is now offering a "network-centric supply-chain management application (SCM) named TWSNet Premium. This application lets businesses track cargo shipments over the Internet from Java-enabled browses. " The companies Jacksonville, Florida, division began marketing the TWSNet Premium the third week in March, 1998. Customers already piloting the application include Apple computer, Nissan, Procter & Gamble, Xerox and the U.S. Department of Defense." The application is server-resident and must be purchased by the customer. Subscriptions are on a per-use basis and offer different levels of information access. TWSNet Premium is actually the third phase of CSX's business critical Java deployment that began in 1995. "CSX first rolled out TSWNet, an intranet-based application for its own employees to track shipments. Then came an extranet application called Transportation Workstation (TWS). The TWSNet Premium application is the first to include a multi-modal system from transportation company Sea-Land, as well as CSX's rail Network." IBM offers asset-tracking serviceAlthough this IBM product does not fit into the external supply chain picture, it does provide a service to get the supply house in order. In January of 1998, IBM's Global Services division announced an asset-tracking service that works via the Internet. "Called Asset Services, the service is intended to help corporations keep track of hardware and software, as well as control the cost of managing existing equipment and buying new equipment. The service uses the Internet to pass information between companies and IBM." Many companies go to great pains to track inventory coming in and going out of the business, but don't pay a lot of attention to in house inventories. In this day and age, it is relatively easy to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in software and hardware and not have a whole lot to show for it. Personal experience in the computer industry has prov...
