Virtualized Logistics Recognized for Supply Chain Excellence

JOC Staff |

Virtualized Logistics has achieved BIC supply chain excellence accreditation, acknowledging the company’s contribution to designing logistics solutions which reduce both costs and time to market for printed books.

The supply chain consultancy division of logistics specialist SBS Worldwide specializes in working closely with particular industries to develop supply chain solutions which address the specific needs of that industry.

“We adapted our eDC software so that publishers could use the ISBN numbers (which are the basis of identifying products in their industry) throughout the supply chain,” explains Tony Leach, Director and Chief Sales Officer. “This, together with the real-time visibility we were able to provide, gave them the confidence to bypass their traditional regional distribution centers and ship more directly from printers in China to final destinations around the world.”

In this way, Virtualized Logistics helped one publisher, Wolters Kluwer Health, reduce it logistics costs by $400,000 annually at the same time as dramatically improving delivery times to customers.

Another publisher, Scholastic UK, halved the transit times for the books it sources from the Far East and U.S. by working with Virtualized Logistics and SBS Worldwide.

The BIC accreditation scheme enables book industry organizations to demonstrate the efficiency of their supply chains for both physical and digital products. It aims “to reward companies large and small for their investment in automation and for innovative solutions to the supply chain issues they face; and to enable them to be recognized by trading partners and the book industry at large as the best in their class for business efficiency, customer service, environmental concern and innovation.”

Virtualized Logistics offers an expert personal service for all sizes of business, from small to large enterprise organizations. Its specialist expertise is designing supply chain solutions for companies which have outsourced their manufacturing and production to countries with lower costs.

“Many publishers now use printers in Asia and we help companies gain even more benefits from this outsourcing by ensuring they can also make cost savings – while increasing availability and service quality – throughout their supply chain,” says Mr Leach.