14 days and 7 days prior to the target ship date to secure the best booking,” said Seamon. “This allows shippers to plan at the factory level and provides line item detail into the supply chain before the manufacturer uploads the purchase order.”

According to Alan Baer, OWL’s president, with the extra tight vessel capacity, it is more important than any other time in the industry for shippers to pre-book and manage their cargo ready dates. “We are recommending that our shippers book two to three weeks in advance,” said Baer. “The key benefit of our new service is that we have full visibility into our customers’ supply chain sooner so we can, for example, consolidate goods from three factories and ship them all in one container to the warehouse whether they are moving via airfreight, LTL or containership. This saves our customers money on their shipping costs, which is at the top of every shipper’s mind these days.”

The new service also supplies advanced knowledge of vendor-delayed orders so proactive decisions can be made based on real time visibility of the purchase order’s status, including open and booked PO’s. “We can save our customers a lot of time, money and headaches by correcting mistakes at origin and most importantly, prevent inventory shortages and delays. This is what every shipper hopes to achieve and we feel like we are offering the ultimate visibility tool with our OWL360º® solution supported by our new offices in Asia,” said Baer.

About Ocean World Lines

Ocean World Lines, known in the industry by its iconic owl logo, is one of the largest fully bonded NVOCC’s in the world. OWL maintains more than 45 service contracts with the top ocean carriers and handles today’s most complex global supply chain requirements.

Founded in 1979, OWL works with importers, exporters and freight forwarders to move all types of cargo and provide global door-to-door/end-to-end service. OWL offers a one-stop shop experience for its customers coupled with leading-edge technology for a truly value-based solution.

With over 200 employees worldwide, OWL has offices located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Singapore, Tokyo, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Long Beach, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, San Francisco, Seattle, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, and Ipswich, as well as a network of agents worldwide.

OWL is a subsidiary of Pacer International, a leading North American freight transportation and logistics service provider that offers a broad array of services to facilitate the movement of freight from origin to destination.

Latest version redefines manufacturing Business Process Management with advanced blueprinting and prototyping capabilities and new user interfaces for greater productivity and flexibility

LONG BEACH, CA – (June 29, 2010) – Apriso®, a leading provider of manufacturing software solutions for sustained manufacturing operational excellence, today announced availability of FlexNet® version 9.5. This significantly enhanced version of Apriso’s FlexNet represents the next generation of Business Process Management (BPM) for manufacturers. Apriso has enhanced collaboration between corporate IT and manufacturing while accelerating implementation and engineering change through an Agile implementation methodology.

“This latest release of FlexNet helps cross-functional teams better collaborate through improved role separation, advanced blueprinting and prototyping capabilities,” stated John Fishell, vice president of product management at Apriso. “Simply stated, new manufacturing processes can be easily mapped, prototyped and evaluated by business users to ensure business objectives are met. These new processes may be implemented locally or globally through a Center of Excellence, accelerating the time to value and effectiveness of continuous process improvement. No other BPM solution enables an Agile implementation and change methodology.”

Apriso customers are now reaping the benefits of synchronized global manufacturing. For example, an industry-leading consumer goods manufacturer now performs Engineering Change Requests (ECRs) as often as three times a week, impacting operations spanning production, warehousing and quality across 20+ plants for improved operational performance, higher quality and greater profitability. Further, a large Automotive Powertrain customer is now implementing Apriso at 4 sites per month, benefiting from an accelerated time to value of their FlexNet IT investment.

Expanded capabilities of FlexNet 9.5 include:

 Advanced blueprinting and prototyping features that support an Agile approach to continuous process improvement

 Improved monitoring and process visualization for multi-plant deployments to accelerate new product introductions

 Enhanced Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) capabilities to ease the management of processes extending across a manufacturer’s operations

 Better tracking and monitoring of business process lifecycles for improved process governance and a lower total cost of compliance

 Redesigned User Interface (UI) for reduced project risk and greater productivity

As the only provider of native BPM-based manufacturing software solutions, Apriso understands not only the need for greater flexibility, but also the importance of governing and tracking process changes on an “end-to-end” basis. Apriso’s FlexNet has always utilized a native BPM architecture, so operations processes can easily span across production, quality, warehouse, labor and maintenance operations. Further, by leveraging a unified data model, these processes can be easily replicated across multiple locations to establish and maintain global standards and best practices.

