Four-Year Project to Improve Management of the Transportation Supply Chain
ORLANDO, Fla. and TORONTO - May 18, 2006 - CN, a leader in the North American rail industry, and SAP Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of the leading global business software company, today announced a joint information technology (IT) partnership to further improve CN efficiency and enable the company to improve its transportation supply chain.
The four-year agreement includes more than 30 comprehensive projects targeting CN’s assets and operations, enhancing the company’s ability to improve customer service, asset utilization, cost control, safety and employee management.
Today’s announcement builds on a longstanding relationship between CN and SAP to enhance back-office functions, expanding to include CN’s track and roadway engineering, logistics, revenue enhancement and customer management functions. Under the new agreement, CN will implement mobile business solutions from SAP for track maintenance, dock operations and order-to-cash processes to optimize CN’s operations.
CN will work with SAP to introduce Transportation Management Connectivity, representing a first in the international rail industry. Through this initiative, CN, using SAP technologies, will eventually be able to take advantage of seamless communication and connectivity to integrate its services into customers’ transportation supply chains.
As part of the agreement, SAP will deliver the IT solutions required to maximize performance in the following four key areas:- mobile applications for inspection and maintenance of network assets;
- optimizing revenue and customer management processes;
- integrating and enabling CN’s diverse transportation logistics services; and
- standardizing internal IT functions such as employee portals
As part of the partnership, CN and SAP Canada will jointly pursue a variety of initiatives to promote SAP® technologies across the rail industry and to share best practices with industry players in Canada and around the world. In addition, SAP will work closely with CN to ensure that all future industry-specific solutions address industry needs and incorporate CN recommendations.
“To date, CN has integrated and consolidated the functionality and data from over 100 computer applications into one seamless SAP platform,” says Fred Grigsby, CN’s senior vice-president and chief information officer. “In addition to improving numerous key business processes, this consolidation has enhanced management decision-making by providing CN managers with quick, efficient access to integrated, real-time data.
“We are extremely pleased that CN and SAP have reached this unique partnership. It enables us to further leverage our SAP investment and meet the accelerating needs of our business and our customers while allowing SAP to expand its reach and add value across the rail industry,” added Grigsby.
The deployment of SAP NetWeaver®, SAP’s comprehensive integration and applications platform, will be a key element of the implementation. Using SAP NetWeaver, CN will unify integration technologies to enable and manage change effectively while minimizing risk to existing systems and helping foster a strong return on investment. CN will be deploying SAP applications including:- mySAP™ CRM (mySAP Customer Relationship Management)
- mySAP™ SRM (mySAP SRM Supplier Relationship Management)
- mySAP™ PLM (mySAP Product Lifecycle Management)
- SAP® Advanced Planning & Optimization (SAP APO)
“We are proud that CN recognizes our contributions to its improvements in revenue-generation, productivity and profitability, and has chosen SAP to assist the company in implementing its strategy for strong, sustainable growth,” said Bob Courteau, president and managing director, SAP Canada. “This expanded relationship and the collaborative approach we have adopted demonstrates our commitment to devoting SAP’s extensive resources and expertise to optimize CN’s business processes to support the company’s long-term success.”
CN and SAP started working together in 1998, when CN first implemented various SAP solutions to power a number of back-office functions—including finance, supply management, human resources and payroll—and to manage fixed and mobile assets such as locomotives and railcars.
About CN
Canadian National Railway Company spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key cities of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America.
About SAP for Railways
The SAP for Railways solution portfolio supports and enhances the complex business processes in freight and passenger transportation, infrastructure investment and rolling-stock maintenance. With more than 50 customers worldwide, SAP for Railways helps rail organizations reduce costs, optimize asset life cycles, measure and control projects, streamline administrative processes and enhance services.
About SAP Canada
SAP Canada, based in Toronto, is a fast-growing subsidiary of SAP AG, the world’s leading provider of business software. SAP applications are helping Canadian enterprises improve productivity and customer relationships, reduce costs, increase revenues and profitability, and create efficiencies across supply chains and business operations. SAP Canada has more than 600 customers and 800 employees in five offices across the country. In addition, SAP Labs Canada develops cutting-edge software for a wide array of SAP applications from its Montreal location.
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