LONDON — March 10, 2009

UK Logistics Provider Improves Sustainability

GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced that Core Management Logistics (CML), plc. has adopted GXS Trading Grid® as its platform for electronic trading with Marks and Spencer. CML has signed a multi-year agreement to use GXS Trading Grid Messaging Service to support the exchange of electronic supply chain documents including invoices, advanced ship notices and payment instructions.

The adoption of B2B e-commerce versus paper-based trading has led to significant operational savings for CML as well as greater environmental sustainability in its operations. A U.K.-based logistics company, CML is a leading force in specialist warehousing, stock co-ordination and network delivery as well as the primary logistics provider to Marks and Spencer, one of the U.K.’s largest retailers.

CML receives orders from Marks and Spencer via GXS Trading Grid and sends back a range of electronic documents including delivery confirmations. CML typically receives more than 100,000 electronic data interchange (EDI)-based files from Marks and Spencer each year and sends approximately 90,000 in return.

“GXS Trading Grid is critical to our business relationship with Marks and Spencer,” commented Michael Thompson, IT manager at CML. “As well as the environmental impact, a major benefit for us is ease of use – which none of GXS’ competitors were able to match. GXS Trading Grid was best able to deliver data with the timeliness and accuracy needed to support our world-class warehouse operations. We have implemented a highly automated process which enables us to manipulate the information provided by GXS and make changes and provide responses very quickly. These are vital enablers that help us exceed Marks and Spencer’s expectations with what we believe is the ultimate distribution service.”

Marks and Spencer has made a public commitment to sustainable business practices which is manifesting itself in CML’s relationship with Marks and Spencer. Removing paper and reducing manual processes in a company’s logistics network and supply chain are key elements of a sustainable business. CML’s level of automation reduces the company’s demand and use of paper on a broad scale; each transaction processed by CML represents a paper document that no longer has to be printed, enveloped or delivered. In addition, electronic trading is assisting CML in fulfilling efficiency requirements for trailer loads, dispensing with mixed trailers and removing any need to re-sort and re-load trailers. This is directly helping to reduce mileage and lower fuel usage.

In fact, the 190,000 documents sent electronically every year using Trading Grid are equivalent to approximately 1.7 metric tons of paper. If paper was used instead of electronic trading, this amount of paper would:

• Require 6 tons of wood, the equivalent of about 43 trees;
• Require 70 million BTUs, the equivalent of the energy used by one home per year;
• Produce over 10,000 lbs CO2, which is the equivalent of taking one car off the road each year; and
• Use almost 35,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of maintaining an Olympic sized swimming pool.

More information
The environmental impact estimates were made by GXS using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator.

www.papercalculator.org

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