UPS’s Paperless Invoice, which has been used by small package shippers for years, has now been extended to the company’s air freight customers. The service offers customers the ability to electronically clear their customs throughout the world so they no longer have to use standard, error-prone paper forms.

By extending the service to international air freight shipments, UPS will not only save customers time and money but will also reduce the amount of trees that are cut down annually. UPS’s free-of-charge solution helps customers increase their efficiency by integrating order processing, shipment preparation, and commercial invoice data. Prior to shipments, all data is transmitted to customs offices across the globe, eliminating the problems that accompany paper documentation.

Since customers’ information will be stored electronically, their odds of making manual errors while filling out customs documentation are significantly reduced. Also, due to the Paperless Invoice’s tech-enabled service, customers are not able to submit incomplete paperwork, which is the chief cause of delay for worldwide deliveries.

B2B Collaboration Center

GT Nexus has launched a business to business (B2B) collaboration center, known as G2. G2 can be used by GT Nexus’s cloud supply chain platform customers throughout the world.

All GT Nexus users have direct, secure access to this collaboration center. Through the center, users are able to fully utilize a variety of social networks, as well as a community that features a wide range of global enterprises that have hired GT Nexus to operate their supply chains on a daily basis.

“Supply chain management is all about inter-company collaboration,” says Andy Stinnes, EVP of products and strategy at GT Nexus. “Since all of our customers share a common business platform, they often share ideas and work together on common issues. G2 is the tool that will help foster collaboration like you see in the consumer world, only focused on very real and very specific supply chain business and technology issues.”

G2 is projected to improve organizations’ communication capabilities with one another as they strive to achieve their fiscal and logistical goals.

“We have already seen some very interesting discussion groups form that are made of different companies,” states Stinnes. “Since they all use the same supply chain technology platform, they realize that working together on key issues can drive value for the entire community.”

Two Next-Generation Solutions

Menlo Worldwide Logistics, a subsidiary of Con-way Inc., has launched two next-generation solutions for transportation management through the creation of Menlo Transportation Services.

The portfolio will offer customers two service offerings to remove nationwide waste, initiate new efficiencies, and establish Lean continuous improvement processes.

The two offerings—Solution Engineering and Transportation Management—will help Menlo’s customers save time and money.

To reduce customers’ costs and increase their deployment time, the Solution Engineering offering, among other tasks, reviews and understands the present state of transportation networks, discovers which one (or more) of customers’ current operations are inefficient, and provides other types of operating models to customers for possible future usage.

The Transportation Management offering assists customers in paying their freight charges, managing claims for lost or damaged shipments, and properly organizing their freight transportation contracts and charges.

Gate Automation

The Port of Houston Authority, which operates one of the largest ports in the world, has begun using APS Technology Group, Inc.’s Gate optimal character recognition (OCR) Portal.

APS’s portal will allow the port authority to implement damage inspection imaging, equipment identification, and traffic processing at the Port of Houston’s recently designed entry gate complex, which is located at the Bayport container terminal.

“We’re excited to extend our partnership with The Port of Houston as they continue to modernize their operations,” states Allen Thomas, APS Technology COO. “This is another example of The Port of Houston Authority’s [embracement of] programs that improve productivity and efficiency while also lowering the environmental impact on the local community.”

Smoother Moves

Pacer, a North American freight transportation and logistics services provider, has designed a unique and easy-to-use tool to help current and prospective customers determine the potential dollar savings and carbon emission reductions generated by using Pacer intermodal services versus trucking, called the Smoother Moves Calculator.

With the interactive tool, users can choose their origin and destination city pairs, commodity type, and shipment quantities for their current truckload lanes. The calculator will then provide immediate feedback on the estimated dollar savings, carbon emission reductions, and transit time differences associated with switching to Pacer’s intermodal services.

The market-average values for truck, intermodal, fuel, and supply chain day costs can easily be adjusted to suit the user’s specific situation. With a simple button click, customers can submit contact and shipment information and receive a detailed quote from Pacer. wt