DANBURY, Conn. --Odyssey Logistics & Technology was formally introduced today, combining for the first time in the transportation outsourcing industry deeply skilled logistics professionals with a leading technology solution to provide services in every mode of transportation – rail, truck, ocean and air – specifically for process manufacturers.
Citing a compelling need for outsourced logistics management services specifically for process industries, especially chemical, the leadership team of Odyssey today introduced the company’s comprehensive logistics services and technology solutions to help manufacturers achieve significant cost savings in an area of their business that accounts for billions of dollars in costs worldwide.
Odyssey is the brainchild of the highly successful team that created UniGlobal Logistics, a subsidiary of Union Carbide that managed its $650 million global transportation expenditures. Following Union Carbide’s 2001 acquisition by The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), UniGlobal's senior management team opted to leverage the group’s expertise to create an entirely neutral and independent outsourced service provider focused on helping process industry manufacturers save money, improve supply chain processes and maintain focus on their core business.
"Odyssey has a depth of experience and a demonstrated capability to bring efficiencies and significant cost savings to process manufacturers," said Robert Shellman, the company’s chief executive officer. "We believe we have one of the most experienced groups of process-industry logisticians ever put under one roof, combined with one of the most advanced transportation software applications that was designed specifically for these kinds of companies. Our business is built on helping our customers gain greater control of their transportation and logistics supply chain, improving their profitability so they can focus on their main business."
Led by Shellman and President Douglas Johnston, Odyssey leverages more than 450 years of its leadership team’s combined experience in transportation, chemical and engineering supply chain management, and logistics technology to deliver immediate outsourced solutions.
Concurrent with its founding, Odyssey acquired RELY Software, a leading transportation management solutions company whose product was designed specifically for the logistics demands of process manufacturers. RELY's Net-native platform provides easy access and integration capabilities for strong event management and visibility functionality, along with transportation planning and execution applications.
Odyssey today also announced that Hercules Incorporated (NYSE: HPC), a $1.7 billion chemical manufacturer and marketer has signed a five-year multimillion-dollar contract.
Global trade dynamics and increased international competition have caused manufacturers to look to outsourcing as a way to focus on the core businesses that deliver them greatest value.
In a February 2003 report released by AMR Research Analyst Gerald McNerney titled "Logistics Service Providers: Strategic Ideas, Tactical Execution," AMR recognized the important place that logistics outsourcing has for today's manufacturers in a global and increasingly competitive economy.
"Although they recognize that logistics execution is vital to their business, many companies lack the ability to have the people, processes and technologies in place internally to efficiently scale and manage all logistics execution," writes McNerney. He concluded that increasingly, companies will have no choice but to outsource their logistics activities.
Odyssey combines four main components to drive cost savings for its customers and generate better service from transportation suppliers: Supply chain network evaluation and design; a sophisticated, Web-based technology support infrastructure; proven operational processes; and volume aggregation to provide economies of scale for greater efficiencies.
With its flexible technology backbone, Odyssey combines IT infrastructure with its proven abilities to physically manage and execute all aspects of logistics across multiple modes of transportation.
RELY has been proven successful at leading chemical companies such as ATOFINA Chemicals, Monsanto and Rayonier. It is the combination of this proven technology with Odyssey’s expertise in logistics that creates such a powerful value proposition.
Odyssey's management team includes some of the most respected names in the transportation and logistics industries, a depth of knowledge about chemical and other process manufacturers, and a breadth of technology experts, including:
--Robert Shellman, chief executive officer: As the president of UniGlobal Logistics, Shellman was responsible for global commercial transportation activities supporting Union Carbide’s $6.5 billion in global sales, with an annualized logistics budget of more than $650 million.
--Douglas Johnston, president and chief operating officer: Johnston spearheaded Union Carbide’s global logistics operations, working with UniGlobal to effectively manage Union Carbide’s logistics initiatives.
--Raymond Maier, senior vice president, law and administration and general counsel: Maier had been group counsel for Union Carbide, serving as general counsel for global chemical business units whose sales totaled more than $1.5 billion.
--Dennis Reaves, chief technology officer: Reaves brings experience from his more than 16 years in the technology industry, including CTO of transportation management solutions innovator RELY Software.
--Matt Tucker, senior vice president, corporate and business development: As the CEO of RELY Software, Tucker led the business of providing the right technology solutions to the leading chemical companies.
--Douglas Clark, vice president, export pack and bulk cargo: Clark’s 25 years of experience has focused on global ocean transportation, delivering chemical tankers and containerships to more than 100 countries.
--Lawrence Hu, vice president, terminal and warehouse sites: Hu’s 27 years’ experience has brought him to manufacturing and distribution facilities from Belgium to Kuwait.
--Glenn Riggs, vice president, North American overland logistics: His background includes contracting and managing hundreds of millions of dollars in North American truck distribution contracts.
--Ralph Brechter, commercial director, logistics: This 30-year logistics veteran specializes in the North American rail industry.
