The outlook for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is relatively positive as growth is forecasted post-pandemic. In a survey conducted among business executives, 50 percent of companies are expecting to increase their operating margins in 2022. This is attributed to the countermeasures they undertook to offset the unpredictability of the industry’s state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While expectations for the CPG industry are optimistic, significant challenges remain to shake businesses globally. 9 out of 10 business executives pinpoint supply chain pressure as the greatest threat to business growth – the changes caused by which will persist post-pandemic.

Post-COVID Foreign Trade Challenges for CPG Companies

Supply chain pressure is a top challenge for CPG companies nowadays as operational costs increase. Most notably, transportation and container shipping costs have soared by 25 to 50 percent due to stringent trade regulations. Production levels decreased to comply with worker capacity constraints. Additionally, the disruption in the shipping industry also contributed to supply chain pressure as the transportation of goods was suppressed by varying degrees of rigidity in border control measures and foreign trade policies. To add more pressure on CPG companies, the rise of e-commerce has led consumers to expect shorter delivery times for the products they purchase online. This burdens traders to ensure they can supply goods faster to satisfy consumers.

The consequences of supply chain challenges are felt not just by businesses, but also by consumers. As companies struggle to produce and transport goods, stockouts have become common. Consumer demand is left unmet, making it difficult for them to access and purchase their needs. On the business side, CPG companies are unable to leverage the essentiality of the demands needed for the CPG industry and the increased spending power of consumers. Businesses risk losing brand trust, confidence, and loyalty as they cannot deliver the promise of reliability and availability with limited stocks and empty shelves.

A Digital Solution

To combat the foreign trade challenges caused by supply chain pressure, CPG companies should invest in digitization and automation services to streamline trade processes and meet consumer demand. CPG companies must be able to review their strategy, footprint, assets, processes, and tools to build a supply chain that is resilient to critical disruptions. Trade partners such as Ropaar utilize SAP Global Trade Services to streamline foreign trade compliance by empowering exporters to automate, standardize, centralize, and manage global trade compliance requirements.

SAP Global Trade Services help CPG companies build supply chain resilience and thrive amid critical disruptions through digitization and automation. Ropaar’s CPG expertise allows CPG companies to leverage applicable Free Trade Agreements (FTA) to minimize their duty exposure and reduce the effort required to comply with FTA regulations. With Ropaar’s SAP deployment, CPG importers and exporters can gain the following advantages:

• Significant Free Trade Agreement (FTA) savings
• Consolidated import and export filing
• Single and holistic transportation platform
• Faster results and return on investment (ROI)

Ropaar offers a wide variety of TRADEblazing services for CPG companies such as:

• Management of import and export processes, including licenses and automatic license determination
• Screening of up-to-date, restricted-party lists
• Improvement of compliance confidence with checks throughout the processing of sales and purchasing transactions
• Calculation of product origin and preference eligibility for trade management

Leverage Ropaar’s CPG expertise today by connecting with us through this link.

The COVID-19 pandemic has broken the global food supply chain due to heightened regulatory pressure and limited mobility from transportation carriers. Businesses globally are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic to this day. A 2021 survey conducted by HLB Global found that 81% of the food and beverage industry leaders still consider the pandemic the most substantial risk factor for their businesses. In a much larger picture, this has led to equally pressing issues for consumers as food and beverage supply becomes limited.

Foreign Trade Challenges Post-COVID

The biggest threat to foreign trade is logistics. Transportation of food and beverage products was disrupted by varying border controls and air freight restrictions which vary country per country. These, in turn, have made trade more expensive and difficult for exporters as they have lost significant resources to manage regulatory compliance and battle food waste due to the limited shelf life of food and beverage products. Likewise, logistics challenges also threaten importers as they fail to restock on food and beverage products. Consequently, numerous importers cannot sustain consumer demand due to limited transport and delays.

