If you’re interested in attending, RSVP via our event page on LinkedIn, or send an email to emilythornton (at) managementdynamics (dot) com -  We hope to see you there!

Global trade content is an integral component of trade compliance, and helps companies use the correct classification, comprehensively screen for denied parties, identify regulatory control issues, and use the right trade compliance documents.

The GTM Newsletter summarizes changes to this global trade content on a weekly basis, featuring the latest trade content and industry sources from over 120 countries, including:

• Landed Cost Updates
• HS Descriptions
• Denied Parties
• Government Regulations, including Tariffs, Duties, & Taxes
• Import & Export Controls
• Contract Assessorials
• Carrier Service Schedules
• Weekly News Headlines on Global Trade

Register now to receive the GTM Newsletter,
direct to your inbox each week!

“How Green Is My Sneaker” describes a new software tool, developed by 100 retailers and apparel manufacturers, can determine the “Eco-Index” of their products. The tool calculates the score from a series of questions answered by the company and its suppliers:

The Eco Index, which is basically a software tool any apparel maker can use, poses a series of questions to companies on their environmental and labor practices—some of which require answers from the companies’ suppliers. It then assigns a score representing a percentage of a perfect score.

The questions cover every step in the life of a product, from raw-material production to manufacturing, shipping, and even disposal. For instance, Levi’s gets points for having a recycling program that lets consumers drop off their old jeans at Goodwill, and Timberland earns points for using leather tanneries that have wastewater-purifying systems. Points are lost for using bulky packing material or transporting goods long distances. The Eco Index also includes estimates of how consumers will wash and eventually dispose of their clothes.

The tool and scoring have been in development for over three years, but roll out to the public is not expected in the immediate future – even though retailers are announcing the Eco-Index at next month’s Outdoor Retailer trade show.

Image Courtesy Wall Street Journal, Levi's. Click to view interactive version.

Levi’s vice president of social and environmental sustainability, Michael Kobori, says the tool will be available “as soon as we can get everybody to agree” on how to publish and communicate it.

Nike is one of the sportswear and apparel makers using the Eco Index to measure its products’ environmental impact.

This sounds about as easy as herding cats, given the numerous brands involved. It’s one thing, many companies say, to use the data internally, but quite another to trumpet it to the world. They want to be sure everyone communicates the data in the same way. For instance, they don’t agree on whether the index should be communicated as a single number on a hang tag or in a more detailed manner that might involve directing customers to data on the Web.

Personally, I found the interactive graphic to be a great addition to the article. It shows how 1 pair of Levi’s jeans travels throughout the US and Caribbean – and even after purchase, how that one product continues to affect the environment.

For example, the majority of CO2 emissions over the life-cycle of a pair of jeans come from the consumer’s washing machine & dryer.  Switching to cold water and line-drying cuts the CO2 emissions to a fraction compared to washing with hot water washing and machine-drying.

Levi’s also looks to be making a lot of progress in sustainability based on their research into the greenness of their products:

As part of its participation in the Eco Index, Levi’s did a separate internal study of its own practices. As a result, Levi’s changed its transportation routes last year to make them more efficient and reduced carbon emissions by 700 metric tons. In addition to the Goodwill agreement, Levi’s also cut back on packaging, allowing only three pieces of labeling with the jeans—a back-pocket tag, a size sticker, and a price tag.

In my opinion, sustainability and trade compliance are linked policies. Companies must have a plan in place for both- or else pay fines, waste money, lose time, and give up competitiveness in the marketplace.

Read the complete article at WSJ: “How Green Is My Sneaker?”

Does your company have a sustainability policy? Would it be willing to advertise its Eco-Index on its products? Let me know in the comments & answer the poll below! (You don’t have to say your company, of course!)

Many firms walk away from these duty savings due to the difficulty of learning origin rules or due to the time-frame involved in accurately qualifying a product for reduced duties – even when the benefits are significant.

Please participate in a survey on how companies manage NAFTA qualification! With the results, we hope to advance industry knowledge of best practices and better understand overall use of NAFTA processes across a wide spectrum of organizations.

Take the 2010 NAFTA Benchmarking Survey

This is a brief survey and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers are kept strictly confidential and will be reported anonymously.

Customs & Trade Solutions, Inc. and Management Dynamics are working to identify best practices when dealing with the complexities of NAFTA. Our goal is to identify best practices, and pass those along to you so that your company may benefit from improved processes and procedures.

The results will be used to prepare a report which Management Dynamics and CTSI Advisors will distribute during the AAEI Annual Conference, June 6-8. If you plan to attend the AAEI Conference, please stop by our booth for a copy of the results. Otherwise, we will email you a copy when it’s ready.

