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Click Commerce, Peers Unveil New SCE Products at ProMat

by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff

Posted on Thursday, January 11, 2007 5:08:00 PM       Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox                               

Click Commerce Inc. this week added an updated Web-based warehouse management application to its supply chain suite, the latest move to fill the "white space" that remains between ERP and outside trading partners.

The warehouse management system, called Click Commerce WMX, was just one of many products that debuted at ProMat 2007, the supply chain show that took place this week in Chicago. The event also provided the platform for LXE Inc. to demonstrate its next-generation suite of mobile supply chain technology products. In addition, FKI Logistex and Rockwell Automation showed off new material-handling and logistics management offerings.

In addition to WMX, Click Commerce used ProMat to disclose a changing of the guard. The company, which was acquired last fall by Illinois Tool Works (ITW), named Nancy Koenig president. Koenig, who as executive vice president ran the company's operations in North America and Europe, is assuming responsibilities previously handled by CEO Michael Ferro, who is working as a consultant to ITW. During Ferro's tenure the position of president was vacant, said a company spokesperson, who noted that Koenig played a key leadership role during the ITW acquisition. Koenig joined Click Commerce in 1999 after spending time in sales and marketing at Motorola.

Click Commerce's WMX, meanwhile, was among ProMat's highlights. The product adds visibility and control outside the four walls of the warehouse, tapping into RFID and voice-enabled applications to help a manufacturer adapt to changing conditions in the supply chain, the company said. Its arrival fills a gap in Click Commerce's supply chain execution portfolio, which includes service parts execution, returns and repair, as well as logistics and trading partner management software.

The vendor's Service Parts Execution software is used primarily by aerospace & defense companies looking to optimize the location of high-value parts to minimize inventory issues that could, for example, ground an airplane. A Returns and Repair product focuses on reverse logistics processes, helping to ensure that a part returned for service gets to the right location and is repaired and made available again as quickly as possible. Click Commerce's WebShip, meanwhile, can accommodate high-volume, multi-carrier shipping practices and provides compliance with customer requirements while offering rate comparisons between carriers. And Network Logistics is a trading-partner-agnostic application that coordinates activities including event management and risk management, according to the company.

As manufacturers' dependence on third parties grows, many companies often overlook the role warehouse and distribution center optimization can play in improving operational agility. A recent Aberdeen Group report noted that to reduce cost and cut order fulfillment times, companies need to focus on how they manage inventory in the "extended warehouse"; that is, warehouses owned by third parties such as contract manufacturers and logistics companies. The study points out that companies that find ways to manage docks, yards, and multiple warehouses collectively are more than five times as likely to reduce warehousing costs than those that still treat each area as a separate functional silo.

WMX is a redesigned, service-oriented-architecture version of a WMS application Click Commerce acquired with the purchase of Optum Inc. two years ago.

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