Larger companies can integrate inventory dark spots with WMS 2.0™ software, allowing for supply chain innovation and significant ROI
Oakland, CA—October 9, 2008—SmartTurn Inc., the leading On-Demand Inventory and Warehouse Management System (WMS) provider, today announced that its powerful system is gaining momentum within large organizations as they look for an on-demand, enterprise-class solution that offers reliability comparable to traditional enterprise software with dramatically more competitive cost savings.
The SmartTurn Inventory and Warehouse Management System has proven an attractive option for larger companies such as Komyo America Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Honda Logistics and Honda Motor Company (www.honda.com), that have independent and growing lines of business, and short-run or dynamic supply chains, thus creating the need for rapid, adaptive and lean application deployment provided by the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Among its other customers, SmartTurn boasts warehouses that utilize the system to fulfill some of the most popular consumer brands.
In particular, 3PLs and transportation companies that work with new customers, warehouses, or freight partners are able to rapidly deploy a new warehouse or customer in days rather than months, atypical of legacy or paper-based inventory systems. With built-in next-generation, web technologies for warehouses (WMS 2.0™), SmartTurn customers can securely and instantly create inventory visibility at the single or multi-warehouse level, without expensive add-ons.
The result is that SmartTurn customers communicate and collaborate effectively in real-time, integrating with business processes that cover the entire cash-to-cash cycle, including web storefronts, ERP systems such as SAP (www.sap.com) and Oracle (www.oracle.com), or procurement systems like Ariba (www.ariba.com) through industry standard web services. What makes the system so compelling is that the threshold for pain (of running a warehouse with just paper) has been lowered significantly. SmartTurn customers pay only $500 per month per warehouse, allowing for an unlimited number of users, free RF handheld licenses, support, upgrades, training and maintenance. In contrast, typical enterprise-class WMS systems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and licensing.
“In our decision-making process, we wanted a WMS that provided the functionality, ease of use and quick deployment time that would scale with our operations,” said Richard Franklin, Corporate Director of Operations, Komyo America. “SmartTurn provides that foundation for our customers to securely collaborate and share information across our business network.”
With tightening margins, and increased industry competition, companies continue to focus on supply chains as an essential component for business growth, while also focusing on addressing supply chain challenges that adversely affect their long-term growth potential. Today, the biggest problem in the supply chain is the lack of warehouse and inventory visibility combined with the inability to effectively collaborate and communicate within the trading partner network.
“The SmartTurn system was designed to support smaller, more dynamic businesses that need to configure the system quickly without IT resources, and where bigger deployments across multiple warehouses are rapid and inexpensive,” said Jim Burleigh, CEO of SmartTurn. “It’s not a surprise to us that larger companies are jumping at the opportunity to build agility into their operations, so they can adapt as quickly to changing market conditions as smaller companies.”
“As bigger customers look to connect their warehouse locations, while providing secure and accurate access to their supply chain network, they realize that SmartTurn’s on-demand solution meets those needs, while increasing internal productivity and customer satisfaction,” continued Burleigh. “Our solution offers customers the enterprise-class functionality with the reliability and cost savings within the structure of an on-demand, scalable system.”
SmartTurn™ Inventory and Warehouse Management System and the SmartTurn Inventory Grid™ are the first true on-demand warehouse management systems to provide enterprise-class functionality for small to medium enterprises. Based on its WMS 2.0 technology and similar to social networking sites such as LinkedIn® (www.linkedin.com) and Facebook™ (www.facebook.com), SmartTurn offers a global collaboration platform that can be delivered across geographic or corporate boundaries and enables companies to easily implement and integrate additional sites to gain enterprise-wide warehouse visibility and management without any added IT infrastructure or server hardware costs. Warehouses can instantly integrate the information flows within their own organizations and federated trading communities by simply adjusting security and permission configurations. For more information, please visit www.smartturn.com/news/index.jsp
About SmartTurn
SmartTurn™ Inventory and Warehouse Management System and the SmartTurn Inventory Grid™ are the first true on-demand warehouse management systems to provide enterprise class functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional license and install software. Designed for quick implementation, ease-of-use, real-time inventory accuracy and warehouses performance, the SmartTurn system provides visibility on every item across single or multiple warehouses. Founded on the premise that software should be smart, simple and safe, SmartTurn’s customers span the value chain of most industries to include manufacturers, wholesalers as well as 3PLs. SmartTurn is privately held and backed by leading investors, NEA and Emergence Capital Partners. Please visit our web site at www.smartturn.com.
