Warehouse Management Systems specialist – ATMS – is helping its clients become ICS ready, and at the same time is offering advice and services to all importers, distributors and logistics service providers.
ICS (Import Control System) is a new EC wide development providing for the electronic receipt of the Entry Summary Declarations that are currently submitted manually. ICS becomes mandatory from the end of next year and many companies are unprepared.
The good news about ICS is that it is pan European and you only need to do the declaration once, into whatever EC country the import first lands. In the UK, HM Revenue and Customs will be the gateway for this information.
ATMS is developing an ICS module as part of its Global Track solution. Global Track is a hosted, web based, global supply chain track and trace solution, incorporating a communications hub to link external systems and applications. A SAP approved communications module is also available. Global Track can work hand in hand with STP, the ATMS Warehouse Management System but equally well can stand alone.
ICS is only the first stage of the EC wide Automated Import System (AIS) initiative, this seeks to ensure that import operations starting in one member state can be completed in any of the other member states without re-submitting the same information. This includes the exchange of electronic messages with customs, traders, traders’ representatives and other government bodies.
The ATMS Global Track solution can track goods, materials and consignments from the point of manufacture, for instance in the Far East, to the unloading of the container at the importers warehouse. The RemLab, remote labelling and consigning module, is the first stage in the process. It is RemLab that identifies, uniquely, each carton and its contents, records the contents on the shipping container or unitload device and provides this information electronically, along with packing lists and manifests, to all key partners along the supply chain. This information is the key to the Entry Summary Declaration (ESD) and can be provided well in advance of the shipment landing.
Steve Warburton, Director of ATMS commented “remember, ICS is only just over a year away. Now is the time to start planning and at the same time to see if you can streamline some of your systems and procedures.”
ATMS plc
Tel: 0121 628 9000
www.atmsplc.com
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