DaimlerChrysler, Union Pacific Form Shipment-Tracking Company

Compiled ByDave Schafer DaimlerChrysler Corp. and Union Pacific Corp. are forming a new company that will use the Internet to track vehicle shipments from assembly plants to dealers. The company, dubbed Insight Network Logistics, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Union Pacific. "Insight will be dedicated to developing collaborative logistics' solutions for the Chrysler Group that will result in consistent, predictable delivery of our product to our customers," says Dave Hodgson, vice president of Worldwide Supply, Chrysler Group. Insight's focus will be to reduce the vehicle-delivery time of factory-built Chrysler Group products in North America, increase network efficiencies, and reduce logistics costs across the group's supply chain. Chrysler says Insight's network control center will be based in the Detroit area and will employee 20 people and use Pacific's "VinVision" technology to track shipments via the Internet from assembly plant to dealers. The new company will be providing logistical services by early in the fourth quarter of this year, Chrysler says. Currently the Chrysler Group delivers vehicles to market through a transportation network of rail and over-the-rail carriers that involves significant coordination and data exchange among many logistics providers.