From Rough Seas To Smooth Sailing

Friday, March 1, 2002

Te moneceys Tee — 197 MafCeIVOID 19% 4] sine 4% Ss ‘Ne + WA 2% rey N MackglFacis s 7 S32 ess Invecum Sysim ‘%, N ew rtd Ss 14 84 Notes -t_{4'/ -| From Rough Seasto Smooth Sailing (NAPSA)—Whenyouseecrisp white sails dotting calm harbors, consider the channels a sailmaker must navigate to deliver sails to customers around the world. One Connecticut-based sail design and manufacturing company’s sails must circumnavigate the globe before they ever reach a sailboat. To deliver its sails to customers around the world, the company must maneuverinternational An established shipping company can rescue businesses from a sea of paperwork. companyto do on its own. from Hong Kong. logistics procedures—a feat that is difficult for any small-to-mid-sized “Like many entrepreneurs, we are very busy people running a very busy company—we can’t afford to spend a lot of timefilling out shipping forms,” said Tim Yourieff, Neil Pryde Sails’ coowner. “In the business ofsailing, just like in the sport of sailing, anywhere you can save a little time is very important. It is often the difference between making a deal andlosingit.” Faced with these challenges, Neil Pryde Sails turned to UPS to help set its shipping on the right course. “We needed a system that virtually handled itself,” said Bob Pattison, the company’s other owner. “And that’s what UPS offered.” When an order comes in, the staff designs the sail at the company’s U.S. base. They e-mail the completed specifications to a factory in Shenzhen, China, where the sail is manufactured. The finished product is then sent to Hong Kong, whereit is flown to the customer. To meet customers’ expec- tations, this process should take no longer than three weeks from start to finish. UPS assessed Neil Pryde Sails’ unique needs and enhanced its supply chain management system to save time and money. First, UPS Worldwide Express™ guarantees the pickup, drop-off and intransit times for sails shipped Second, UPS Customhouse Bro- kerage makes sure that the sails clear customs in a timely fashion. Together, these services have trimmed up to three days off Neil Pryde’s shipping time. Then, UPS Imports gives the company easy-to- follow billing in U.S. dollars. Finally, UPS helps ensure accuracy with UPS OnLine WorldShip software. The software gives Yourieff, Pattison and staff a timesaving database upon which they can continue to build, so they avoid filling out duplicate forms. The software also offers address validation to correct any address mistakes for sails being shipped into the United States. This entire package of services has cut shipping costs by about 10 percent. “UPS understands that streamlining a small business’ supply chain is the key to helping them grow,” said Ron Wallace, president of UPS International. “In this case, we spent some time with Tim and Bob and put together a system that jibes with their company’s needs.” “The world is becoming a smaller place with services like UPS’s,” Yourieff said. “Their help in customizing our supply chain puts us leagues aheadofthe rest.” To learn more about how UPS’s programs can benefit small businesses, visit the Web site at www.ups.com.

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