The Driving Forces

The challenges surrounding foreign trade in the food and beverage industry are fueled by three key factors: consumers, technology, and regulation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made consumers more health-conscious and careful about the products they consume. A survey conducted by the International Food Information Council found that 54 percent of Americans mind the healthfulness of their food and beverage choices. This trend will continue even after the pandemic as consumers continuously seek fresh, additive-free products with traceable origins.

The restrictive nature of the COVID-19 pandemic also strengthened mass digitalization. The mobility and physical interaction challenges brought by the pandemic have transformed digitalization into a necessity rather than a choice. As a response, multiple exporters have transitioned to integrate digital solutions within their internal systems. In the food and beverage industry, these advancements have made functions such as order taking and inventory management more convenient. These technological investments will continue post-COVID as export leaders look into ways to improve efficiency, sustainability, and supply chain visibility.

Food safety concerns were a huge point of concern in foreign trade. With this, regulations surrounding foreign trade within the food and beverage industry have become increasingly stringent to ensure the safety of consumers. Despite the easing COVID-19 situation, regulatory pressure will continue as trade rules and standards are further tightened.

A TRADEblazing Partner

With foreign trade challenges surrounding the food and beverage industry, exporters need to have a system that addresses these pain points for them. Ropaar’s expertise in deploying SAP Global Trade Services helps streamline foreign trade processes by allowing exporters to automate, standardize, centralize, and manage global trade compliance requirements.

In the context of food and beverage operations, SAP Global Trade Services help simplify product traceability and regulatory compliance with comprehensive supply chain management. These enable exporters to implement their business processes with excellent accuracy and precision. Ropaar’s food and beverage domain expertise allow export leaders to:

• Consolidate import/export filing of export document requirements, transaction-specific forms, and import entries declaring partner government agency data
• Manage and oversee full lifecycle implementations
• Comprehensively integrate core processes
• Manage regulatory compliance and risks

Ropaar is your expert TRADEblazing partner as it provides best-in-class SAP Global Trade Services that were formulated and honed from years of industry experience.

Leverage Ropaar’s food and beverage expertise today by connecting with us through this link.

The aerospace industry is constantly ranked among the top U.S. export industries, with sales of $148 billion worth of aerospace-related products such as commercial airliners, satellites, military aircraft, engines, components, and more to customers abroad. They are also the most affected by export controls and must deal with unique export compliance concerns.

Take Heed of Export Control Laws

Today’s Aerospace and Defense (A&D) companies share this common pain point: the lack of automated controls to protect export-controlled data and intellectual property. One implication is the inability to control who has access to sensitive data and intellectual property across multiple systems.

What vital regulations do A&D companies need to look out for to avoid non-compliance?

Two vital U.S. export control laws that influence technology manufacturing, sales, and distribution are the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

• ITAR regulates the export of military commodities, technical data, and services and requires either a license or an exemption from the agency for all exports.
• EAR regulates the export of commodities, software, and technologies with commercial and dual-use strategic applications and requires licensing based on the classification of the item, its destination, end use, and end user.

Export compliance matters because it protects U.S. national security interests. Non-compliance means severe legal, reputational, and business risks plus penalties amounting from $250,000 to $1,000,000. Thus, manufacturers and exporters must ensure that they understand the laws and conform to the necessary regulations.

Stay Compliant with SAP Global Trade Services

With SAP Global Trade Services (GTS), A&D companies can effectively manage export compliance with its export management solution.

Manage exports.

Fast and compliant export clearance is vital for your global supply chain. With SAP GTS, you can utilize automated export control checks along the supply chain to provide timely and accurate export compliance to clear customs faster.

Classify products for export.

Proper product classification is crucial. With SAP GTS, you can identify products needing categorization from a list, such as ITAR-covered items from USML (United States Munitions List) and EAR items from CCL (Commercial Control List).

Create export declarations and documentation.

Complete and timely export declarations and documents are essential to ensure streamlined supply chain processes. Automating manual document generation can improve process efficiency and reduce delays with SAP GTS.

