Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Avaya Establishes 1st AP Supply Chain Mgmt Hub in S’pore

Avaya officially unveiled its first finished goods distribution center for Asia Pacific (AP) in Singapore last Thursday. The new facility, which is part of Avaya’s supply chain management strategy for AP, will be tasked with consolidating and shipping software...

Avaya officially unveiled its first finished goods distribution center for Asia Pacific (AP) in Singapore last Thursday.

The new facility, which is part of Avaya’s supply chain management strategy for AP, will be tasked with consolidating and shipping software and services to customers and business partners within the region. Avaya expects to hit a turnover of over 500 tonnes of IT equipment worth over USD 100 million within the next 12 months.

Avaya’s manufacturing facilities located in China, Thailand and Indonesia serve the region including Australia, China, India, South East Asia, Korea and Japan.

Initially, the new centre will be concentrating on shipping out software and services; however Avaya said its ultimate goal is to ship all forms of IT equipment from this location in the future.

Previously, such activities had to be done out from Avaya’s supply chain management hub in the US which usually worked within a turn around time of 14 days. With the new Singapore hub, the provider of business communications applications expects this lead time to be reduced to two days.

Besides the US, Avaya has similar facilities in Frankfurt, the Netherlands, Brazil and Canada.

In a press event last week, Avaya’s AP President Mark Leigh told journalists that the establishment of the center was an important business decision for the company so as to be close to its customers which will allow for a quicker response time and deliver real-time support to its business partners.

Avaya has appointed logistics service provider DB Schenker to manage the finished goods distribution center. The facility will be located within the Free Trade Zone in Singapore which translates to minimal customs formalities, tax suspension and reduced touch points. This in addition to the freight savings, shorter transportation lead time and lower inventory holding costs is expected to save Avaya up to 80% in costs.

Avaya said part of this cost savings will be pushed towards it customers but declined to quantify how much.