VMS® -- Century Differentiates from Larger Competitors through Customization
- By Leslie Lyons-Martin, Product Services Lead

I joined the Century team in early September after spending 9 years in retail with QVC, Inc. (a $6B electronic retailer who partnered with Century in 2000) and 6 years prior in the 3rd party logistics industry.  Therefore, this article begins from a customer’s perspective.  

At QVC, like most large retailers, the need to grow the business, increase revenue, and reduce cost typically limits critical resources and systems development.  While initially the business is small and can be controlled though manual processes, as it grows, it renders obsolete the very structure which allowed the original success.  In 2000, Century came into QVC, grasped the idiosyncrasies of the business model, and configured VMS® to meet the requirements.  While this may sound simple, I can promise you it was not.  QVC required full integration with their i2 system, entry of initial booking data into a QVC designed “Vendor Web” portal, and EDI mapping with the ocean and dray carriers. 

There were many additional complexities, i.e., QVC was not able to take EDI resends, so VMS® had to be configured to audit all of the critical data fields prior to sending the EDI transaction.  With approximately 5,500 containers shipping from 30 origins to 4 U.S. ports and a live TV show reliant upon the goods arriving timely, supply chain visibility is critical.  Today, QVC continues to leverage VMS® functionality to evolve, enhance, and streamline their supply chain in tandem with Century.   

In an industry where there are thousands of freight forwarders, Century is able to differentiate through the adaptability of the VMS® system.  Century recognizes that customers tackle very similar goals through totally different processes, internal systems, departments, and/or workflows.     More and more, Century is expected to act as each customer’s supply chain engineering team.   To put it in perspective, here is a VMS® summary of transactions for the past 12 months:

• 4,134 active users / 101 company codes
• 58,756 trailers transloaded through 14 different transload facilities, all managed within VMS®
• 532,359 management reports run (nearly 64,000 run in August alone)
• 1.69 million carrier 315 statuses received (close to 148,000 just in August)
• Through VMS®, a single customer issued 190,479 electronic purchase orders to their overseas suppliers, and subsequently managed 108,563 electronic changes to these supplier purchase orders

“Today, supply chain management has become a core process of firms, linking customer requirements to the firm’s resources and suppliers. Supply chain leaders begin with a strategy closely linked to the external and internal environment, and execute supply chain processes thoughtfully. Balancing the constant trade-off between efficiency and responsiveness of supply chains is what distinguishes leaders from followers.”  (Dr. Stephen Wagner, Director of Academics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich)

Speaking from the perspective of a former importer/customer, the ability to customize VMS® to meet each customer’s requirements, providing visibility and tools to enhance the supply chain, is the basis for the future.