“Unlike past approaches to process management, BPM recognizes that today’s business markets are global and more unpredictable than in the past. The time frame (or durability) of operational best practices is shorter, driving more-frequent adjustments to better respond to changing market dynamics. While process efficiency and effectiveness are still key goals, process agility — the ability for a business to adapt to changing conditions — is paramount,” explains Michelle Cantara, Research Vice President at Gartner, in her “Research Index: A Guide to Principles of Business Process Management,” published September 8, 2009.

About Apriso

Apriso Corporation is a software company dedicated to providing competitive advantage for its customers. It does so by enabling organizations to adapt quickly and easily to market changes and unexpected events. Apriso’s FlexNet platform provides visibility, adaptability and real-time control of manufacturing operations across the enterprise and supply chain network. This is accomplished by integrating planning, execution and control, increasing operational efficiency and eliminating errors in the production process. Apriso serves more than 180 customers in over 40 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its customers include General Motors, Lear, Honeywell, L’Oréal, Trixell, Lockheed Martin, Becton Dickinson, Saint-Gobain, Novelis and Essilor. For more information, please go to www.apriso.com.

Apriso and FlexNet are registered trademarks of Apriso Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:

Gordon Benzie

Apriso Corporation

(562) 951-8054

gordon.benzie@apriso.com

Michael Gallo

Gutenberg Communications

(212) 239-8594

mgallo@gutenbergpr.com

Excerpt from ChemLogix Chemical Transportation and Logistics Blog

http://blog.chemlogix.com/2010/06/logistics-outsourcing-does-it-make-sense-for-everyone/

Each company must look to its strengths to answer this question for itself. But the answer is likely to be yes ….to some extent.

Two questions help to begin to frame the answer are: 1) what expertise and capabilities should we have in-house based on our size and the criticality for each logistics function? And 2) what really are our strengths today for each function and each mode and are any gaps best filled by Outsourcing?

Smaller companies with less than 5-10,000 shipments per year will often Outsource the full logistics function to a 3^rd party provider (3PL). It simply is not cost efficient to have experts across all functions like procurement, execution, payment, regulatory compliance, etc.  and across all modes from truck to rail to ocean. For medium size, and even large shippers the answer often comes down to looking at its operation mode-by-mode. Some very large domestic shippers who only do several thousand international shipments per year recognize that the complexities of those shipments require an understanding of markets, processes, regulations, etc. that is better handled by experts who do that for many shippers. Companies that may have large packaged truck operations but smaller bulk truck needs, or vice versa, will often carve out that mode for Outsource experts to manage. The same is true across all truck, rail, and intermodal operations.

An especially useful area of Outsourcing for companies of all sizes can be Freight Procurement.  Outsource providers bring: 1) purchasing power, 2) market expertise, and 3) systems and tools that a single shipper cannot hope to match. 3PLs have staff that is constantly in the market both for themselves and for their Freight Procurement customers. This allows them to see changing trends in price and capacity across regions. This valuable knowledge is coupled with the use of automated tools that create competition for the shipper and often allow carriers to see how their Bids are stacking up. This ensures the best matching of carrier capacities/strategies with the needs/strategies of the shippers.  These Outsource Procurement engagements often start with a Benchmarking exercise that highlights the potential of having an automated bid done in conjunction with the Outsource partner.

The logistics process with the most hassles, Freight Audit & Payment, is also often Outsourced to save internal staff resources. Especially coupled with a Transportation Management System the process can be automated and exceptions, the bane of the process, significantly reduced.

For processes/functions/expertise that makes sense to keep in-house for medium and especially large shippers there is still an Outsource decision to make…..where do we get the support systems needed by our staff for procurement, for shipment execution (Transportation Management Systems (TMS)), for global trade management, etc.   Some 3PLs, such as ChemLogix, use these systems as well as sell and implement them with larger shippers. The very good news here is that the seller/implementer is fully vested in ensuring a good product that is well maintained.

As with many questions in Logistics, the answer to “Should we Outsource?”  comes down to “it depends”.  But I think you will find that in most cases the decision will not be to Outsource or not, but rather, what functions, processes, and modes does it make sense to Outsource.