Click Here to Take the 2010 NAFTA Benchmarking Survey

The survey will close on June 2nd, so please be sure to participate early.

Please refer to your own company’s policy on whether this would be considered a work-related activity, and be sensitive to what data about the company can be provided.

Alliance will Integrate & Expand Use of Foreign Trade Zones in Global Trade Management

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, May 12, 2010 — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with FTZ Corporation, a leading provider of Foreign Trade Zone consulting services and developer of the SmartZone Premier application. The partnership seeks to expand the use of foreign-trade zones integrated with core Global Trade Management (GTM) processes of import compliance, export compliance and trade agreement management.

Foreign Trade Zones have been in use for nearly seventy six years with the passage of the Foreign Trade Zones Act of 1934 to expedite and encourage foreign commerce. Foreign Trade Zones are now a key component of U.S. trade policy and offer companies several opportunities to reduce costs with:

• Exemption of duty payment upon re-export of goods
• Relief from inverted tariffs where raw materials with high duty rates can be transformed to an end product with a low duty rate
• Use of consolidated weekly entries to reduce merchandise processing fees (MPFs)
• Deferral of duty on any inventory stored within an FTZ

For many companies these benefits can justify the investment in a Foreign-Trade Zone in the first year of operation.

“Foreign-trade zones are becoming an integral part of a company’s GTM strategy and their use is expanding given the strong value proposition and fast pay back,” said Craig Pool, President, FTZ Corporation. “Our customers are looking to integrate foreign-trade zones across their GTM processes and we look forward to working with Management Dynamics to deliver this solution.”

FTZ Corporation has extensive experience, having implemented over two hundred and fifty Foreign-Trade Zone projects. The company is also active in Washington D.C. with involvement in recent industry advancements including the passage of Weekly Entry legislation and opening up the benefits of Foreign-Trade Zones to new industries. FTZ Corporation offers a complete set of implementation services including the application to the FTZ Board and activation of the zone with Customs and Border Protection. Combined with the implementation of SmartZone Premier software, FTZ Corporation can cut the time to first benefit with a “turnkey” implementation.

“Implementing a foreign-trade zone program can generate millions in recurring savings and is a key initiative for companies as the global economy is rebuilding,” said Jim Preuninger, CEO, Management Dynamics. “FTZ Corporation has a tremendous track record of success in this industry and we look forward to working together to expand the GTM market.”

For more information on capitalizing on free trade agreements, watch our Free Trade Agreement Webinar or download our Free Trade Agreement Benchmark Report.

About FTZ Corporation
The Foreign-Trade Zone Corporation is the only nationally recognized consulting firm with a practice focused on Foreign Trade-Zone consulting. The firm provides a wide range of consulting work from Foreign-Trade Zones Board applications to activations with Customs and Border Protection, and administers nine foreign-trade zone projects. Its management of these projects is in keeping with the Foreign-Trade Zone Corporation’s philosophy that there is no substitute for hands-on-experience.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, April 21, 2010 — Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management (GTM) solutions, today announced that Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) implemented its Export Compliance solution to automate and maintain compliance with international export regulations.

The enterprise-class on-demand solution has enabled Infineon to streamline its process for license determination and sanctioned party screening across its high volume, highly complex supply chain.

Screening over 10,000 daily transactions across 12,000 customers worldwide, Infineon needed a robust and scalable solution to automate compliance with all export regulations for shipping products to foreign countries, as well as the measures to ensure compliance with national and international anti-terrorism regulations.

The company required vendor experience in automated license determination for exports out of multiple countries while adhering to and providing automated US re-export license decisions, especially when exporting dual-use products. Infineon selected Management Dynamics’ Export Compliance solution for its accuracy in resolving trade compliance issues, industry leading Global Trade Content, and scalability.

“The semiconductor industry is global and among the most dynamic industries in the world. Infineon strives to be the most responsive partner for its customers’ needs, while at the same time ensuring compliance with national and international export regulations and sanction programs,” said Wolfgang Keichel, Vice President, Information Technology for Supply Chain Management at Infineon Technologies AG. “Management Dynamics met the complex needs of Infineon in a very efficient and professional way.”

Fully integrated into Infineon’s SAP order management system across all business units, the Export Compliance solution centralizes and manages its international transaction management process including restricted party screening (RPS), export license determination and tracking. Audit trails and complete management reporting provide Infineon with a compliant process that adheres to US, European and Asian government regulations and reduces risks and costs associated with global trade.

In addition to Trade Export, Infineon implemented Management Dynamics’ End-Use Manager, an on-demand solution that generates customized end-use surveys for parties involved in any cross-border transaction, to help its compliance team to comprehensively survey and collect end-use statements from customers, suppliers and employees.