Control export of physical and digital goods.

The complexity of digital and technical data must be considered and managed to avoid missteps and violations. With SAP GTS, you can manage individual licenses, including license forms from the U.S. Department of State, and maintain regulations associated with digital and technical data such as ITAR, EAR, and ECO (Export Control Organization)

Integrate export across the supply chain.

Export compliance is built into the export supply chain. With SAP GTS, you can take advantage of these critical features across the supply chain: product classification, partner screening, export license determination, embargo check, letter of credit, export documents, electronic customs communication, country localization, and event management visibility.

Simplify Trade Compliance with a Trusted “TRADEblazing Partner”

Ropaar offers services to help A&D companies manage the risk and complexity of a globally distributed supply chain while staying compliant with onerous export and re-export controls.

With our A&D industry domain expertise, you can gain the following from an SAP deployment with Ropaar:

• Exception-based export compliance controls
• Integration with ERP logistics for filing timely and compliant export declarations
• Leverage duty minimization procedures like Inward Processing and Bonded Warehousing
• Control data quality and compliance of export/import through self-filings

We understand that export compliance is a complex and detailed undertaking. Let us help. Talk to our experts today!

Chemicals companies must ensure that raw materials and their products are handled and transported safely and immediately to enhance process efficiency and maintain a good business image and reputation. To achieve this, chemicals companies and third-party logistics (3PLs) must remove the roadblocks that can get in the way.

So what are these obstacles, and what solutions do you need to address them effectively?

1. Unexpected events

In recent years, global logistics organizations have encountered unforeseen events (from Brexit to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrain-Russia conflict), which resulted in shore congestions and truck driver shortages, among other logistics challenges. The members of the National Association of Chemical Distributors, for one, said they have experienced “severe delays, skyrocketing costs and outright order rejections” during the global health crisis. The majority (82.1%) reported average delays of 11 or more days, while half said they encountered delays of more than two months.

Although unexpected events can be difficult — or nearly impossible to — predict, chemicals companies can alleviate the risks using logistics solutions that allow them to obtain real-time data and insights from reliable sources and make data-driven decisions.

2. Freight and Shipment Management Challenges

Chris Jones, EVP, Industry and Services at Descartes, told Inbound Logistics that the “biggest” supply chain silo is transportation — and we agree. The silo problem is more severe when chemicals companies use a combination of air, ocean, intermodal, and over-the-road transportation where many third-party players are usually involved. It can get worse if there is no means of obtaining a holistic and end-to-end view of the entire freight and shipment ecosystem.

Silos lead to costly supply chain/freight transportation issues that can gravely impact operations. Here are some of the impacts, according to an American Chemistry Council survey:

• Lost production and shipping delays (94%)
• Shortages of raw materials (94%)
• Increased transportation costs (93%)
• Additional costs of $100,000 to $250 million (93%)
• Force majeure (more than 30%)

The truck driver shortage is another key freight/shipment roadblock, which we think can be solved by enabling visibility into the entire logistics and freight ecosystem.

3. Stockouts

Logistics organizations are responsible for ensuring the availability of raw materials needed in production. They need to prevent stockouts, which can have a rippling impact on the entire supply chain process.

But stockouts happen due to various factors, including unexpected events and shipping delays. According to the June 2021 survey of members of the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD), due to shipping delays, 84.5% percent of companies reported being out of stock of at least some imported products, up by almost 47% in March of the same year. More than 90% said they were close to running out of stock, and more than half said they lost more than $100,000 in revenue due to delays and stockouts.

The Solution You Need

If you have been in the industry for so long, you may agree that these problems are not new. Yet, that is why many chemical companies and 3PLs are at risk of using old approaches to solving problems — solutions that they think still work because they still give positive results, even though they give diminishing returns.

But what if there is a better way to approach the problem — a modern approach that lets your logistics teams digitally collaborate on an open network for greater trust, efficiency, transparency, and sustainability?

