Press Releases: 04/07/2003 - OLT New Company Odyssey Logistics & Technology to Provide Outsourced Services to Process Manufacturers DANBURY, Conn. – April 7, 2003 – Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation 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 chemicals, 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 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 and improving their profitability so they can focus on their main business.” Led by CEO Robert Shellman and President Douglas Johnston, Odyssey leverages more than 450 years of its leadership team’s combined experience in transportation, chemical 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. (For additional details, please see “Hercules Outsources Transportation and Logistics Functions to Odyssey,” April 7, 2003.) Outsourcing: Added Value and Cost Savings for Process Manufacturers 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, while attaining the benefits of a “one-stop-shopping” approach to service. The 2002 Annual Third-Party Logistics study, in its seventh year and co-sponsored by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, recognized the important place that logistics outsourcing has for today’s manufacturers in a global and increasingly competitive economy. The study also found that customer demand for performance and sophistication is accelerating and users are demanding additional value-add from their third-party logistics partners. However, the findings point to a significant gap that exists between what third-party logistics users expect to receive and what they actually realize from their partners. While the majority of respondents felt that their third-party logistics relationships were successful, they outlined several areas of potential improvement, including: implementing capable information technologies; instituting effective management and relationship processes; integrating services and technology globally; and delivering comprehensive solutions that create value for the users and their supply chains. In addition, among the areas of greatest potential improvements were e-commerce capabilities, international supply chain solutions and supply chain integration solutions. Third-party logistics users wanted their service providers to take on more meaningful, strategic roles. These data provide further validation that manufacturers are ready for a true outsourcing partner, such as Odyssey, that will provide a holistic, integrated approach to their logistics requirements, providing substantial cost savings. Technology Leadership 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. The RELY technology has been proven successful in managing transportation logistics 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. Proven Success 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. 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 18 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, global marine and import/export services: Clark’s 25 years of experience has focused on global ocean transportation, delivering chemical tanker and containership cargoes to more than 100 countries around the world. 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: Riggs’ more than 12 years of experience includes distribution, plant operations and managing hundreds of millions of dollars in North American truck distribution contracts. Dave Wallis, vice president, operations and project management: Wallis has 27 years of chemical industry experience in manufacturing, engineering, distribution management and corporate-wide management of a distribution transactional center. Ralph Brechter, commercial director, logistics: This 30 year chemical logistics professional specializes in all aspects of the North American rail industry. About Odyssey Logistics & Technology Odyssey Logistics & Technology provides outsourced logistics management services to the chemical industry and other process manufacturers. Odyssey allows these companies to outsource any part of the management and transportation of their raw materials and finished goods, helping its customers achieve cost savings through reduced transportation and infrastructure costs, measurable customer service and process improvements, and enhanced data quality and management. With a management team with an average of more than 25 years of experience as chemical engineers and transportation and logistics professionals in all relevant modes of transportation, Odyssey is a trusted, reliable partner that combines supply chain and logistics expertise, technology innovations and proven outsourcing methodologies to help process manufacturers achieve significant savings. For more information, visit www.odysseylogistics.com on the Web. Back to Press Releases
DANBURY, Conn. – April 7, 2003 – Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation 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 chemicals, 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 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 and improving their profitability so they can focus on their main business.” Led by CEO Robert Shellman and President Douglas Johnston, Odyssey leverages more than 450 years of its leadership team’s combined experience in transportation, chemical 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. (For additional details, please see “Hercules Outsources Transportation and Logistics Functions to Odyssey,” April 7, 2003.) Outsourcing: Added Value and Cost Savings for Process Manufacturers 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, while attaining the benefits of a “one-stop-shopping” approach to service. The 2002 Annual Third-Party Logistics study, in its seventh year and co-sponsored by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, recognized the important place that logistics outsourcing has for today’s manufacturers in a global and increasingly competitive economy. The study also found that customer demand for performance and sophistication is accelerating and users are demanding additional value-add from their third-party logistics partners. However, the findings point to a significant gap that exists between what third-party logistics users expect to receive and what they actually realize from their partners. While the majority of respondents felt that their third-party logistics relationships were successful, they outlined several areas of potential improvement, including: implementing capable information technologies; instituting effective management and relationship processes; integrating services and technology globally; and delivering comprehensive solutions that create value for the users and their supply chains. In addition, among the areas of greatest potential improvements were e-commerce capabilities, international supply chain solutions and supply chain integration solutions. Third-party logistics users wanted their service providers to take on more meaningful, strategic roles. These data provide further validation that manufacturers are ready for a true outsourcing partner, such as Odyssey, that will provide a holistic, integrated approach to their logistics requirements, providing substantial cost savings. Technology Leadership 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. The RELY technology has been proven successful in managing transportation logistics 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. Proven Success 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. 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 18 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, global marine and import/export services: Clark’s 25 years of experience has focused on global ocean transportation, delivering chemical tanker and containership cargoes to more than 100 countries around the world. 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: Riggs’ more than 12 years of experience includes distribution, plant operations and managing hundreds of millions of dollars in North American truck distribution contracts. Dave Wallis, vice president, operations and project management: Wallis has 27 years of chemical industry experience in manufacturing, engineering, distribution management and corporate-wide management of a distribution transactional center. Ralph Brechter, commercial director, logistics: This 30 year chemical logistics professional specializes in all aspects of the North American rail industry. About Odyssey Logistics & Technology Odyssey Logistics & Technology provides outsourced logistics management services to the chemical industry and other process manufacturers. Odyssey allows these companies to outsource any part of the management and transportation of their raw materials and finished goods, helping its customers achieve cost savings through reduced transportation and infrastructure costs, measurable customer service and process improvements, and enhanced data quality and management. With a management team with an average of more than 25 years of experience as chemical engineers and transportation and logistics professionals in all relevant modes of transportation, Odyssey is a trusted, reliable partner that combines supply chain and logistics expertise, technology innovations and proven outsourcing methodologies to help process manufacturers achieve significant savings. For more information, visit www.odysseylogistics.com on the Web.
