SPS Commerce reportedly has introduced a new product line of Trading Partner Applications.

 

The company says that this suite of outsourced business-to-business integration services connects every partner in the retail supply chain.

 

By automating steps in the fulfillment process, SPS’ Scan and Pack Service is designed to simplify supply chain operations. This includes the creation of ASNs and labels. With the service, users can: print pick tickets sorted by physical warehouse location for optimized picking; automatically generate ASNs; sort orders by age, ship by date or order value; print UCC-128 labels as boxes are being packed; set up localized cross references for vendor part numbers; view all orders that need fulfillment from the supplier’s EDI account; scan items into each carton; and print pick tickets sorted by physical warehouse location for optimized picking.

 

According to Archie Black, president and chief executive officer of SPS, using only a pad of paper or manual tracking system, warehouse personnel are tasked with a near impossible mission of accurately fulfilling orders that must be picked from inventory and packed according to rigid specifications from their retail customers.

 

“SPS’ multi-tenant Trading Partner Platform already has all of the shipping and label information needed to prepare and label an accurate shipment for their retail customers, and we are expanding the use of this data by delivering it to them in an integrated and affordable solution, SPS’ new Scan and Pack Service,” Black said. “With SPS’ Scan and Pack Service, ASNs take seconds, not hours.”

 

Officials at SPS Commerce say they provide an array of business-to-business integration solutions that connect every partner in the supply chain. The services are used by more than 37,000 customers around the globe, company officials say, including suppliers, retailers and grocers, 3PLs, sourcing companies, QA firms, brokers, carriers, factors, software providers, and system integrators.

 

Here’s how SPS diagrams its services:

 

 

Suppliers that process a large number or large variety of shipments will now get the Scan and Pack Service. It will help them to streamline the picking and packing process easily and meet the increasingly complex fulfillment requirements from retailers. It also provides other benefits such as automating cross referencing of item data, producing pick lists, automating the process of picking and packing shipments, and then leveraging the service’s data to get rid of data entry for Advanced Ship Notices.

 

The Label Service creates UCC-128 barcode labels for shipments according to each retailer’s unique requirements. Providing suppliers with access to proven Advance Ship Notice and label formats from more than 1,300 leading retailers, all Trading Partner Applications leverage SPS’ multi-tenant, SaaS (News - Alert) EDI service.

 

Data is automatically sent to SPS’ Trading Partner Platform after the shipment is packed using the Scan and Pack Service. Here, it is mapped to the retailers’ pre-approved ASN format. The Label Service does the same for pre-approved UCC-128 and GS1 Label formats. SPS Commerce’s Scan and Pack Service is available from SPS Commerce with monthly subscriptions fees starting at $149.

 

Recently, SPS Commerce entered a partnership with 3PL Central to provide a solution for small and mid-sized third-party logistics providers.