At Ropaar, we help companies across all industries overcome logistics and other supply chain challenges by implementing the most reliable and advanced solutions, including SAP Logistics Business Network (SAP LBN).

SAP Logistics Business Network (LBN) offers various advanced capabilities to empower logistics organizations to:

• Intelligently sense and respond to unexpected events using the SAP LBN Intelligent Insights option, a data visualization and reporting platform that provides real-time insights and graphic visualization of supply chain events.
• Digitally govern the end-to-end freight order lifecycle and effectively manage appointments through “contractless” transactions and real-time connectivity and visibility.
• Easily track and trace materials and assets using product genealogy and graphic visualizations of ERP processes, milestones, and locations to prevent stockouts.

Your SAP LBN success, however, depends on how you implement it. As McKinsey puts it, “Modernizing can make supply chains more resilient and efficient. But it’s a major investment—and success isn’t guaranteed.” To ensure success, look to a reliable partner to help you implement SAP LBN and achieve your desired results.

Get Started

Ropaar can help you implement SAP LBN seamlessly and achieve anticipated business outcomes.

Using our TradeBlazers approach, we will help you devise a strategic implementation and integration roadmap, seamlessly implement and integrate SAP LBN options, and integrate SAP LBN with other SAP and non-SAP solutions to maximize its benefits. We will also provide scalable solutions and services to cater to your ever-changing and ever-growing needs.

Contact us to learn more.

Global trade is now more relevant than ever in supply chain management as the world becomes progressively interconnected. Nowadays, both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) customers are searching for products on a global scale. They are constantly on the lookout for the best prices and deals that they can find. With this, many companies have opened their doors to global exporting. A 2020 report by Statista shows the United States as the third-largest global merchandise exporter in the world, accounting for 8.1 percent of our total export trade.

Global Trade Compliance and SAP GTS

The most pressing issue for vendors and customers alike is global trade compliance. Adherence to differing laws and regulations per country proves to be a challenge as it causes delays in delivering products around the globe. In turn, this obstructs a supply chain’s ability to meet global consumer demand and impairs customer experience.

SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) is a helpful solution in mitigating global trade compliance issues. It streamlines global transactions by allowing supply chain leaders to automate, standardize, centralize, and manage global trade compliance requirements. These, in turn, help maintain consistency across global operations, advance global trade within the supply chain, automate trade compliance, and boost bottom-line profitability.

The Cost of Efficiency

While SAP GTS offers substantial advantages for global trade compliance, it requires a heavy investment – particularly with licensing and implementation. A common concern among supply chains is that they work within tight means, and solutions such as SAP GTS are characterized by a costly and upfront acquisition. As a result, some supply chains cannot simplify global trade compliance and make transactions smoother and faster.

An SAP GTS Subscription Model

To address budget concerns with investing in SAP GTS, a subscription model serves as a compromise between cost and functionality. An SAP GTS subscription allows supply chains to avail of its complete services with smaller, recurring payments as opposed to a heavy upfront investment.

Customer-centric partners such as Ropaar offer subscription packages to empower supply chains to experience the full benefits of SAP GTS cost-effectively. Ropaar’s SAP GTS-as-a-service offers a secure and cloud-based service that accelerates the implementation of SAP GTS without major costs, while simultaneously reducing risk, lowering the cost of ownership, and increasing SAP GTS usage value. Through this, supply chain leaders are assured of:

• Availability on multiple public cloud platforms, which makes SAP GTS accessible and functional when needed
• Multiple solution-related services such as SAP GTS implementation, GTS AMS Functional Managed Services, and technical support services with enhanced SAP prebuilt GTS bundles on a 3-, 5-, or 7-year subscription basis
• A fully managed SAP GTS cloud service, coupled with enriched SAP solution components (Fiori/HANA) on a single vendor experience – enabling true cloud and BPO benefits

Ropaar’s SAP GTS-as-a-service is where cost-effectiveness meets efficiency as it provides its customers with a fully managed cloud service, enriched SAP GTS solution, single-vendor experience, and true cloud and BPO benefits. Through this, supply chains now have the ability to trade globally with confidence and productivity.

