Con-Way Gets the Message

Software Magazine, Sept, 1999 by Elizabeth U. Harding

The secret to success for Con-Way Integrated Services (CIS), Chicago, a subsidiary of Con-Way Transportation Services that integrates supply chain solutions for shippers, was to build a reliable software messaging system that didn't require an army of computer scientists to support it. CIS uses its own warehouses, carrier relationships, and alliances with leading supply chain software firms to assemble its offering. In configuring packages for each of its customers, CIS aims to provide an efficient logistics solution.

"We put together a portfolio of applications that solve business problems for multiple clients," says Tom Ryan, CIS director of technology. "We needed to marry the flow of information with the flow of material and have technology to make this happen."

CIS not only needed a tool that let them make the different applications talk to each other, but also one that gave them a message-based infrastructure for handling communications with the outside world.

The company selected Energy DeliveryNet.com from the Descartes Systems Group Inc., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, to create a collaborative supply chain network Running on Sun boxes, the Descartes product suite includes the Energy Supply Chain Network operating system, which facilitates integration of disparate systems; and the Energy Global Visibility Manager, which lets users view, track, and manage product flow through the supply chain.

"We evaluated several types of systems, but most of what we saw were individual tools integrated together," says Ryan. "Descartes pulled all the pieces together into one infrastructure."

According to Ryan, the system has been up and running since last February. "There are larger third-party logistics companies than us that don't have all the features and functions we cant support," says Ryan. "Moreover, we've kept our IT department down to a few [people] instead of 200."