Event Summary
On
February 10, HighJump Software (www.highjump.com
), a privately-held provider of adaptable, Internet-based extended supply chain
execution (SCE) solutions, announced that it has lately secured significant
new customer wins and global partners in its ongoing efforts to become the industry
leader in providing global SCE solutions. Additionally, HighJump's International
Associate Partner Program now reportedly consists of industry-leading
consulting and solution providers located in key geographic regions throughout
the world. HighJump believes each Associate has a proven track record of success
selling and implementing SCE solutions in global markets, but with invaluable
knowledge of their local markets. Associates in turn attend HighJump
University, its comprehensive solution and implementation training
center, and are provided with continuing product, implementation and marketing
support. The Program currently includes representation in the following geographic
regions:
-
Asia-Pacific: CL Solutions (Hong Kong)
-
Australia: HighJump-Australia
-
Brazil: HighJump-Brazil
-
Chile: HighJump-Chile
- India:
WIPRO
-
Italy: Datilog
- Mexico:
SCAN
-
Middle East: ePeople Consulting (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
-
South Africa: AST
-
United Kingdom: KTP, HighJump-UK
This
is Part One of a four-part note.
Part
Two will discuss the Market Impact.
Part
Three will analyze HighJump SCE solutions. Part Four will cover Challenges and
make User Recommendations.
Background
HighJump
began life as Data Collection Systems Inc. (DCSI),
a provider of bar-code data-collection systems to track labor costs and inventories
in manufacturing plants and warehouses. The company was founded in 1983 to develop
inexpensive systems to collect, view, edit, and process shop-floor/warehouse
data for existing mainframe-based applications. Although data-collection systems
remained an important offering, since 1997, under the leadership of CEO Chris
Heim, DCSI began to more aggressively diversify and evolve into a full-fledged
SCE vendor. DCSI complemented its first SCE product, a radio frequency (RF)-based
warehouse management system (WMS) named Warehouse Advantage,
with applications that facilitate many aspects of Internet-based order fulfillment.
Consequently, the revenue nowadays is split into a healthy 40% for license fees,
50% for services & maintenance, and remaining 10% for data-collection hardware.
In
2000, DCSI became HighJump, albeit, contrary to its competitors like Provia
or Adexa (see What's
in a Name for Supply Chain Vendors? ), this name has not necessarily been
made up with any deliberate causal meaning.
HighJump
customers include manufacturers, distributors, retailers and third-party logistics
(3PL) companies, and the vendor targets the operational needs of a wide range
of organizations from midsize to large companies and divisions of the Fortune
1000, with more than 700 customers at this stage. Sample customers include Verizon,
Honeywell, Sony, Georgia-Pacific, Toro, Fisher-Rosemount, PepsiCo, Starbucks
Coffee Company, Circuit City and NASA. Moreover, several
new international customers have recently been added to HighJump's growing roster
of worldwide customers. These companies span industries including retail, telecommunications,
food/beverage and consumer packaged goods (CPG), and utilities. Key customer
wins include Comercial Mexicana, DiMalsa Logistics
and Alen Grupo in Mexico; SKF Italy; Ajover
in Colombia; Hitachi and Top Shop Holding B.V.
(Oke TV, Tel Sell and TV-Select) in the Netherlands;
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago; PCTEL in
Hong Kong; Artysen Technologies in China; SMART Modular
in Singapore; and Quebec Telephone, Hospital for Sick Children
and Pauwels in Canada.
To
support its international endeavors, HighJump has also extended Supply
Chain Advantage, its collection of SCE solutions, with multi-lingual
applications to broaden the global deployability of the product line. Thus,
throughout 2003, HighJump continues to further its aggressive international
expansion with ongoing partner initiatives, new customer wins and product enhancements
geared toward a global audience, which it has successfully initiated a year
earlier. Namely, for fiscal year 2002, which ended March 31, 2002, the company
realized 40% year-over-year revenue growth as well as profitability. Fiscal
year 2002 produced other significant achievements for HighJump Software, since,
in addition to acquiring over 50 new customers, the vendor:
SCE Solution Suite Enhanced
First,
HighJump released Warehouse Advantage Suite 5.0 in November 2001. In addition
to enhancements to all of the components of the supply chain solution, this
release featured an enhanced event management module called Event Advantage
that measures and monitors supply chain processes for exceptions and bottlenecks,
enabling an organization to proactively manage events across its supply chain.
Other enhancements to HighJump's suite of SCE solutions included product innovations
for wireless communications and extended Web visibility via hand-held personal
digital assistant (PDA) devices, which facilitates real-time, mobile decision-making.
Later
in 2002, HighJump announced the release of Warehouse Advantage Suite 5.1, which
extended HighJump's inventory management and collaboration capabilities with
key functionality that includes yard management and multi-lingual applications.
Central to the release of Warehouse Advantage Suite 5.1 was the yard management
solution, Yard Advantage, which extends the activities involved
in inventory management beyond the traditional scope of the warehouse. This
browser-based solution leverages real-time information exchange to increase
operational efficiency by coordinating and optimizing physical product movement
as it arrives in the yard and is introduced into the warehouse or distribution
center. Yard Advantage can operate as a stand-alone system or can be fully integrated
into SCE and/or warehouse management solutions, such as HighJump's supply chain
execution suite, to increase the visibility and effectiveness of the entire
supply chain.
Key Features of Yard Advantage are:
-
Dock Appointment Management provides a central point of visibility for appointment
details such as date, time, dock location, carrier name, appointment type
and appointment status.
-
Cross-Dock Opportunities are highlighted for the manager to maximize the throughput
of the warehouse and minimize costly exceptions.
-
Gate Check-in and Check-out provides security and control over all trucks
entering and leaving the yard.
-
Yard Jockey Moves are driven with radio frequency (RF) terminals, keeping
the yard jockeys active and productive in the movement of trailers within
the yard.
-
Metrics and Performance Tracking provide vendor compliance and yard performance
metrics.
One of the possibly unique features of Warehouse Advantage Suite is the system's tools-based component architecture. Because the architecture separates business logic and underlying code, any modifications that customers have made to business logic remain intact during the upgrade process. As a result, customers have reportedly been able to add the new functionality and features included in release 5.1 and later in hours, not weeks or months, while absolutely no custom coding is required. In addition, the 5.1 release features multi-lingual applications to support multiple languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish, or English) as part of one application.
Strategic
Alliance Partnerships Expanded
During fiscal 2002, HighJump created successful partnerships with a number of
key consulting, technology and hardware firms working within the SCE industry.
Partnerships include Tompkins Associates, IBM, WIPRO, Digiterra, KSA, KEOGH
Consulting, ESYNC and SPS Commerce, all of which have reportedly led to mutually
successful client engagements.
Continued
Growth in International Markets
During fiscal 2002, HighJump expanded its international presence via several
noteworthy partnerships with Associates in Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Hong Kong,
Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
Outside
Funding Secured
In February 2002, HighJump closed a $10 million equity investment with Gemini
Investors of Wellesley, MA and St. Paul Venture Capital
of Bloomington, MN. This funding, secured in a turbulent economic environment,
will have demonstrated the investment community's confidence in HighJump's solutions
and its ability to be a notable player in the SCE market.
This
concludes Part One of a three-part note.
Part
Two will discuss the Market Impact.
Part
Three will analyze HighJump SCE solutions.
Part
Four will cover Challenges and make User Recommendations.