Looking to woo customers from competitors such as Ariba Inc., Oracle Corp. outlined changes to its supply chain portfolio that it says will help customers operate more leanly, comply with legal regulations and manage risk.
The company Wednesday announced the coming rollout of Oracle Supply Chain Management 11i.10, which is aimed at helping manufacturers improve their operations outside their own walls and throughout their entire global supply chain, said Jonathan Colehower, vice president of Oracle SCM. To that end, 11i.10 will enable companies to do international parts drop shipment “without having to go through mountains of paperwork,” he said.
In addition, Oracle has automated the process of forecasting demand across multiple suppliers and countries. It has also enabled the software to work wirelessly over multiple departments, partners and regions.
Oracle also has expanded its support for electronic signatures and radio frequency identification tags to help meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. For instance, if a manufacturing engineer makes a change in product design in the field, there is complete visibility into that decision as well as the ability to trace it, Colehower said. Moreover, integration with the Oracle Internal Controls Manager application will help companies monitor and manage supply chain transactions and ensure they are aligned with standing policies.
To help support leaner supply chain techniques, Oracle has beefed up the application to better measure and price complex orders. This allows companies to be very precise in what they are charging to customers, he said, and will help cut waste from the supply chain.
Oracle Supply Chain Management 11i.10 will ship in 90 days. Pricing has yet to be determined.