Yokogawa signs agreement with BuyCo for supply chain optimisation

Yokogawa Electric Corporation has entered into a distribution agreement with France-based BuyCo, a provider of a software as a service (SaaS) solution for the management of the transport of shipping containers

Under this agreement, Yokogawa will offer BuyCo’s Transportation Management System (TMS) to companies primarily in the materials industry, leveraging its extensive expertise in supporting manufacturing operations to optimise entire supply chains.

Complex supply chains

In recent years, the materials sector has had to contend with rising complexity in global supply chains, heightened geopolitical risks, and stricter environmental regulations, especially in the chemicals industry. Rising transportation costs and the need to manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respond to fluctuations in demand have become key management concerns. However, in many cases, companies in these industries have not taken an integrated approach to optimise their production and logistics operations. This, combined with the need to comply with regulations on hazardous materials and handle diverse cargo types, has made it difficult to manage entire supply chains in an integrated and holistic fashion.

While Yokogawa has focused on supporting the automation and optimisation of operations at individual plants in the process industries, the company is expanding the scope of its support through consulting services and digital solutions that address challenges across end-to-end supply chains connecting multiple facilities. This agreement with BuyCo represents a major step in that direction, focused on container transport management.

In developing its container transport management platform, BuyCo makes use of its extensive experience in the maritime industry. This SaaS solution enables the centralised management of container transport data, supports shipment planning and booking, visualises shipping operations in real time, and facilitates information sharing among stakeholders. Based on cargo data, it assists in selecting shipping lines and transport routes and allows real-time door-to-door tracking.

By adopting this platform, companies can reduce logistics costs and inventory levels while improving their on-time delivery performance. It also helps mitigate the risk of cargo quality deterioration and contributes to the visualisation and reduction of the emissions of CO₂. Currently, over 12,000 users around the world rely on this platform.

Carl Lauron, the founder and CEO of BuyCo, commented, “We are delighted to augment the Yokogawa offering, enabling them to close the gap between production and logistics. With BuyCo's container shipping platform, manufacturers can optimise their entire supply chain, including the international transportation aspects. The partnership between Yokogawa and BuyCo enables manufacturers to impact transportation costs, effectiveness and sustainability.”

Naohisa Endo, a Yokogawa executive officer and head of the company’s Materials Business Headquarters, stated, “By leveraging BuyCo’s container transport management platform, we will strengthen initiatives to optimise supply chains for the materials industry. Building on our strengths in measuring and connecting, we aim to achieve integrated optimisation spanning everything from our customers’ production operations to international logistics. Looking ahead, we intend to evolve this into a comprehensive supply chain management solution that integrates demand forecasting, inventory optimisation, and more.”