Interested to know more about Ropaar’s customer-oriented SAP GTS-as-a-service offering?

With today’s global trade businesses slowly returning to normal, the rising difficulty linked with moving goods across borders has made handling business processes extremely complex. This is mainly due to changing trade regulations, foreign policies, and constantly changing customs rules and procedures. And while most enterprises have some systems in place, confronting compliance with constantly evolving regulatory filings concerning security and customs is particularly challenging.

Leveraging global trade solutions can help enable automated trade compliance. If business leaders fail to properly oversee this complex area of trade compliance appropriately, they could face higher costs and greater risks thus, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

Bring Value to Your Supply Chain with SAP GTS

Enterprises having global trade operations must stay on top of their foreign trade laws and customs regulations. If applicable regulations are not implemented correctly, products may not be procured or delivered on time or if there are oversights in export controls or customs declaration, it can result in sanctions, penalties, and fines. This is why it is crucial to have an integrated approach to your global trade strategy instead of numerous solutions catering to various operational departments such as purchasing, manufacturing, warehousing, and sales.

SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) simplifies your trade compliance for smoother and faster global transactions. SAP GTS is a complete suite of solutions for global trade management that empowers you to automate, standardize, centralize, and manage global trade compliance requirements.

By utilizing SAP GTS, enterprises can trade globally with confidence by having an:

• Adaptive Export and Import Management
• Automated Trade Preference Management
• Compliant Automated Restricted Party Screening
• Frictionless Customs Management

With SAP GTS, you get a comprehensive set of capabilities for integration with core supply chain / financial systems to promote full compliance with international trade regulations.

Implement A Fully Managed SAP GTS with Ropaar

Get the full benefits of SAP GTS in a convenient and cost-effective subscription package. Ropaar’s SAP GTS-as-a-Service allows customers to upscale their global trade operations and simplify compliance without having to commit to the hefty upfront investment it usually entails.

Ropaar offers a secure, cloud-based offering that helps accelerate the adoption of SAP GTS without the massive implementation costs while at the same time reducing risk, lowering the cost of ownership, and speeding up time to value with SAP GTS usage. Moreover, Ropaar can bundle the implementation and AMS services in a subscription model, enriching the SAP application and enabling a true SaaS consumption model over 3, 5, and 7-year terms.

Let Ropaar be your TRADEblazing partner, so you get a fully managed cloud service, enriched SAP GTS solution, and true cloud and BPO benefits all with a single vendor experience. To learn more about how you can get a fully managed, cost-effective SAP GTS solution, contact us today!

SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) helps enterprises worldwide automate international trade processes, manage partners and compliance-related documents, and ensure that the company monitors and complies with the ongoing revisions and amendments to international legal requirements. With SAP GTS implemented, a company can flexibly adapt and meet region-specific customs requirements, increase visibility into global transactions, standardize and automate processes, and minimize delays and contain costs.

If we look closely into all the capabilities that SAP GTS provides companies with, we can further break it down into the following benefits:

• More streamlined and accelerated import/ export processes
• Reduced IT maintenance costs
• Business risk mitigation
• Compliance with trade regulations
• Better supply chain management
• Enhanced communication between stakeholders
• Reduced shipment delays
• More efficient customs clearance processes
• Fewer compliance issues
• Faster audit process
• Quick setup with an ERP system for handling trade issues

Reaping such benefits is indeed possible through the implementation of SAP GTS.. However, many startup companies and even established ones who want to reap the full benefits of SAP GTS but are concerned about having to shell out a huge capital investment turn to third-party vendors for support and implementation needs. (Companies can implement it themselves, but that requires knowledge and experience.) Third-party providers such as Ropaar can help companies implement SAP GTS for a fraction of the costs through our uniqueSAP-GTS-as-a-Service model.