“Many multinational corporations are increasingly exporting to more countries, which comes with greater responsibility to ensure that complex export requirements are met, in particular for exporters of controlled technologies,” said Jim Preuninger, CEO of Management Dynamics. “We are delighted that Infineon Technologies selected our solutions to help manage export compliance and we welcome them into our growing number of customers with operations focused in Europe.”

About Infineon Technologies
Infineon Technologies, headquartered in Neubiberg near Munich, Germany, focuses on the three central challenges facing modern society: Energy Efficiency, Communications and Security. The company offers semiconductors and system solutions for automotive and industrial electronics, chip card and security applications as well as applications in communications.

Color Sensitive Interactive Billboard from milton cj on Vimeo.

Importers and exporters are turning to a new generation of Web-based compliance platforms to help them navigate the complex world of global trade regulation as compliance matures into a core logistics function.  Much of the action in recent months has come as the Importer Security Filing, or 10+2, mandate went into effect.

Indeed, ISF is one of many new rules in the increasingly regulated international trade environment around the world. Governments from all countries are looking to enhance trade security as a measure to counter terrorism, increase product safety, reduce risk, and shift accountability from the government agencies to the importers and exporters.  Importer Security Filing compliance is also unique in that it represents a shift to all-electronic filing.

The ISF is part of Customs’ risk-based approach to trade regulation and is part of a broader push to automation to reduce the agency’s paperwork and free up time for targeted enforcement. “It allows us to do a much better job of determining which shipments should be looked at and how they should be looked at,” [Richard DiNucci, director of the Secure Freight Initiative] said.

Almost lost amid the attention to 10+2 was that it was the first all-electronic trade program promulgated by Customs, with no paper option, pointing the way, perhaps, to the paperless future the trade community and Customs both want. That wasn’t the intent at the outset, DiNucci said, but importers who had not previously automated their trade compliance processes have readily adapted.

ISF is a reminder to shippers that they need to exert close control their own supply chains. For importers already complying with numerous trade mandates and under pressure to reduce costs, the silver lining of 10+2 is that it allows them to identify inefficiencies and eliminate redundancies, resulting in lower risk and fewer problems with Customs.

Although the ISF initiative was initially seen as a costly burden upon importers, the new data can be leveraged into enhancing not just entries into the US but also increasing visibility into trade compliance at all points in the supply chain.

Importers are looking to integrate their trade compliance with transportation or procurement processes in order to increase the overall efficiency of their supply chain while making compliance a priority – not just a means to avoid penalties.

As both the cost and complexity of trade compliance rise, along with the risks of noncompliance, there’s a growing trend among importers to integrate it more closely with core logistics processes, said Nathan Pieri, senior vice president for marketing and product management at Management Dynamics, an East Rutherford, N.J., trade technology provider. The result, he said, is compliance capability that works seamlessly through the supply chain in a way that improves the way shippers meet regulatory mandates and their own information needs.

“Companies want compliance, but also visibility,” he said. “We are seeing that shift and are starting to market and position solutions for that.”

Importers and providers agree compliance is closely tied to supply chain visibility. From a trade compliance standpoint, visibility is needed not just to watch transactions occur, but to be able to gather and report all the relevant data elements.

For the complete read, visit the Journal of Commerce: Visibility into Compliance.

eBook: 10+2 Vital Facts about the Importer Security Filing

The data elements required for 10+2 compliance are part of a growing trend towards increased trade compliance visibility. How can your company turn ISF from a burden into an opportunity? You can start by arming yourself with knowledge!

Download the Importer Security Filing 10+2 eBook

The ISF eBook covers 12 vital facts that importers must be aware of to successfully comply with the ISF, including answers to the following frequently-asked questions:

• What are the basic elements of an ISF Filing?
• How does my company minimize the costs & risks of compliance?
• What problems are companies facing when dealing with their ISFs?
• How can my company leverage ISF requirements to improve trade compliance visibility?

Receive the ISF eBook to learn more about leveraging the data elements of your ISF to enhance trade compliance throughout your supply chain.

• Twitter – I’ve found this is the best & fastest way of getting breaking news about international trade and the global supply chain. And there are many trade compliance experts on Twitter in case you need an instant answer for a nagging question!

• LinkedIn – Join other trade compliance professionals to discuss news, upcoming conferences, and networking opportunities. With the highest concentration of trade compliance professionals compared to other social networking sites, LinkedIn is a great resource for networking and online discussions – but response times are slower than Twitter.

• YouTube – Finally, you can tell the truth when you tell your boss you’re using YouTube for work purposes! But seriously, there are plenty of helpful videos (especially on our channel) to aid visual & auditory learners.