The Acteon Group, a leading global integrated subsea services provider, has chosen Amber Road to automate and standardize restricted party screening across all of its worldwide branded services.

Headquartered in Norwich, UK, the Acteon Group brings together a broad range of companies, mainly in the oil, gas and renewables industries. One of the biggest firms in the subsea services industry, Acteon has over 35 different company sites. It offers worldwide services with and has thousands of trading partners.

Despite attempts by the U.S. government to streamline export regulation and stoke growth of exported goods, it remains a tricky and evolving process. This year’s American Shipper report takes a deeper look at how exporters are managing their export documentation in the wake of the latest AES deadlines last year. 

This report, co-produced with BPE Global and AAEI, also examines the level of involvement export practitioners have in strategic areas like new markets and mergers and acquisitions, as well as their path to invest in technology solutions designed to make the export compliance process more efficient.

Key themes include:

• The role of compliance and operations personnel in strategic export decisions
• Organizational structures and responsibilities
• How shippers file their EEIs
• Whether investment is available to invest in export technology
• How system delivery model choices are changing

Over the next decade, the way procurement is executed will change. Organizations must identify all of their business entities, buying habits, cost information, benchmarking and more to obtain real-time data in a predictive form. Without it, there will be knowledge loss as experienced supply management professionals leave the business; customer loss; being viewed as a less favorable supplier; less financial investment from shareholders; reduced market share; and a non-sustainable business model.

We had a blast cruising on the Potomac with our guests at BIS Update! Amber Road, Sandler, Travis, & Rosenburg, P.A., and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Associates would like to thank everyone for joining us and making it such a memorable event.

A few weeks ago at the FDRA Annual Sourcing Intelligence Summit, leading brands and retailers gathered to learn about and discuss the current trends and potential risks for sourcing in the supply chain. Having only embarked on this new career in retail supply chain a few weeks prior, I wanted to take what I learned at the conference and form a better understanding in how this information relates to the retail industry as a whole. However, among experiencing something new, the information I left with was enlightening yet implausible at the same time.

China’s trade regulations can be particularly daunting, which is why understanding China’s trade framework is crucial to support a compliant and efficient supply chain.

That's why you can't miss tomorrow's webinar with American Shipper, From GTM to CTM: A Closer Look at China’s Processing Trade Program and Cross-Border Supply Chain TOMORROW, August 14, at 10AM EDT.

This one-hour session will examine China’s trade landscape and discuss best practices for Chinese trade operations, including a case study from a major automotive technology manufacturer with operations across China on how they were able to reduce duties with automation.

As more and more emerging markets develop sophisticated trade regulation programs, trading internationally becomes more complex. In this video, Ty Bordner, Vice President of Solutions Consulting, speaks at the SCM Logistics and Manufacturing World Conference about the biggest challenges facing international companies today: keeping up with trade regulations, developing a flexible compliance strategy, and moving goods quickly and efficiently. Amber Road’s Global Trade Management solutions and Global Knowledge body of trade information can help companies face all these challenges head-on.

Trade related controls must be a part of any relationship between a company and its supply chain partners. Importers must collaborate with extended trading partners (suppliers, customs brokers, carriers, etc.) to ensure complete and accurate information accompanies inbound shipments and documents, and that other information is readily available to the parties that need it. Companies must also stay abreast of dynamic country-specific import regulations to avoid regulatory violations and penalties. Poor planning and execution and a lack of import compliance leads to delays at Customs and increased costs.

China’s trade regulations can be particularly daunting, a major concern considering the sheer number of companies with operations in the world’s top exporting nation. Understanding China’s trade framework is crucial to support a compliant and efficient supply chain.

Companies are starting to turn to China Trade Management (CTM) software solutions to help them take advantage of China’s Processing Trade program, in particular – no surprise, since the program can help shippers reduce product cost by 25 percent or more.

Discover best practices in China trade operations during American Shipper's webinar, From GTM to CTM: A Closer Look at China’s Processing Trade Program and Cross-Border Supply Chain on Thursday, August 14, at 10AM EDT.

Did you miss our webinar on The Financial Implications of Global Supply Chain Management? Don’t worry - it is now available on-demand!

This webinar explores the causal relationship between the execution of global supply chain strategies and a company’s financial results. Operational examples highlight how companies have leveraged global trade management solutions to optimize landed costs, lead times, and inventory.

Get your headsets ready because the Xbox One is coming to China! Microsoft will be the first company to sell video game systems in China in over a decade. The company will gain a first-mover advantage in China’s $13.4 billion video game market of over 700 million gamers.

By establishing operations in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ), Microsoft can bypass a 2002 ban on the sale of video game consoles. The PFTZ was created in order to provide an experimental field for policy and administrative reforms designed to facilitate trade and simplify China’s complex trade regulations. The PFTZ greatly eases market restrictions on a range of previously banned industries.

Companies in the United States and Europe are going to have to react quickly to new sanctions being imposed against Russia due to its support of the Ukrainian separatists thought to be responsible for the attack on Malaysian flight MH17. Further, many companies will be unsure of how these sanctions will affect them even once they are put into effect.

The sanctions against Russia will include restrictions on the trade of specified goods, an arms trade embargo, a ban on the export of dual-use goods for military, and restrictions for Russians on certain technologies in the energy field. If a company fails to comply with these restrictions, penalties can include heavy fines, a loss of export privileges, and even jail time if the action is deemed intentional.