How SAP-GTS-as-a-Service Is Done

In an SAP-GTS-as-a-Service setup, SAP typically provides a BYOL model for the end customer. BYOL stands for Bring-Your-Own-License, a licensing model where companies let you use their license flexibly — whether on-premise or in the cloud. Providers like Ropaar then align with the SAP Account Team, SAP Executive Leadership, SAP Globalization, and SAP Solution Management, so this setup is seamless, completely compliant, and risk-free.

In fact, Ropaar’s approach suggests the customer purchase a license directly from SAP. Then,, Ropaar conducts the SAP GTS implementation, application management, and support services. In return, you as the customer get a fully managed cloud service, enriched SAP GTS solution, and true cloud and BPO benefits all with a single vendor experience.

Ropaar’s SAP-GTS-as-a-Service is available on multiple public cloud platforms based on the customer’s preference — be it AWS, Azure, or GCP. This enables an agile infrastructure and scalable functionalities when needed.

Implement SAP GTS with Ropaar

While implementing SAP solutions might sound like a lot of work, companies like Ropaar can assist you and guide you through your journey. At Ropaar, we have helped various companies from across different industries to deploy \ SAP GTS ensuring that the implementation project is aligned to their specific foreign trade goals and overall business objectives.

By leveraging Ropaar’s years of experience in supply chain management, you can be confident that your organization can overcome current and future trade compliance and supply chain challenges. Contact us to learn more about our solutions and services.

The cost of paper-based business workflow is enormous. Business users may spend about 30 to 50 percent of their time looking for information, due to a lack of an integrated data source, which in turn leads to the inability to find the proper data to perform the task. That’s roughly $14,000 worth of productivity lost per employee annually.

At Ropaar, we’ve come up with a list of five paper-based logistics processes that are significantly contributing to process inefficiency and productivity loss. This list includes user onboarding, safety and QA, compliance and audit, data entry, and the ordering process.

User Onboarding. From filling out health insurance and emergency contact information forms to bank information and deposit slips, a new user’s onboarding process is paper-intensive or manual, or both. This process is tedious, and it takes a lot of time. Not only does it affect your new user’s productivity, it also has a great impact on your HR department’s productivity. They end up spending a lot of time on paperwork, instead of focusing on other and possibly more important tasks.

In this digital age, new user data can be collected using electronic means. The resulting information can be used for new user onboarding — across all documents — while automating delivery to all necessary departments. This is beneficial for both the new user and HR for them to avoid tiresome paperwork.

Safety and quality standards. There are several procedures and features integrated into safety and quality management systems. One of these is document control. Companies must create detailed documentation of their procedures, which must be strictly followed, as well as constantly updated and maintained for documentation purposes, including making some information obsolete to certain users.

Having paper-based documentation materials puts your company at the risk of confusing your employees about which document versions are the latest. Needless to say, searching through drawers, folders, and files is a cumbersome task; using the wrong documentation can greatly impact quality and safety. A secured central document repository ensures that your users access only the latest documentation in place.

Compliance and audit. A relevant process to safety and quality standards is compliance and audit. As your company aims to comply with standards, such as ISO International Standards and other certifications, be it optional or mandatory, the auditor will look into your documentation processes. Any sign of non-conformance will put your compliance certification on hold. This not only impacts productivity but also your company’s stability and overall image. Your departments and their staff must then redo the audit process, going through the hassle all over again. This kills productivity and increases costs.

Moreover, auditing alone is time-consuming. Auditors know what they want to see — and how. A paper-based process may require you to travel to an off-site facility for the customer- or process-related records. Electronic document management eliminates this need as files can be stored electronically.

Data entry. Paper-based data entry poses many risks, including the risk of data discrepancies and inconsistencies. In a research study published by BMC — paper-based data collection can lead to a great number of data discrepancies, 64 percent of which were due to data omissions and 77 percent of which were among categorical data. These discrepancies can happen twice as often in paper-based processes than in electronic form.

