New Software for Maritime Purchasing

Oslo, Norway: Star Information Systems (SIS) is pleased to introduce the new Star Fleet Supply Management system (Star FSM), representing the next generation of software for managing procurement and logistics in the shipping and offshore industries.

The decision to develop a brand new purchasing system was based on feedback from the market, explains SIS’ Marketing Manager, Pia Solheim: “With automated purchasing, extensive use of e-commerce, and functionality for contract management and transportation, we believe Star FSM will revolutionise the way purchasers in the maritime sector do business.”

She continues: “By speaking to purchasing personnel in shipping and offshore companies, we learned that with the systems available on the market today purchasers spend too much time “moving paper” and hence lack time to negotiate good framework agreements and build strategic partnerships with suppliers and freight forwarders. With this in mind we found that adding new functionality to an ageing system would not be sufficient. Instead we decided to start from scratch with new technology that allows for more flexible systems and enables automation of processes in order to make purchasing more efficient.”

Star FSM can be customized to company specific policies using the system’s business rules engine. Combined with sophisticated functionality for contract management, this enables for automation of standardized purchasing task. For example, if the requested materials are covered by a contract and the cost is within the budget limit, the process of issuing a purchase order can be undertaken automatically. In addition, the system allows for quote comparisons, so that where a contract does not exist, quotes from several suppliers can easily be compared in order to find the best delivery.

Many of SIS’ customers have also requested functionality for tracking deliveries to agents and warehouses, in addition to receiving goods on board their vessels. To meet this need, SIS is building a transportation module that will facilitate the receipt of goods by an agent or warehouse, the packing and re-distribution of goods, and the return of goods from vessels. “This functionality was first requested by our offshore customers, but after addressing this need at our annual user conference we found that it was also of interest to many of our shipping customers”, Solheim adds.

Noting the increasing use of KPI’s in the offshore and shipping industries, Star FSM provides instant KPI’s for purchasing and will also interact with SIS’ new online tool for KPI and trend monitoring. The conclusion by SIS is clear: “We are very satisfied with the new system, and based on the feedback received so far we believe our customers will be too!”

Star FSM will be officially launched at Nor-Shipping stand no. C04-32b, May 26th at 13:00.

 

News Source: NOR Shipping