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Oakland, CA, 14 Dec 2004 – To help ensure technical standards can support the efficient exchange of data among participants in increasingly complex supply chains, the NOL Group - parent of global container operator APL and its sister company, APL Logistics - has taken a seat on the newly formed logistics council of RosettaNet, an international standards body.
Cindy Stoddard, Chief Information Officer of Singapore-based NOL, will represent the two subsidiaries
on the logistics council. Stoddard is based in Oakland, CA. APL is the only global container carrier
represented on the council.
“The pressing need of global importers and exporters for reliable and flexible supply chains is one of the main factors driving development of better standards for open-platform information exchange,” said
Stoddard.
RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium of major companies and organizations that work to create and implement industry-wide, open e-business process standards using the XML platform. The platform is especially valued in the logistics industry for its ability to allow multiple, pre-authorized partners involved in a supply chain to share data.
Part of the Uniform Code Council (UCC), RosettaNet serves multiple technology-related sectors, and this year added the logistics sector.
“In the NOL Group, we are already integrating data from critical points and sources along the supply chain for our customers,” explained Stoddard. “This
means we must integrate information supplied by the trading partners themselves, as well as from
their vendors, banks, freight forwarders and customs brokers, transportation carriers, customs and
other agencies, and other partners. We clearly see improved standardization as a key to better meeting
the needs of each party, from origin to destination.”
George Cavage, APL’s director of IT strategy and solutions, added that certain increasingly popular
e-commerce functions, such as Web-based on-line booking and shipment monitoring, can also benefit
from improved business processes that will be developed through RosettaNet. “A number of logistics and transportation companies are using XML, but all are going in different directions,” he
said.
“One of our goals is to help ensure that the logistics sector is able to take advantage of the standards created through RosettaNet,” Cavage said. He said APL and APL Logistics have been asked to assume a project-management role for RosettaNet’s “Shipment Booking and Status” work, and will also participate in the “E-Customs” work.
Cavage added: “The company is very pleased that the logistics council was created. Whereas RosettaNet
formerly focused only on the technology sector, now the benefits of standardized RosettaNet business
processes will become available -- through logistics providers -- to multiple other vertical markets.”
About NOL
Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) is a Singapore-based global transportation and logistics
company. Its container transportation arm, APL, provides customers around the world with container
transportation services that combine high quality inter-modal operations with state-of-the-art information
technology. Its supply chain services arm, APL Logistics, provides international, end-to-end logistics
services, employing the latest IT and data connectivity for maximum supply chain visibility and
control. Web sites: www.nol.com.sg , www.apl.com , www.apllogistics.com
About Rosettanet
RosettaNet is the leader in global e-business process standards. A non-profit
consortium of more than 500 industry-recognized organizations, RosettaNet works to create, promote,
and implement open, XML-based e-business standards and other services that improve efficiencies
across the global supply chain. These standards define processes and a framework for how data gets
passed over the Web and certain handshake criteria. RosettaNet is a subsidiary of the Uniform Code
Council, Inc. (UCC). Web site: www.rosettanet.org
RosettaNet decided to create a logistics council, in part because today there are multiple, non-interoperable
systems and coding schemes for enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply-chain management (SCM),
and Finance/Invoicing, etc., and there are multiple process interpretations and approaches to send
and integrate data. These multiple unique "one-to-one" connections are expensive and time consuming
to develop and maintain and often end up as custom, one-off projects. The RosettaNet logistics council
consists of executives from leading companies whose standards work is aimed at helping to reduce
costs, increase velocity, improve data quality, improve security, and accelerate data connections
for the industry and for customers.
The RosettaNet organization is named for the ancient Rosetta Stone, a basalt slab discovered in
Egypt in 1799. Because the stone was inscribed with the same message in three different languages,
one of which was Greek, its translation enabled scholars to crack the code of two the two other
languages involving ancient hieroglyphics. Similarly, the organization says, RosettaNet is breaking “language” barriers so that companies can realize the benefits of “highly
effective trading networks, operational efficiencies and new business opportunities.”
Media Inquiries
NOL Americas:
Mike Zampa, tel: +1 510-272-7380 or michael_zampa@apl.com
Asia/Middle East:
Yin-Fern Lim, tel: +65-6371-5483 or yflim@apl.com
Europe:
Michael Haig, tel: +44-1737-248-300 or michael@isiscomms.com
RosettaNet Media
Inquiries
Jack Grasso, tel: +1 609-620-4555
or jgrasso@uc-council.org
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