The same can be applied to enterprises and organizations that collect data through paper-based means. While companies have certainly started collecting data since time immemorial through paper-based means, WorldBank.org has long since believed that data collected in paper form will need to be digitized to help eliminate data errors and inaccuracy — all of which eat up employee productivity. Digital data collection enables multiple people to do the same thing and consolidate the information into a single electronic form and a more seamless workflow.

Ordering. For large enterprises, the process of ordering supplies and other goods is certainly laborious. Policies mandate that only authorized personnel are allowed to create purchase orders to buy a certain good or supply for a specific purpose. And these purchases also require approval. If a process like this is more paper-based in nature paper, chances are there can be last-minute purchase order searches while a frustrated vendor waits. Additionally, there are chances for occasional calls discussing a missing purchase order approval, and delayed or even failed deliveries.

Digitizing the ordering process can bring plenty of benefits to your company. It simplifies the process through, for example, a procurement system, which automatically generates and sends purchase orders — and all records are securely saved in electronic form. There’s no need to search for missing purchase orders. Plus, going paperless reduces the risks of discrepancies between purchase orders and invoices as they can be detected automatically in most cases.

Digitize Paper-based Processes with SAP and Ropaar

To avoid unnecessary costs and productivity loss due to paper-based processes, companies should look to industry experts who can help them implement new-age solutions. Solutions like SAP help companies go paperless by providing:

• Faster access to historical records
• Search and find information ability across departments
• Automated processes
• Mobile access to documents and data
• More efficient virtual collaboration

While implementing SAP solutions might sound like a lot of work, companies like Ropaar can assist you and guide you through your journey of going paperless. At Ropaar, we have helped various companies from across different industries to digitize their paper-based processes. We have helped them assess their unique landscape and implement cutting-edge SAP global trade solutions to help them execute in the digital age.

By leveraging Ropaar’s years of experience in foreign trade, you can be confident that your organization can overcome current and future global trade challenges. Contact us to learn more about our solutions and services.

Global trade is in a current state of turmoil. And it is made even more complex and challenging by factors such as increased cross-border regulations, extensive filing and documentation requirements, and the fluctuating cost of international transportation. With strict compliance to global trade regulations continuing to be a barrier to meeting customer demand, companies must leverage a technology-based solution that can flexibly adapt and meet region-specific customs requirements.

Roadblocks to Trade Compliance

As customers originate from different geographies, companies need to quickly catch up on country-specific requirements. Several of these pain points demand consideration.

• Complex regulatory environment

  
  Each country has specific requirements. Some of them can be complex and ambiguous which if not understood clearly can result in penalties and fees and compromise market reputation.

• Closer scrutiny on customs declarations

  
  Failure to comply in providing complete import information on customs declarations can result in costly delays and even loss of import/export privileges.

• Inadequate visibility

  
  Limited visibility on the import and export scene of a particular country can compromise compliance and hinder you from effectively managing trade activities such as supply chain disruptions, penalty assessments, and inventory management.

Removing these roadblocks is critical to maintaining your competitive advantage in the global trade landscape.

Leverage a Cutting-Edge Global Trade Management Solution

Ropaar is an expert in implementing SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) projects. With SAP GTS, your company can trade globally with confidence:

• Next-Generation Export and Import Management

  
  You can take advantage of automation and direct filing to effectively manage export/import compliance, minimize logistics and brokerage charges, and improve product classification.

• Simplified Trade Preference Management

  
  You can strategically leverage free trade agreements, maximize eligible products through preference determination, and efficiently manage vendor declarations.

• Adaptive Customs Management

  
  You can leverage FTZs, support region-specific duty minimization, deferral and avoidance regimes, and meet Intrastat and Excise movement requirements

• Data-Driven Restricted Party Screening

  
  You can optimize the screening of denied or restricted parties to avoid global trade violations and delays.

Let Ropaar help you navigate new trade regulations and region-specific trade policies and regulatory frameworks with SAP GTS. Drop us a line today!

