Stolt Tankers, Marine Procurement Solutions Join Forces
Posted by Julia Welling
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Stolt Tankers (Stolt) and Marine Procurement Solutions (MPS) formed a strategic software alliance providing integrated marine procurement systems linked to an electronic trading platform. The platform is designed to provide complete visibility to the purchasing cycle and enables ship owners to reduce both operating and material costs.
The integrated product line:
1. ReqLite on board order system
2. Sea Manager order processing and contract management tool
3. Direct Connect e-Procurement trading platform
ReqLite is for operators of tugs, barges, dredgers or smaller units where a full maintenance and purchasing software is not cost effective. ReqLite allows the crew to build requisitions through a custom material/equipment hierarchy, obtain approval and transmit the document electronically to the office for processing. A two way communication link to the office provides instant order status updates.
SeaManager is a procurement platform used by Stolt and other ship owners which has been continuously upgraded by a dedicated team of IT professionals. SeaManager is a full document processing system with a customizable work flow and easy to set approval limits and user responsibilities. To date, more than a half million documents have been processed reliably and efficiently. Its contract management feature provides ship owners the ability to save money from day one. The proprietary automation feature converts a requisition to a priced purchase order and sends it directly to an authorized approver. For non-contract material the Target Price feature links the buyer instantaneously to historical data showing the average, best and last price paid.
MPS will be the exclusive marketing arm for the ReqLite and SeaManager software products.
Seamanager is fully integrated into the MPS’s state-of-the-art Direct Connect e-Procurement trading platform. Direct Connect combines solid reliability with exclusive features targeted to the maritime industry. Direct Connect will enhance Stolt’s efforts to increase their market coverage and drive down costs for their spot purchasing efforts.