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Sonopress, Ditan 'Primary' SC Relationship Benefits Suppliers & Retailers
By
May 13, 2006, 16:21

In 2001 when Microsoft was preparing for the initial release of the XBOX game console, optical disc manufacturer Sonopress and Ditan, a leading retail distribution services provider of video games, CDs and DVDs, found themselves working together.

The collaborative nature of their relationship is the subject of an Entertainment Supply Chain Academy (ESCA) conference session on June 21: "Collaborative Approaches to SCM: The Demand Chain Z to A." They are also combining resources to become a platinum sponsor of ESCA.

Sonopress provides services for companies of all sizes in the Music, Entertainment, Video, and Software industries. Services cover a broad range in media manufacturing, from packaging of content to Vendor Managed Inventory. With over 50 years of expertise in optical disc manufacturing, Sonopress has been on the cutting edge of new technologies. Production of Blu-ray and HD DVD formats will begin later this year. Sonopress was one of the select few companies authorized to replicate XBOX games, noted Michael Dohle, Sonopress Vice President, IT and Customer Service.  

At the beginning of the relationship, Ditan was building a first to market solution delivering other new game platform software and hardware products to retail, for companies such as Activision and Sega's Dreamcast, as well as other up and coming third party publishers independent movie studios.

As they compared notes, both companies realized they used the SAP supply chain software system, allowing customers and retailers real-time data on order and inventory status.

"We (Sonopress and Ditan) decided to integrate the Sonopress core engine of manufacturing and replication with Ditan's supply chain and retail distribution solutions as a turnkey offering," said Bill Pryor, Ditan's Executive Vice President, of Ditan's Virtual Distribution Division.  By collaborating on the system, both Sonopress and Ditan realized new efficiencies, such as advanced visibility of the demand for raw materials and plant capacity requirements.

The primary U.S. Sonopress facility is in Weaverville, NC. Another facility, located in Louisville, Kentucky provides additional printing and packaging services. Not coincidentally, Ditan also has a plant in Louisville. "We're right across the street," noted Pryor. With the major UPS location only seven miles away, it reduces "time to market," pointed out Dohle.

Besides its "primary relationship" with Sonopress, Ditan is also the primary 3PL (third-party logistics) choice for most of the third-party video game publishing community and works directly for over a dozen major retailers, providing speed to market logistics solutions in direct-to-store distribution of time-sensitive, new launch products. By utilizing state-of-the-art information systems combined with strategically placed facilities placed closest to point of manufacturing, Ditan reduces inventories, cuts transportation costs, speeds deliveries, and improves customer service between the buyer and supplier with it's fully retail compliant EDI solutions.

www.sonopress.com
www.ditan.com







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