Catalyst will now include Kewill.Net integrated e-fulfillment applications as a standard offering within its CatalystComplete(TM) Supply Chain product line. In addition, Catalyst will integrate Kewill’s Clippership and Kewill. Ship manifesting solutions as part of the Catalyst warehouse management solution (WMS) along with contributing to the evolution of these products. Kewill has acquired all of the rights to Catalyst-Exchange.com technology to enhance its Kewill.Net offering.
The companies also agreed to a joint development of applications for Knowledge Management and Vendor Quality Management (VQM), both of which are emerging as critical capabilities for disseminating information and making informed business decisions.
Solutions to be Integrated
Under the terms of the agreement, Catalyst will market, integrate and license the Kewill.Ship(TM) suite of shipping automation applications, as well as Kewill’s e-fulfillment applications Kewill.Trade(TM), Kewill.View,SM and Kewill.Receive(TM) into the CatalystComplete Supply Chain solution.
CatalystComplete – CatalystComplete is a software solution made up of five key components providing customers with critical fulfillment activities, realtime information about operations, and supply chain integration and visibility.
Kewill.Trade – Provides procurement, fulfillment and visibility between buyers and suppliers by enabling them to electronically exchange business-critical information such as online quotations, purchase orders, order confirmations and invoices via Kewill.Net.
Kewill.Ship – Provides customers and suppliers with the functionality to rate, route, track and collect carton level detail (CLD), and generates carrier-compliant labels, bills of lading and eManifests.
Kewill.View – Monitors and controls the flow of merchandise through the supply chain, providing a virtual inventory management system.
Kewill.Receive – Provides users with the ability to integrate CLD on delivery notification (from suppliers) in order to automate the receiving process.
These applications enable small and medium-sized enterprises – previously excluded from electronic commerce due to cost constraints – to actively participate in electronic trading communities and utilize supply chain visibility, tracking and management applications. Kewill’s expertise with small to medium-sized enterprises will complement Catalyst’s strengths with top 100 retail, consumer goods and manufacturers to provide an end-to-end supply chain solution. The integration of Catalyst WMS and Kewill.Net represents a complete and cost effective ASN-based shipping solution for the B2B market. The solution is available immediately.
The Co-Development Agreement
Kewill and Catalyst will co-develop Knowledge Management and Vendor Quality Management (VQM) applications, and bring them to market via Kewill.Net. These applications will enable customers to strategically manage business processes as well as oversee tactical execution within the supply chain.
Knowledge Management will enable retailers and suppliers to analyze order fulfillment activity, product velocity and fulfillment service levels for both single and multi-warehouse scenarios using data generated by transaction level details.
Vendor Quality Management (VQM) will enable customers to improve and ensure ongoing accuracy throughout the supply chain by tracking selected Advance Shipping Notifications (ASNs) for audit by the warehouse management solution (WMS) and then analyzing the results of those audits to calculate Quality ratings for suppliers. This information can then be used to encourage improved supplier performance and suppliers can use the information to ensure ongoing accuracy at the line item level in their shipment processes.
Both applications will better enable buyers and suppliers to make sound business decisions based on actual data rather than guesswork.
Kewill and Catalyst have entered into a contract to co-fund the development program. The intellectual property rights in the resulting products, including VQM and Knowledge Management, will be licensed by both parties to develop their respective market positions under a revenue share arrangement.
Our customers have been waiting for an easy-to-deploy solution that allows them to increase vendor participation in their supplier automation programs. This has enormous benefit for both our customers and their suppliers, said Sean McGowan, Catalyst President and CEO. While most of the early e-business focus has been on the buy/sell transaction, this kind of B2B fulfillment solution has the potential for delivering even greater, on-going savings. Only Kewill and Catalyst have the domain expertise to bring this end-to-end solution to the market.
