W.L. Gore & Associates provide innovative solutions to a diverse range of industries (electronics, industrial, medical and textiles, among others).While they may be best known for their revolutionary GORE-TEX® fabric, nearly all of Gore’s thousands of products are based on just one material, ePTFE (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene), which the company designs to function in a wide variety of applications. Gore’s workforce of 8,000 associates located at 45 sites around the world position the organization as one of the top 200 largest privately held companies in the USA.
The Challenge: Multiple sites, multiple carriers, disparate processes and off-line document formats.
In 1999, W.L. Gore & Associates had more than 40 sites utilizing multiple stand-alone carrier systems. Each site had unique versions of trade documents which were manually created using a word processing application and supported by manual compliance checking. Visibility to carrier usage data across sites was both difficult and time consuming to compile. In fact, yearly contract negotiations and the subsequent rate maintenance / uploads took days, sometimes weeks to process. As the new millennium dawned, Gore realized that standardizing their transportation operations was paramount to improving their processes as well providing better service to their customers. “We needed a solution that could be implemented globally to streamline our transportation processes, provide visibility across the organization and standardize our trade documentation output on a worldwide basis” says Miguel Jimenez, an Associate at Gore.
The Solution: A globally implemented system provides consistency and visibility across the enterprise.
W.L. Gore & Associates chose Precision Software’s PRECISION solution because it offered both the transportation and global trade management capabilities the company needed. Not only could PRECISION support Gore’s multi-modal shipping requirements as well as international trade documentation and compliance needs, but it could be done on a worldwide basis. Other solutions under consideration at the time were primarily domestic (in-country shipping) in nature and did not have the global expertise behind them. The PRECISION Global Trade Management (GTM) and Transportation Management (TMS) solution is implemented on a single database using the PRECISION Windows User Interface and Web User Interface to support Gore’s diverse supply chain which included plants that ship exclusively by parcel carrier and those with a mix of parcel and Less-than-Truckload (LTL) shipments. PRECISION’s robust global carrier certifications (more than 40 parcel carrier integrations worldwide) and ability to store and utilize multiple carrier rates ensures automation of the routing and rating shipment process. The shipment data is centrally stored in a single repository for automated documentation creation, reporting and carrier negotiation purposes.
The Benefits: A ‘watertight’ and responsive transportation and trade operation.
W.L. Gore & Associates achieved the single business solution it sought for all divisions and all countries after a phased-in approach to deploying the PRECISION solution. According to Jimenez, it is the “optimal solution to cover our routing and rating of shipments, export documentation and compliance needs. All while operating with one process and providing a single presence to our customers.” In fact, with the PRECISION solution, Gore was able to handle a fairly substantial increase in shipment volumes – doubled in some instances – without bringing on additional headcount. The company has also maintained its on-time shipment percentages, critical to meeting customer demands. Today, when reviewing and re-negotiating those annual carrier contracts, Gore now has the capability to easily extract and analyze the data. Jimenez points to these improvements in operational efficiency as evidence that the solution has provided Gore with valuable time savings and increased efficiencies throughout the business. “Taking days to review and maintain carrier rates and LTL/TL contracts was no longer an option. By utilizing PRECISION on a global basis, we have been able to reduce this effort significantly – from days down to hours.”
The Future: Continuous improvement and strong partnering for a new decade.
Precision Software and W.L. Gore & Associates have worked closely together to maximize Gore’s use of the PRECISION multi-modal transportation solution and seamlessly comply with the mandatory automated filing requirements put in place by global customs agencies. Most recently the company has added Automated Export System (AES) customs reporting for both the U.S. (AES) and Germany (ATLAS AES). After a long track record in the business, Jimenez understands the need for shipment transaction data to be accurate and shared across the supply chain. With PRECISION, his team will be ready for the new regulatory programs and global trade requirements coming down the line, such as C-TPAT in the U.S., AEO in Europe and the U.S. Importer Security Filing (ISF) initiative soon to be enacted (also known as 10+2). He is confident that Gore’s world class global supply chain and diverse product portfolio is supported by centralized visibility and control of transportation processes that meet the demands of customers around the world.