Best-of-breed systems keep industry competitive

Supply chain optimisation is key for South African companies expanding into Africa, and this includes best-of-breed supply chain management systems, according to CoreFreight company director, Jonathan Sims. South Africa was ranked 15th on the top 20 emerging economies list compiled by Bloomberg earlier this year. “To make the most of the opportunities for trade growth and remain competitive, we as an industry have to make the supply chain as good as it can be,” said Sims. There are a number of links along the supply chain – and CoreFreight’s philosophy from the start, says Sims, has been to provide a comprehensive operational support and management system for the South African freight forwarding and customs clearing function, with the objective of contributing to the ultimate efficiency of local importers and exporters of goods. “We believe we owe it to our customers to provide them with an application that will ensure that they remain competitive from a systems perspective, as well as one that is uniquely tailored to the South African environment,” he notes. In addition a logistics management application should facilitate ease of access to other relevant systems, including South African Revenue Service (Sars) but also, for example, provide a data feed for integration with stock control application or communication with an international forwarding system, he added. The company continually reviews the functionality available through the CoreFreight programme suite. According to Sims, this includes refining existing processes and providing new functionality where a need is identified. “For any new development, we will always pose the questions, ‘Does it enhance operational efficiencies?’, ‘Will it assist in overall management?’ and ‘Can we actually do it?’. INSERT & CAPTION To remain competitive we as an industry have to make the supply chain as good as it can be. – Jonathan Sims