Importing and exporting can help small and medium businesses as well as established enterprises expand their presence and market reach on a global scale. However, there are rules and regulations in this sector that importers and exporters must be aware of. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) outlines this basic information on importing and exporting.

When importing, the CBP outlines specific tips for new importers — foremost of which is remembering that certain types of goods and services mandate a license or permit to import. Exporters, meanwhile, are given tools, assistance, and knowledge by the International Trade Administration to help them grow in the global marketplace. Just like in importing, exporters may be required a license or permit to export from the U.S., depending on the type of products or services.

In all of these, there’s a catch. Adhering to these guidelines is easier said than done. Importing and exporting may face customs-related problems such as:

• Misclassification
• Higher-than-anticipated duties
• Labeling issues
• Inadequate documentation
• Import-packing regulations issues
• Health, safety, and sanitary issues

Sometimes, customs won’t clear the shipment to your buyer or importer due to any or a combination of these issues, resulting in rejections. Rejections can be governmental — which means the government rejected the importer’s country and may have banned the importation of that specific good. There are so-called importer rejections, too, which may be due to the exporter, shipper, or importer.

Exporter origin reasons may involve the importer rejecting the goods due to mistakes by the exporter, such as wrong or defective goods or improperly packaged or labeled goods. Shipper origin reasons result from the rejection of damaged or delayed goods. Lastly, importer reasons may include a sudden change of mind or that they ordered the wrong goods.

To avoid any of these scenarios, companies must have a dedicated team or department overseeing all export shipments, working with the freight forwarding company. For rejections of importer origins, it’s very important to conduct proper inspection and screening of buyers. Meanwhile, minimizing damage during shipment is the responsibility of the exporter through proper packaging — guidelines provided by the freight forwarder.

In this process, the U.S. customers collect broker fees on most shipments entering the country. It’s calculated at “0.3464% of the entered value (the cost of the merchandise…), with a minimum of $27.23 and a maximum of $528.33.” But a lack of accurate and systematic process in importing and exporting can cost you company so much more than that — especially when importing or exporting a significant amount of goods — and it is in this point that many different risks may arise, such as:

• Unclear logistics planning
• Inexperience with border control and distribution
• Financial risks and currency exchange rates
• Not having a diverse and trained workforce

How an American Food Company Eliminated Broker Fees with SAP GTS

McCormick & Company — which manufactures, markets, and distributes condiments, seasoning mixes, spices, and other flavoring products to food manufacturers, retail outlets, and foodservice businesses worldwide — was able to eliminate unnecessary broker fees by streamlining its foreign trade processes using SAP GTS Import-export Self-Filing. Through such implementation, it has enabled import self-filing in the United States to the U.S. Customs, allowed for Import in Great Britain, and implemented electronic Import filing through a broker in many other countries.

McCormick & Company partnered with Ropaar, thought leaders in the world of Global Trade, to implement SAP GTS and remove manual and costly import filing processes. Using its TradeBlazers’ Approach, Ropaar helped the client enable import self-filing to eliminate broker fees and increase regulatory confidence. The project was seamlessly and accurately completed, allowing McCormick to quickly realize a substantial ROI for this project.

As a result, McCormick & Company became the first U.S. ACE self-filing implementation for U.S. Imports using SAP GTS. They were able to eliminate their existing cloud-based U.S. import-filing software, and they now self-file 90 percent of their volume into Europe through Great Britain, eliminating broker fees altogether.

Implement SAP GTS with Ropaar

While implementing SAP solutions might sound like a lot of work, companies like Ropaar can assist you and guide you through your journey. At Ropaar, we have helped various companies from across different industries. We help you assess your unique landscape and implement cutting-edge SAP global trade solutions to help you execute in the digital age.

By leveraging Ropaar’s years of experience in foreign trade, you can be confident that your organization can overcome current and future global trade challenges. Contact us to learn more about our solutions and services.