Regulatory News:
Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, in a consortium with Neopost ID (Paris:NEO) and BearingPoint, has signed a major contract with the French Ministry of Defence to design, implement and look after the maintenance of the logistics IT system for monitoring joint forces resources, or SILRIA ("Système d'Information Logistique de suivi de la Ressource Inter-Armées This IT solution allows for management of the transportation and traceability of defence equipment using RFID technology1
The SILRIA solution will ensure the optimisation and traceability of each stage of the French armed forces' transportation flows all over the world, particularly in foreign theatres of operation. It will be fully compatible with NATO's logistics IT systems and will offer the same service when French forces transport allied equipment or French equipment is transported by allied resources. It will also be compatible with the Ministry of Defence's requirements in terms of IT systems architecture (STC-IA).
The DDS Shipper (DDS Logistics) software at the heart of the SILRIA system will be responsible for the design and monitoring of transportation flows. All of the identification and traceability solutions will be provided by Neopost ID, from the RFID reader gates for ground lorries with portable readers to bar code printers and RFID tag encoders. In order to be able to handle all kinds of joint forces equipment, SILRIA will be open and connected to all of the support systems of the French armed forces and their allies, as well as customs management systems, all in accordance with the restrictions imposed by military security. SILRIA also offers reporting and business intelligence features.
Near real-time management of transportation will give the armed forces a better view of their shipments of various equipment, from full equipment to healthcare equipment, as well as ammunition and spare parts. It will also allow commands to better manage their priorities. Lastly, the system installed will allow for transportation methods used to be optimised.
The specific requirements of transporting military equipment, the most significant of which is the need to trace logistics events as far as distant and hostile theatres of operation, have not prevented the armed forces from opting for proven solutions from the civilian world, allowing them to cut project costs while also benefiting from the associated effects of scale.
The Capgemini Neopost ID BearingPoint consortium was selected at the end of a call for tenders during which it was able to demonstrate its complementary areas of business and technical expertise, its full understanding of the military market and the constraints facing the armed forces, and its ability to propose innovative but proven and economical solutions based on civilian "building bricks".
"SILRIA is a major project for management of the Ministry of Defence's operational transportation chain. It addresses two key challenges: firstly, updating the system for monitoring resources and ensuring that it is rolled out within all armed forces and ministry departments, and secondly, introducing the use of RFID to this process. By combining civilian technologies, the solution offered by Capgemini should allow for the creation of an effective system that is natively interoperable with the national and international environment for transportation logistics," comments Marie-Isabelle Urios, Manager at the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) for logistics IT systems.
1 Radio-frequency identification or RFID is a method for memorising and collecting remote data using markers called radio-frequency tags.
About Capgemini
With over 125,000 employees and operations in 44 countries, Capgemini is one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group generated revenues of €10.3 billion in 2012. With its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business and technology solutions that fit their needs and drive the results they want. A deeply multicultural organisation, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore, its worldwide delivery model.
For more information go to: www.capgemini.com
Rightshore is a trademark of the Capgemini Group
About BearingPoint
BearingPoint is a European business consulting firm (www.bearingpoint.com) with a market-leading position in management consulting and technology.
About Neopost ID
Neopost ID, a subsidiary of Neopost, develops and runs Track Trace for companies that make up the supply chain such as carriers, postal companies and logistics specialists, as well as companies that use logistics processes, such as manufacturers and distributors. The company provides them with all components of a Track Trace project, including hardware, software and interfaces, on-site deployment and maintenance and support services. It develops tailor-made traceability solutions and looks after their operation. Its solutions are able to cover all key processes such as data collection (via web technologies, bar codes, RFID etc.), data analysis and storage by implementing specialised hosted applications, and finally the retrieval of this value-added information.
For more information go to: www.neopost-id.com
Contacts:
Contact Presse Capgemini
Hélène Delannet, Capgemini France
+33(0)1 49 67 31 25
helene.delannet@capgemini.com
or
Contact Presse Neopost ID
Sophie Lasbleis, Agence Scenarii
+33(0)1 55 60 20 44
slasbleis@scenarii.fr
or
Contact Presse Neopost Groupe
Fabrice Baron, DDB Financial
+33(0)1 53 32 61 27
fabrice.baron@ddbfinancial.fr
