PARTNER

Sabre launches Trip Shopping
Dynamic travel packaging made real
Sabre Holding Corp. has launched Trip Shopping, a system driven with ILOG Configurator and ILOG CPLEX that helps travel agents quickly arrange entire trips. Sabre is the leading provider of technology, distribution and marketing services for the travel industry. It developed Trip Shopping to be a true dynamic travel packaging system, which Gartner says brings together different trip components from the inventories of travel services to create in real time a package that satisfies the customer's requirements.

Trip Shopping dynamic packaging relies on ILOG Configurator and ILOG CPLEX. They enable buyers to set the conditions and preferences by which components of a trip are selected. They allow travelers to simultaneously specify preferences such as air carrier, car rental company and hotel location, give a price range, and receive a number of options based on the preferences-all in real time.

Manufacturers, partners out of synch
Survey: supply-chain software still needed
Manufacturers need to better synchronize their supply-chain operations with their partners, according to a survey conducted by ILOG and APICS-The Performance Advantage, the leading publication for resource management professionals in the manufacturing sector.

ILOG and APICS made the survey to determine the extent to which manufacturers have successfully synchronized their supply-chain operations with their partners. The survey was distributed to ILOG customers, and 60,000 APICS readers and society members.

Two-thirds of the manufacturers who responded have not successfully synchronized supply-chain operations with their partners, and most of the makers do not take advantage of supply-chain management software.

Other key findings:

• More than 8 out of 10 respondents believe it is very difficult to coordinate their software systems with those of their partners.
• Two-thirds of the respondents who use supply-chain applications use different solutions than their partners.