Technology Emerges as a Competitive Differentiator

Teradata, Dayton, OH

Web site: www.teradata.com

Year founded: 1979

Number of employees: 4,000

Number of food customers: 50

Solution name(s): Teradata Data Warehouse, DCM, SCI, CRM

Worth noting: “Key problems solved with Teradata’s solutions include customer service levels/OOS; markdowns and shrink; demand forecasting accuracy; promotion management effectiveness; store/DC demand synchronization; order forecast optimization and collaboration; and inventory management.”

Terra Technology, Norwalk, CT

Web site: www.terratechnology.com

Year founded: 2001

Number of employees: 103

Number of food customers: 8

Solution name(s): Multi-Enterprise Demand Sensing, Demand Sensing, Transportation Forecasting, Multi-Enterprise Inventory Optimization

Worth noting: “Terra Technology helps companies realize sales and profitability in unpredictable markets by analyzing daily demand signals from all echelons of the supply chain (including downstream data) to improve forecast accuracy, decrease inventory, improve on-shelf availability and reduce operational costs.”

TGW Logistics Group, Spring Lake, MI

Web site: www.tgw-group.com

Year founded: 1964

Number of employees: 1,200

Number of food customers: 150

Solution name(s): Carton, tote and unit load conveyor and sortation systems; Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) for case, tote carton and pallet loads; Warehouse Control and Warehouse Management Systems

Worth noting: “TGW Systems is a leading material handling equipment and integrated logistics solutions provider.”

TMW Systems, Cleveland, OH

Web site: www.tmwsystems.com

Year founded: 1983

Number of employees: 450

Number of food customers: 250+

Solution name(s): TMWSuite, TruckMate, Innovative, TMT Fleet Maintenance, IDSC ExpertFuel, IDSC TripAlert, Appian DirectRoute, Appian ResourcePro, Appian SchedulePro, Appian DR Track, Appian Territory Pro

Worth noting: “Private fleets face competition from dedicated carriers and need to consider operating with a commercial fleet mindset in order to move from expense to profit center. For fleets that embrace back-hauling or load pooling in order to defray operating costs, our transportation management software provides the framework to serve and do business with more than internal customers. For private fleets that maintain their own vehicles, our fleet maintenance software helps keep costs under control and trucks up and running, both keys to productivity and service performance.”

TopVOX Corporation, Barrington, IL

Web site: www.top-vox.com

Year founded: 1995

Number of employees: 120+

Number of food customers: 250+

Solution name(s): topSpeechLydia

Worth noting: “Profit margins, especially in the food industry are challenging. The speaker independent topSpeechLydia voice recognition system of TopVOX, has proven an increase on average of 20 to 25 percent productivity compared to RF and/or paper picking. Thanks to eyes-free, hands-free operation, there is an increase in safety and ergonomics: focus is on the job at hand! In addition, errors normally decrease by 8 to 10 percent.”

Trade Extensions, Uppsala, Sweden

Web site: www.tradeextensions.com

Year founded: 2000

Number of employees: 20

Number of food customers: 5

Solution name(s): Trade Extensions Sourcing

Worth noting: “Trade Extensions provides a cloud strategic sourcing solution that helps companies automate their sourcing processes, collaborate with suppliers and team members, and make optimal allocation decisions based on their qualitative and quantitative criteria (cost components, risk management, quality, etc.).”

Transplace, Dallas, TX

Web site: www.transplace.com

Year founded: 2000

Number of employees: 675

Number of food customers: 99

Solution name(s): Third-party logistics, transportation management system (TMS), brokerage, supply chain consulting

Worth noting: “Leading grocery and foodservice manufacturers are placing a high premium on data. Exceptional analytical tools and capabilities will help develop insights that companies can apply across their supply chain. We encourage our customers and our teams to be data-driven in all their approaches. It fits well with our Lean Six Sigma program and has become an important part of our DNA. Using Microsoft Business Intelligence, Transplace has developed proactive reporting that allows our teams to avoid service failures before they happen. This coupled with ‘loads in trouble’ logic or exception management tools inside our TMS allows us to perform at a high level and meet our customers’ expectations. By exceeding customers’ expectation on delivery performance, it allows them to better manage their out-of-stocks and their inventory, which is critical.”

Triple T Transport, Lewis Center, OH

Web site:www.triplettransport.com

Year founded: 1988

Number of employees: 50

Number of food customers: 50+

Solution name(s): Load Planning; Routing & Scheduling; Third-party Logistics; and TMS

Worth noting: “Triple T Transport’s number one goal is to fulfill and exceed our customers’ expectations and needs as well of those of their customers with commitment and confidence. With more than twenty-five years of experience in managing carriers and freight, our team of professionals do one thing extremely well—we provide customer service.”

TZA, Long Grove, IL

Web site: www.tza.com

Year founded: 1984

Number of employees: 50+

Number of food customers: 40+

Solution name(s): ProTrack Warehouse; ProTrack Drivers

Worth noting: “Labor represents one of the largest expense items in a distribution (and manufacturing) environment.”

UpNet Technologies, Minneapolis, MN

Web site: www.upnettec.com

Year founded: 1996

Number of employees: 30

Number of food customers: 60

Solution name(s): iEDeX data integration & translation platform, Distributed Order Management, Logistic Network Manager, Customer Purchasing Gateway, Supplier Relationship Manager, Status 411, Business Analytics, B2B Trading Partner Network, Product and Inventory Manager, Scan-based Trading & Ordering, Purchase-2-Pay, e-Invoicing

Worth noting: “In today’s market, the grocery industry must contend with many of the typical retail struggles, including massive amounts of SKUs, shrink and returns. Buyers today are making this situation even more difficult by focusing on fresh and boutique ingredients that have a high level of shrink due to shorter shelf life and often higher inventory cost that stores do not want bear. Manufacturers and distributors are in the unique position of having to sell these products into stores that are often hesitant to try additional lines of these perceived high-cost products.”

VAI, Ronkonkoma, NY

Web site: www.vai.net

Year founded: 1978

Number of employees: 135

Number of food customers: 10

Solution name(s): S2K Enterprise for Food Distribution

Worth noting: “The food distribution industry faces numerous challenges. Inventory management and tracking is critical. Lot and date tracking, broken case unit conversions, catch weight pricing, truck routing, and flexible contract pricing are just some of the requirements that make the food industry unique.”

Voxware, Hamilton, NJ

Web site: www.voxware.com

Year founded: 1993

Number of employees: 70

Number of food customers: 30+

Solution name(s): Voxware 3

Worth noting: “Voxware provides voice-driven software products that optimize the full spectrum of warehouse operations for greater accuracy, productivity, and flexibility in supply chain execution.”