ASN (Advanced Shipped Notice) : A humble, but useful tool
September 24, 2006 by SwizStick
Filed under Supply Chain Management
Dan Gilmore from Supply Chain Digest sounds off on the value of receiving ASNs in this reflective article:
In each case, my point was simple. There is tremendous value in receiving advanced ship notices (ASNs). Combined with all the tools we have available today to make them happen, the use of ASNs in our supply chains should be a lot more prevalent.
As I wrote in 2003, more than a decade after the introduction of EDI and the electronic ASN concept, I was “still amazed at the number of companies, including major corporations, that aren’t getting ASN’s even from their own plants into DCs, let alone from outside suppliers.â€
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I am bringing it up again, because as I looked back on a number of supply chain stories and themes we covered during the last year, ASNs seem finally to making some real progress.
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Here are some of the stories we’ve recently heard or reported on:
• ADP Brokerage Services uses web-based tools from HighJump Software to integrate suppliers and create ASNs to dramatically reduce receiving time in the distribution center (case study).
• Leading beer distributor House of LaRose uses a new warehouse management system and other tools from Softeon to start taking advantage of the ASNs available from the brewer, significantly reducing receiving time and cost.
• On-line retailer QVC builds a robust ASN management process and system it tightly integrates with transportation management tools from i2 to dramatically improve its supply chain visibility and streamline inbound logistics processes (case study).
• Apparel retailer Chico’s uses trading partner management tools from Manhattan Associates to gain detailed visibility to activities in offshore and domestic suppliers and (here we go again) receive ASNs that have significantly reduced receiving costs.
• Ditto for manufacture and retailer Ashley Furniture, which is actually an amazing story of a company using visibility and ASNs to “hedge†its inventory bets, and operate a long supply chain with offshore production as much like a just-in-time one as it seems possible. More on this story soon.
Read the whole thing.
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