US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that they are aiming to begin the first phase of a Trusted Trader program this fall. The program will enable CBP to better manage supply chain security and compliance by unifying the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) initiatives:

Amber Road is pleased to announce that it received SupplyChainBrain’s Top Supply Chain Partners Award for 2013. This is the ninth year Amber Road has been recognized by the publication for its outstanding customer satisfaction and overall impact in the industry!

The 100 Great Supply Chain Partners Award highlights a select list of companies whose solutions and services have been so impressive that their customers took the time to nominate them.

What: Live webinar on SCM World Global Trade Survey Results: Insights from Senior Supply Chain Practitioners

Amber Road would like to thank all of those who attended our Minimizing Exposure, Liability, and Risk in Trade Compliance webinar. The attendees asked some great questions, but unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to answer all of them. The presenters were kind enough to provide us with written responses to those questions. Here are a few:

The term “global trade management” used to mean one thing: compliance. Not anymore. Ty Bordner, VP of Product Management & Solutions Consulting at Amber Road, describes how GTM today embraces the whole experience of moving goods across borders: regulation, duty management, logistics, and, most of all, global supply-chain visibility.

Oxbow Carbon LLC needed a solution to help to transport and sell the petroleum products they create into markets where they could be used to produce aluminum, steel, and other critical products for the world economy. Oxbow signed on with for Amber Road’s Export On-Demand solution late last year, and the company has already increased its restricted party screening productivity by 82 percent.

Now, Oxbow is able to centralize and automate its export compliance processes across 90 countries and screen against over 250 lists. Using Amber Road’s hosted technology, Oxbow consolidated 13 ERP systems into one common database portal, creating a simplified and efficient trade compliance process.

What is the best department to oversee trade compliance? American Shipper’s recent report, “Import Operations and Compliance Benchmark Study: The Secrets of Import Success” suggests that best practice would be to have trade compliance reside in the compliance department. Their assertion makes sense at face value, but John Wainwright, Vice President of Customs Compliance at Leggett & Platt, made a compelling case for the procurement side of things in discussion with Steve Banker from ARC Advisory Group for Logistics Viewpoints earlier this week.

Leggett & Platt designs and produces engineered components used in industrial and consumer finished products. As a manufacturer, it makes the most sense for trade compliance to report up through procurement. And since Leggett & Platt has been using Amber Road’s Global Trade Management (GTM) solution for about ten years, the company has been able to remain compliant with changing regulations and a growing international supply chain. The solution has also made Leggett & Platt a much better partner to its suppliers, with increased visibility and easy filing through a secure online portal.

At BIS Update 2013 last month, Amber Road and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Associates, Inc. had the pleasure of hosting a fantastic boat cruise on the Potomac for a ton of our customers, partners and friends!