CEDAR RAPIDS, IA ,
Aug. 10, 2009
(Press Release) -
VoIPcare Technology today announced that additional companies involved in the pulp and paper industry have signed up to participate for a six month evaluation period of VoIPcare's qMetrix for Transportation application designed to help reduce in-transit damage to paper rolls.
BNSF, CN, Pan Am and other major class one railroads represent the carriers in the supply chain. Railroads will gain immediate access to information related to damage reported to railcars delivered to the mills for loading. The qMetrix application will notify the carrier immediately of the location and type of damage identified as part of the mills preloading equipment inspection. Immediate notification will allow the carrier to turn around repairs more quickly improving equipment quality and utilization.
UPM North America and Norske Skog have joined the evaluation representing the paper mills. Paper mills will benefit from the immediate notification of in-transit damage reported by the receiving location. All data associated with the damage event including pictures of the load when shipped and again when received along with pictures of damaged rolls will be available online for the mill, printer, carrier and publisher to review concurrently as they work to resolve damage claims. In addition, information from the system will allow mills to evaluate the effectiveness of various load protection measures used in shipment preparation.
Major publishers electing to participate in the evaluation include JCPenney. The system will benefit publishers by helping the industry to reduce in-transit damage thereby reducing the need for costly emergency shipments of paper resulting from shortages caused by damaged rolls and increasing the on time delivery of critical documents needed to promote products in the targeted markets.
Three major printing companies are evaluating the requirements of the trial. Printers will benefit from the system by receiving fewer damaged rolls which will reduce the time spent managing damage claims. Fewer damaged rolls will also mean a reduction in the need to expedite rolls to meet a publishers schedule and less storage space and material handling consumed by handling damaged rolls until resolution of a claim.
The VoIPcare qMetrix for Transportation system has been developed in conjunction with the SRW committee of the TAPPI organization. The system consists of a series of inspections that are done at each stage in the shipping process with the results stored in a central location and feedback delivered via web access using standard web form and specialized visual formats. The system also provides for immediate e-mail notification of damage events to help initiate corrective actions.
"Working with TAPPI and the SRW committee has been very exciting" said Bob Eckles, Principal at VoIPcare Technology, "it is refreshing to see forward thinking companies in the industry coming together to support a system that will help make improvements to a common problem."
In order to proceed with the evaluation there needs to be enough participation by companies in the industry to provide results that are statistically valid. A blend of publishers, carriers, mills and printers will produce enough transaction volume during a 6 month period to provide a good basis for determining the effectiveness of the process. Companies interested in participating should contact Robin Mangold at VoIPcare for more information.
