Enterprise application provider Oracle has added another tool to the suite of supply chain products it has been building out for the past few years, today announcing its Oracle Global Trade Management offering.
The application is a first for Oracle in this arena and is targeted at manufacturers whose products cross borders and must comply with various duties, regulations, and customs procedures. The Global Trade Management application helps manufacturers manage the flow of trade-related data, conduct restricted-party screenings of customers and suppliers, and deal with other compliance issues, such as the management of dual-use products.
As early as 2007, Oracle revealed its intention to develop a trade management product for global manufacturers. The company built the Global Trade Management product from the ground up and has integrated it with a larger portfolio of supply chain-oriented products that includes transportation and fleet management.
Not coincidentally, today Oracle also revealed version 6.1 of its Transportation Management product, built on the same platform as the Trade Management product. The latest version features the ability to manage ocean contracts as well as additional support for real-time communications with the drivers and vehicles in a company’s supply chain, using on-board mobile computers and other mobile devices. The 6.1 release also boasts extended optimization capabilities that help logistics managers plan driver assignments and routes. In addition, a beefed-up business intelligence component includes metrics for sustainability, “helping companies measure the environmental impact of their transportation operations in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, nitrous oxide, and the like,” said Derek Gittoes, vice president of Oracle’s Logistics Product Strategy, in an interview with Managing Automation. The sustainability metrics are driven in part by an EPA program for calculating such emissions.