Author:  Stephen Hamilton, ChemLogix, LLC www.chemlogix.comCompared to the roads, Mexico has a good rail system, extending across most of the countryBY SHIFTING freight from trucks to rail, chemical shippers not only save on transportation costs, but also reduce highway congestion and pollution. A Chemical products are among the top US exports to Mexico. According to the US Department of Commerce, the country exported $83.8bn (€65.9bn) in chemicals in 2009, including $11.6bn to Mexico.Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) liberalized trade between the US and Mexico, over-the-road (OTR) trucking has become the most popular mode of transporting raw materials into Mexico. While trade with Mexico continues to increase annually, several challenges are causing US shippers to rethink how to transport their chemical goods to and from the country.CONGESTION AT THE BORDERAccording to US government data, US-Mexico trade has more than doubled since 1994. This has put more trucks on the roads, leading to greater congestion at border crossings. During 2009, more than 2m crossings were made by truck into Mexico just through Texas, reports the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development.The volume of trucks crossing the US/Mexico border, combined with increased security measures implemented by the Mexican and US governments following 9/11, have resulted in costly delays at border-crossing points. Trucks can be delayed for hours, waiting to go through customs. And once there, incomplete paperwork can cause further delays until problems are resolved.The atrocious conditions on Mexican roads contribute to mechanical breakdowns and flat tires, leading to shipment delays, or worse, major road mishaps such as an overturned trailer.Only 50% of Mexican highways are paved and 1.8% are expressways, notes the CIA World Factbook. Along with narrow tunnels and bridges, free-roaming livestock pose traffic hazards.Another serious operational and insurance problem is bandits along the north-south trucking routes, who are known to hijack trucks, steal cargo and terrorize truckers. As the narcotics wars escalate in Mexico, Mexican law enforcement is involved in arresting drug cartels and has little time to protect remote roads.A major by-product of increased OTR transportation is pollution. Mexico City has been called the most polluted city in the world, caused by industrial growth and the proliferation of vehicles.The increased volume of trucks at the border ports has increased pollution in these areas. It is uncertain when Mexico will pass legislation on highway diesel fuel and vehicles in the future to protect its environment.CHEAPER, GREENER SOLUTION

Intermodal transportation offers a safer, greener and more cost-effective alternative to trucking chemicals.Intermodal shipments between US and Mexican points are made even more attractive by sending the shipments in-bond. Shipping intermodal in-bond basically means putting goods in a container and shipping via rail from a US point to a Mexican point (or vice versa) without stopping at the border.Trucks are utilized for short periods to deliver goods from a warehouse or manufacturing facility to and from train depots on either end of the train trip. Intermodal eliminates the worries that shippers have regarding all the issues at the Mexican border towns, as well as customs delays, because paperwork is processed prior to the train’s arrival at a border.In-bond shipments can cross the border without stopping, avoiding the border inspection and clearance process. And trains are not subject to the vehicle border fees that trucks must pay when entering Mexico. Compared to the roads, Mexico has a good rail system extending across most of the country, with well-established rail connections at the US border.To gain greater share of the commercial transportation business, railroads are working to offer better services, increasing the number of locomotives, replacing equipment and improving/expanding intermodal terminals. According to the US Commercial Service, Mexico has about 64 operational intermodal terminals, with plans on adding more. When taking into account all the delays at the border, intermodal transport takes about the same amount of time as trucking. For example, rail transit time to transport chemical products from Chicago to Mexico City is about four to six days.Loaded chemical containers taken to the Union Pacific railroad in Chicago, with appropriate customs documents provided to the railroad’s forwarder, immediately clear US customs and start down to Mexico City. Four days after leaving Chicago, the container arrives at the Pantaco yard in Mexico City, where it clears Mexican customs - no delays at the border or loss of product to highway accidents or to hijackers. And costs are dramatically reduced. Intermodal can save 20-30% over trucking. Distance and volume, however, determine the value of using intermodal instead of OTR. The longer the passage from the US to Mexico, the greater the savings.For the past five years, we have successfully used this mode of trans-border transportation for bulk commodities in tank containers, as well as traditionally packaged freight in box containers. One global chemical manufacturer is saving about 30-35% of every product load of chemicals shipped to Mexico via intermodal. The customer had been using OTR to transport product from Chicago to Mexico.After three to four test loads using intermodal, the chemical manufacturer found it could cut three to four days out of its shipment schedule, while saving up to $3,000 (€2,461) per shipment. With 200 loads shipped to Mexico per year, the savings are significant.The transition to intermodal was virtually seamless. Product is now delivered in an ISO tank container by truck to the Union Pacific railway, where it is transferred to a railcar. The same customs paperwork is now processed electronically and forwarded to the border port by the broker prior to the train’s arrival. Pre-processing paperwork has eliminated border delays, while trains avoid the safety issues associated with trucks. During transit, we track the cargo until it reaches a designated train depot across the border. Once there, a Mexican trucking company transports the load a short distance to its final destination. Based on the success of its test loads, the chemical company is now using intermodal for all shipments of its chemical coatings to Mexico, saving money while going green to boot.Chemical companies looking to determine if intermodal is right for them should contact a third-party logistics consultant specializing in intermodal transportation to evaluate their current logistics strategy. The value, safety, and environmental benefits offered by intermodal in-bond makes it worth considering as an option for shipping freight between the US and Mexico. 

