Last month, Supply & Demand Chain Executive broadcasted a webinar entitled, How Abercrombie Deployed a Transloading Model. Presenters included:

• Chris Andrews, Director of International Logistics at Abercrombie
• Sarah Jane Chapman, Manager of International Logistics at Abercrombie
• Stephanie Miles, Senior Vice President of Commercial Services at Amber Road
• Kevin Snelling, Senior Transportation Analyst at Abercrombie

Our presenters received several questions throughout the webinar and unfortunately did not have time to address them all during the live broadcast. We have compiled their answers into a Q&A document - here is a preview:

During our webinar with SupplyChainBrain last month, Ryan Miller of Dick's Sporting Goods discussed how the company has adopted new technology to automate and simplify the supplier relationship management process, making it easy for sourcing executives to make quick, informed decisions about their suppliers. Several viewers asked questions during the webinar, and while our speakers were unable to answer them all live, Ryan Miller and Gary Barraco have answered the additional questions here.

Q: Does your implementation of Amber Road integrate with other systems?

Ryan:  Yes, absolutely.  We are integrated today with Flex PLM from PTC.  That’s our main development system where we are doing all our tech packs, and that’s where our product information starts.  Amber Road comes at the beginning.  So as we are onboarding a vendor, all that vendor data is fed from Amber Road into PTC.  And then later on after development is through, we feed the data back from PTC back over to Amber Road for product testing and materials testing.  It’s one continuous back and forth integration.

Let’s put it bluntly: in most companies, sourcing teams are not well connected to their logistics and trade compliance teams. In fact, recent research from American Shipper shows that fewer than 5 percent of companies have a single platform linking key sourcing activities with freight transportation.

Continued from Chapter 1: The Challenges of Global Trade

Companies that rely heavily on manually intensive processes struggle to get their products from concept to creation in an efficient manner. With multiple product lines and changing consumer demands, the sourcing and production phases within the product lifecycle require close collaboration between companies and their buyers and suppliers. A lack of communication can lead to bottlenecks and increased costs. It’s imperative for companies to find a way to effectively collaborate with their suppliers to ensure success.

It’s no secret that puzzling shifts to the retail landscape have some companies on edge. Sourcing executives are under intense pressure to remain relevant and deliver exciting products to consumers while struggling with declining foot traffic, global competition, and even bankruptcy. Uncertainty also surrounds the U.S. presidential race, which could impact global trade, jobs, businesses, and consumer spending. 

Although many companies are engaged in global trade, that doesn’t mean they are getting the most out of their processes or technology systems designed to streamline international business. The new GTM recognizes the increasing complexity involved in global trade, and the need to encompass design, production, and global sourcing decisions as part of the end-to-end scope.

Product development and sourcing is inextricably linked to the downstream supply chain activities that follow, like trade compliance and logistics. But these functions have traditionally been siloed – sourcing teams going about their jobs independent of the impact on trade compliance and logistics teams, and vice versa. 

Organizations that successfully align with their key suppliers enjoy reduced risk factors and improved innovation, quality, reliability, supplier visibility, and cost reductions. Both sides of the business can achieve greater value, which is difficult to achieve if operating independently.

Amber Road customer Dick’s Sporting Goods has adopted new technology to automate and simplify the supplier relationship management process, making it easy for sourcing executives to make quick, informed decisions about their suppliers.

Product traceability has become a critical aspect of supply chains and global trade; with definitions that run the gamut depending on the industry or phase in the product lifecycle.  Product traceability may be both a regulatory and environmental issue.  Retailers want to ensure they provide their customers with as much supply chain visibility into sourcing operations, including where their products are manufactured and if those factories maintain safe working conditions, pay workers a fair wage, and use methods that do not damage the environment. Likewise, product testing laws continue to increase in complexity. Traceability is a requirement for many import and export controls, as demonstrated by these regulations:

In a previous webinar, Amber Road discussed why for today’s companies, a landed cost management capability is not only important, but essential.

We have transcribed the webinar to explain landed costs in more detail.  If you would like to watch the archived presentation, please click here.

If you would like to read Part 4, please click here.