Manhattan Associates Introduces SCM Solution in ASEAN

Logistics Insight Asia - Top Story, 27/1/2010

An execution-focused supply chain platform can provide competitive advantage to retailers, third party logistics companies (3PLs) and manufacturers throughout the member states of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN).

This is achieved by facilitating more efficient delivery of products and raising the bar on service quality. The 2010 release of Manhattan SCALE (Supply Chain Architected for Logistics Execution) is ideal for fast-growing companies across the ASEAN member states as it can be scaled up or down quickly to easily fit a given company’s precise distribution operation domestically and overseas or to match activity levels according to market and economic fluctuations.

As the global economy recovers, the solution’s scale-ability is an enabler to facilitate business growth. The solution also minimizes IT complexity, provides a rapid return on investment and lowers the total cost of ownership.

The platform is a portfolio of distribution management solutions that is built on industry-standard Microsoft.NET technology for easy installation and use, offering a familiar interface in English or simplified Chinese for business professionals throughout the region.

By leveraging sophisticated optimization techniques to improve the flow of goods throughout supply chains, SCALE 2010 enables companies throughout ASEAN to tie together processes, data and workflows to improve quality control and eliminate the delivery of substandard or out-of-date products through increased order and delivery accuracy and better inventory control and visibility.

It adds a customizable desktop experience through small specialized gadgets - applications that are designed to do simple tasks and that can display data taken from the SCALE system or any other SQL Server database. This enables users to gain immediate access to key information that they need right from their desktop.

Workflow has also been added to the solution and so with RF Receiving check-in for example, functionality can now be manipulated, so that the user is able to view and define the functionality/screen flow via a graphical interface.


The solution also offers an expanded Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI) module by adding functional areas to the data warehouse including inbound, labour management, location inventory and wave. A Statistics Window for managing a Wave for example, displays summary-level statistics about a completed wave and includes information such as how many shipments were consolidated and rejected which can address quality control issues, and how many containers were created.

The enhanced Value Added Services component can now direct products to where additional processing can take place. Companies across the region can also benefit from the ability to place different shipments for different addresses onto a single shipping pallet saving large amounts of space at the shipper’s facility. The Labor Management module has been enhanced with a “heel-to-toe” time tracking capability so that productive and non-productive time can be tracked for every employee on the warehouse floor.

Manhattan Associates, www.manh.com