Greg Johnston

"For every shipment we make, Vastera gets a copy of our export documentation and then screens the document," says Greg Johnston, director of supply chain logistics at Lucent.In these reviews, Vastera checks primarily for three things: Products are classified correctly; no shipments go to unauthorized customers; and the shipments comply with the laws of the destination country.

Initially, Vastera handled Lucent's trade in North America, but it has since taken on Europe, the Middle East and Latin America as well.Recently, Lucent has started using Vastera for its trade activities in China and is considering its deployment in other parts of Asia as well, Johnston says.

The bottom line for Johnston: Vastera has speeded up delivery times on the company's shipments.For example, goods that Vastera ships by air now take half the time,1.4 days on average,to clear U.S. customs."Obviously, we have happy customers because we're delivering on time," Johnston says.Internally, Johnston credits Vastera with providing Lucent with "very significant" savings from the faster shipments and from Vastera's vigilance at ensuring that Lucent takes advantage of trade preference programs and avoids overpayment of duties."Vastera gives us a competitive advantage," Johnston says, citing Vastera's "ability to work across our supply chain and work with our other partners,brokers, forwarders,to ensure that we get material delivered to our customers in a timely and a compliant fashion."

"For every shipment we make, Vastera gets a copy of our export documentation and then screens the document," says Greg Johnston, director of supply chain logistics at Lucent.In these reviews, Vastera checks primarily for three things: Products are classified correctly; no shipments go to unauthorized customers; and the shipments comply with the laws of the destination country.Initially, Vastera handled Lucent's trade in North America, but it has since taken on Europe, the Middle East and Latin America as well.Recently, Lucent has started using Vastera for its trade activities in China and is considering its deployment in other parts of Asia as well, Johnston says.

The bottom line for Johnston: Vastera has speeded up delivery times on the company's shipments.For example, goods that Vastera ships by air now take half the time,1.4 days on average,to clear U.S. customs."Obviously, we have happy customers because we're delivering on time," Johnston says.Internally, Johnston credits Vastera with providing Lucent with "very significant" savings from the faster shipments and from Vastera's vigilance at ensuring that Lucent takes advantage of trade preference programs and avoids overpayment of duties."Vastera gives us a competitive advantage," Johnston says, citing Vastera's "ability to work across our supply chain and work with our other partners,brokers, forwarders,to ensure that we get material delivered to our customers in a timely and a compliant fashion."

Vastera has always been the clear leader in meeting these criteria," said Greg Johnston, Director of Global Logistics, Lucent Technologies.