Ocean World Lines Launches OWL360°A Total Supply Chain Visibility Solution Available

for the First Time to Medium and Small Sized Shippers

Lake Success, New York – Ocean World Lines (OWL), a global door-to-door and end-to-end NVOCC, announced today that it has launched a total supply chain visibility solution created to deliver a competitive edge for small and medium sized shippers and to assist with making high level supply chain decisions.

Being branded as OWL360°, the customized system provides shippers with a total view of their product including purchase order and item level. The system automatically and proactively communicates to both customers and any of their trade partners through alerts and reports.

According to Alan Baer, OWL’s president, until now, this type of robust system has only been available to the world’s largest importers. “We have definitely taken standard industry cargo tracking and tracing to the next level. Many of our medium to small sized shippers were looking for the same visibility advantage that large importers have access to, so we made it available to everyone. By giving our customers a high level of detail through shipment alerts and reports, we supply a tangible advantage including real time global visibility of their shipment details, automated communication and customized reports,” said Baer.

“Our goal with OWL360° was to improve the flow of information among all partners in the supply chain to enhance the speed and predictability of cargo. Our customers tell us that OWL360° helps them to make high level supply chain decisions by providing the real time and detailed tracking visibility they needed,” said Baer.

One such customer is OSRAM, a leader in lighting solutions. “OWL360° benefits our global supply chain and supports our commitment to customer satisfaction,” said Wayne J. Withers Jr., supply chain analyst for OSRAM. “Just about anyone can quickly learn the system and navigate through the different features.”

OWL360° delivers custom reports by trade lane, KPI and cycle time capabilities to assist with high level routing and supply chain decisions. “Two of the most utilized components of the system are the customer notification and the ‘DC empty container available for pick up’ program,” said Baer. “The system reduces transportation costs, while improving inventory levels, order cycles times, on-time and complete delivery, and staff productivity.”

Another shipper using OWL360° is Coleman Cable Inc., a leading manufacturer and innovator of electrical and electronic wire and cable products for the security, sound, telecommunications, electrical construction, retail, commercial, industrial, irrigation, HVAC and automotive markets. “OWL360° allows us to track import delivered containers directly with the most up-to-date information,” said Priscilla O’Dell, import/export coordinator.

OWL360° generates many reports by cycle times; measurement of transit times between two milestones; measurement of transit times of complete routing; identifying sources of delays by origin and carrier; automatically informing each DC of the cargo expected into their warehouse; and much more.

The system also produces automated alerts such as: late or out-of-tolerance sailing; container available for delivery to DC and empty available for carrier return. This feature reduces per diem and detention charges. Another popular application is the order management module which allows customers to upload vendor purchase orders, providing early visibility of orders in production, and enabling OWL to proactively manage shipment schedules based on product ready dates.

About Ocean World Lines

Ocean World Lines, known in the industry by its iconic owl logo, is one of the largest fully bonded NVOCC’s in the world. OWL maintains more than 45 service contracts with the top ocean carriers and handles today’s most complex global supply chain requirements.

Founded in 1979, OWL works with importers, exporters and freight forwarders to move all types of cargo and provide global door-to-door/end-to-end service. OWL offers a one-stop shop experience for its customers coupled with leading-edge technology for a truly value-based solution.

With over 200 employees worldwide, OWL has offices located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Singapore, Japan, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Long Beach, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, San Francisco, Seattle, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, and the United Kingdom, as well as a network of agents worldwide.

OWL is a subsidiary of Pacer International, a leading North American freight transportation and logistics service provider that offers a broad array of services to facilitate the movement of freight from origin to destination.