RE: Achieving Shipping Compliance at Remote Locations

If you only need to output data to your remote plants you could use some off
the shelf software to help distribute prints / information.

We use Formscape to take prints from our AS400 queues then print/e-mail/fax
anywhere we have an IP address.  As a result we hardly use any pre-printed
stationary and pass logos, print copies etc according to selection criteria
we have coded in Formscape.  If you just want to raise an order on your
AS400 then output data and details to your satellite plants this is enough.
Formscape is just the package we use but there are others out there
depending what you need.  You can use this software to make all sorts of
decisions and output according to given criteria.  You can also do all sorts
of formatting that would be very difficult on the AS400.  Just an idea.

Obviously if you need it to be a two way process then that's different. You
would need a two way connection to your AS400 using the internet, dialling
into modems or by creating a WAN. Or like us you could have a combination of
all of these.  It's much cheaper than setting up standalone sites (not an
option anyway because the order/shipping process is not a process in
duplicate but just different parts of one chain)and nor do you want to go
that way or else your systems will be fragmented as the business grows.

A mixture of the above is what we do here anyway, depending what we need to
achieve.  We are a manufacturing company with some offices that raise
orders, others that ship, some that just produce and also lots of little
service offices so we come across this issue all the time.  I haven't been
in this game long so I'm sure others will have more ideas.

Good luck,

Jenny

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Rauterkus [mailto:ricker@simmonsjp.com]
Sent: 07 August 2002 14:39
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Achieving Shipping Compliance at Remote Locations


Hi Everyone,

We have several small plants around the country where product is
manufactured and shipped to customers.  That is all they do, produce and
ship.  All other functions (order taking, invoicing, EDI, etc.) are handled
here.

Up to now, we have been able to meet shipping compliance demands (labeling,
ASNs, etc.) from our customers by knowing ahead of time exactly what was
going to ship when and how, printing the labels here and shipping them to
the plant to be used.  But we are now getting into a Pick and Pack type
situation where we don't necessarily know what is going into which box.

I need to come up with an economical solution at the remote plants with the
following features:
- somehow receive order data from our AS/400
- print pick lists
- scan items as it is put in the box
- print labels in compliance with each customers requirements
- print packing lists, bills of lading, and other paperwork in compliance
with each customers requirements
- somehow send the shipped data back to our AS/400 for further processing

Software on our AS/400 is in-house written, so we should be able to
interface with most anything.  There are no technical people or computers at
the remote plants.

I am looking for recommendations of canned solutions that you think will
work for us.

Thanks!
Rick


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