Marine Supply Chain Integration on the Horizon

The INTERMAR consortium is pleased to announce the completion of preliminary trials of their innovative tool. Suppliers Dent Steel (UK), Shipowners OceanBulk S.A. (GR), and Service providers TECOR, Tecnologia Anticorros?o SA (P) were the first of several external end users to test the INTERMAR system.

INTERMAR is a novel suite of cutting edge business-to-business communication tools capable of rapidly creating highly organic supply chains to meet the needs of today's business environment. Centred on the workings of a shiprepair yard, INTERMAR is capable of covering the entire marine supply chain from supplier to shipowner.
The INTERMAR consortium is pleased to announce the completion of preliminary trials of their innovative tool. Dent Steel tested the supplier element of the software providing up to the minute information on steel stocks and delivery times to Dunstons Shiprepairs (UK), IZAR Construcciones Navales (ES), Lisnave-Estaleiros Navais SA (P), and Neorion New Shipyards SA (GR). TECOR tested the two-way communication linked to contracting of services, while OceanBulk have just completed trails from an owners perspective.
End users are rather enthusiastic about the capabilities of the new product. As Mr. Pantelis Pittas, representative of OCEANBULK, puts it: "It is an innovative product, providing easy remote access to needed information, planning tools, and automatically archiving all relevant communications. I believe that further to a few needed refinements it can facilitate a shipping company's work related to drydocking and repairs". Graham Billany, director of Dunston Shiprepairs in Hull added, "It's early days yet, but what we have seen so far is very promising. We are always keen to look at ways of developing our market and this project offers the added prospect of our building relations with other companies throughout the EC."
The development team of INTERMAR have gone one step further than the current trend of commercial portals and have added value through modularisation. A series of interrelated modules plug into the platform providing a real time system that spans the entire chain from owner to specialist service provider and subcontractor using the Shipyard as a central hub. INTERMAR is at the cutting edge of tendering, through industrial processes, to the contract completion and financial aspects of the business.
"We've developed something that is capable of accelerating the evolution of supply chain activity as we know it", said Nick Granger, Director of the UK Shipbuilders & Shiprepairers Association and Secretariat to the Association of European Shipbuilders & Shiprepairers (AWES). "In the past we have had to work with fragmented and uncoordinated supply chains, INTERMAR should make this a thing of the past."
The INTERMAR project is part funded by the European Commission through its Competitive and Sustainable Growth Programme. The project is into the third year of its 36-month duration and a series of live demonstrations is planned throughout Europe over the next 12 months.
Interested parties should contact the INTERMAR consortium for more information. The INTERMAR Project Manager is Dr. Nikos Giannelos, University of Patras, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems, Rio Patras, PATRAS, GR 26 110 Greece. Tel: [phone], fax: [phone], E-mail: [e-mail] (Intelligent Supply Chain Management for the Extended Maritime Enterprise) began in April 2002 as an innovative approach to support Europes SMEs in the maritime sector supply chain. The project is part funded by the European Commission through its Competitive and Sustainable Growth Programme (1998-2002). ,INTERMAR will support a wide-range of EU policy objectives, addressing: industry, transport, energy, environment, trade, regional, and social aspects. The 2,500 SMEs within the marine sector stand to benefit most from the projects results, meaning over 200,000 people will benefit directly while supporting a total sector business valued at 17G, and around 2.4m employees. ,The project meets the recommendations of the European LeaderSHIP 2015 programme, by laying the foundation of the level playing field specified as a key requirement by the Marine Industry Forum. To accomplish this, the consortium aims to implement a network for the marine community through the development of a suite of cutting edge business-to-business communication tools capable of providing a pan-European solution to the problems of external competition. Through this, INTERMAR will encourage and enable the creation of strategic alliances, assisting in the retention of existing employment and growth of new business in European enterprises, particular at the SME level.,The object of INTERMAR is to implement a software framework capable of bringing together for the first time, a pan-European solution to the problems of external competition. INTERMAR will encourage and enable the creation of strategic alliances, assisting in the retention of existing employment and growth of new business in European enterprises, particular at the SME level.,With over 90% of Europes external trade carried by ships and over 40% of its internal trade being water-borne, the beneficial impact of INTERMAR will be felt by all EU citizens. ,The INTERMAR project is coordinated by the University of Patras, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems, Greece.,

Länder

Greece, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom