Ho, Ho, Ho – How a Logistics Provider Uses Integration Software to Source and Deliver Millions of Goods in a Tight Timeframe

Our customer, a logistics provider with a distinctive red uniform and livery, experiences an annual surge in demand in the period 24^th-25^th December. However, the preparation has begun long before his fleet of green energy vehicles set out on their rounds.

Dealing with high order volumes

Our customer specializes in the purchase and supply of customized items to a client base of several million. Orders come in throughout the year, often in a batch size of one. Sometimes, an order may change several times before making it onto the sleigh.

Says Mr. S. Claus of Lapland, CEO of Seasonally Assigned Nice Toys Association (SANTA): This simply wouldn’t be possible without a business integration platform which seamlessly sends and retrieves information along the entire value chain throughout the year, before making sure that the products arrive at our global hubs, are appropriately warehoused, and get to the correct recipient within an extremely tight timeframe.

Save time by connecting systems and automating data flow

Many customers use the software Chimney to send their orders. This software is cloud-based and the order is entered into a portal by the customer and sent into the cloud. Chimney is integrated with SANTA’s BIS Platform through an out of the box connector and converter. The information flies like magic through the integrated systems and the intelligent automation capabilities on the SEEBURGER BIS Platform route the recipient’s address and personal details towards the database Nice List.

SANTA has extremely tight criteria for entering and retaining a recipient on Nice List. Sub-contractor Elf on the Shelf is charged with monitoring the aspiring recipients at various times of the year. The elves connect to SANTA’s systems through an API to verify a recipient’s entry and continued inclusion on Nice List. If an elf enters that a would-be recipient does not meet the stringent criteria, an intelligent automation process on the BIS Platform removes the entry and cancels the pending order.

The API management capabilities on the BIS Platform ensure that this API is kept running smoothly and securely to allow changes down to the last minute, even at peak times.

If the recipient’s details are on Nice List, the structured data from Chimney denoting the desired present is routed by the SEEBURGER BIS Platform to either the systems of a large, multinational toy manufacturer, or to SANTA’s preferred partner, ELF Workshops.

Can I connect my old IT systems to newer devices?

ELF Workshops is a traditional company of many years’ standing. Nevertheless, their SEEBURGER BIS Platform seamlessly integrates both their legacy systems and their newer IloT production technologies with their Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP), which in turn is integrated into the ERP system used by SANTA.

Despite their more traditional ethos, ELF Workshops deal with a staggering number of orders throughout the year. Their SEEBURGER BIS platform integrates their Product Information Management and Warehouse Management systems with their ERP, as well as enabling B2B e-invoicing with SANTA and their own suppliers. As in many industries, demand – although consistently high – mushrooms at certain times of the year, with relatively low incoming orders in January, reaching a peak at the beginning of December. To cope with these peaks in demand, as well as the lack of resources ELF Workshops can dedicate to IT infrastructure, maintenance and mappings, ELF Workshops deploy their SEEBURGER BIS Platform as fully-managed cloud services. This allows them to scale to meet expected peaks in demand while enjoying a level of security and business continuity they would struggle to provide on-premises.

SANTA deploys his SEEBURGER BIS platform from a hyperscaler, mainly to benefit from low latency access from his global hubs. Confidentiality is the name of the game for SANTA, who also benefits from the high security (and the possibility to process high data volumes) inherent in the MFT capabilities also available on the BIS.

How to integrate smaller contractors and suppliers

This year will see the first year that Rudolph Reign-Dear, the sub-contractor annually invited to join the other 8 environmentally-friendly drivers, will be using electronic data transfer to coordinate with SANTA and ELF workshops. Due to an unusual business pattern which sees extremely high demand in two weeks of December but nothing in the remaining 50 weeks, Mr. Reign-Dear doesn’t have the SEEBURGER BIS Platform, not even as an iPaaS. Instead, he uses SEEBURGER’s WebEDI to communicate sleigh capacity with SANTA and ELF Workshops.  This lets him seamlessly exchange data with both parties through an internet browser (Rudolph has the SLEdge browser installed on his computer). For more confidential information pertaining to the clients themselves, such as entry instructions to domestic residence if a fireplace is not available, SANTA has installed SEEBURGER’s BIS Link for Rudolph, a lightweight java-based Managed File Transfer endpoint for the MFT capabilities on the BIS Platform.

Integrating data on the move and optimizing routes

From the afternoon of the 24^th December, the logistics crews are in the skies. However, the real magic happens in the back end. SANTA uses a cloud-based vehicle routing tool, including a module for Mrs Claus in sleigh management to optimize vehicle routing, and integrated mobile apps for the 9 drivers with an electronic route list, navigation and up-to-date client details. The SEEBURGER BIS Platform ensures this is all permanently networked with the backend office at SANTA.

Using the backend data, the vehicle routing system manages the entire routing operation. The system automatically creates tasks (such as a hub pickup), which Mrs Claus can alter and optimize if desired. The SEEBURGER BIS Platform sends this information to the reindeers‘ smartphones as structured data. The tool supports route planning and optimization with analysis, monitoring and documentation based on regularly updated data. This includes the miles flown, carrot consumption and any error messages from a sleigh’s CAN bus. SANTA is planning on harnessing this rich source of data by employing the SEEBURGER BIS Platform to introduce data analytics in the new year.

How can SEEBURGER help you?

One platform, one experience, any integration style, anywhere deployment. SEEBURGER is an integration software and services company with over 1,200 employees worldwide. Family-owned since 1986, SEEBURGER transforms businesses and the IT landscape with the BIS Platform — a cloud-based, agile, secure and scalable integration platform.

The SEEBURGER BIS Platform is a central platform which easily yet securely integrates all your systems and partners. It has B2B/EDI, MFT and API capabilities, and securely transfers at the speed and scale your company requires. The built in any-any converter means data gets to the right place at the right time in the right format for further use, even from legacy or home-grown systems. Available as (fully) managed cloud services from the SEEBURGER Cloud or a hyperscaler, as an on-premises solution on in-house hardware, or even a hybrid of the above, there’s a deployment and operations option for everyone. Speak to us to see how we could accelerate and future-proof your business in terms of speed, scalability, future technologies and IT resource management.

Happy Christmas from all of us at SEEBURGER!