Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Cloud-based supply chain software firm Llamasoft Inc. said today it has acquired the supply chain software division from
South African rival Barloworld Ltd., in a move that continues Llamasoft's expansion into global markets to challenge major
providers like Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle Corp. and the German giant SAP SE.
The move consolidates the market for supply chain design applications by allowing Llamasoft to absorb Johannesburg-based
Barloworld's "Cast" software, a competitor to Llamasoft's own "Supply Chain Guru." Companies use supply chain design applications
to reduce logistics costs by modeling changes in plant and warehouse locations.
Llamasoft, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., will also take over Barloworld's Optimiza software, an inventory replenishment tool.
That allows Llamasoft to move into the market of supply chain planning tools—used by companies for advanced planning and
scheduling tasks—and offers shippers an additional option to big-name products from SAP, Oracle, and JDA Software Group Inc.
The firms did not reveal the purchase price, but said the combined company would now have nearly 400 employees, over
$50 million in annual revenue, and a combined customer base that includes more than 500 of the world's largest and best known companies,
according to Ginger Stegmier, Llamasoft's vice president of global marketing.
In addition to acquiring the software applications, Llamasoft will also gain the Barloworld SCS team's full range of
technology and staff. Llamasoft plans to keep its headquarters in Michigan, while employing the majority of the former
Barloworld team in their U.K. offices.
The companies have also agreed to form a strategic relationship, with Barloworld Logistics—the former parent company of
Barloworld SCS—providing access to all Llamasoft products as a value-added reseller.
This change in position could gain Llamasoft a seat at the table with larger clients than it currently serves. In the past,
Llamasoft has played an upstart role, competing against its larger opponents by providing software products with comparable
functionality but far better ease of use, said James A. Cooke, principal analyst at Nucleus Research Inc., a research firm.
In April, the company made an ambitious move to apply this strategy to a wider market segment and eliminate a competitor when
it acquired the
LogicTools supply chain applications suite from IBM Corp., including IBM's LogicNet Plus, Inventory and Product
Flow Analyst, and Transportation Analyst products.
Now armed with a big checkbook, Llamasoft has knocked another competing platform out of the market with its acquisition of
the Barloworld division.
"Until now, Llamasoft was a one-trick pony," Cooke said. "Players like Manhattan Associates Inc., JDA, and Logility all have
more than one app, covering both supply chain planning and execution."
In addition to consolidating its client base, the move is also an chance for Llamasoft to enter the European market, picking
up Barlowsoft clients such as Jaguar Cars, BASF SE, and Tesco PLC.
These multinational firms have a great interest in eliminating bottlenecks in the flow of global trade, improving efficiencies,
and cutting costs.
"You can do as much as you want about beating up your carriers about lowering transportation costs, but supply chain design
tools have taken off lately because they are a more effective way to cut costs," said Cooke. "They let you play with scenarios
about where your plants and warehouses are located. If you place the nodes of your supply chain network in the right place, you
can reduce transit miles and you can reduce freight costs."
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.