Bootstrap First in Europe, Raise Money Later and Go Global in the US: Martin Verwijmeren, CEO of MP Objects (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Can you give us an example? Maybe work through a customer use case so that we understand exactly what you are talking about.

Martin Verwijmeren: I’ll also explain how we go to market. MP Objects is a platform to support companies in their supply chain orchestration so that they can, through their customers, create an e-commerce experience. For example, these days we have e-commerce players who would not only like to sell in their traditional territory but also go international. MPO helps to propel global e-commerce across countries and even across continents.

If you or I are web shopping and it’s confirmed, we basically create one customer order. That order then creates a lot of activity. It might well be that my order will be sourced from different locations. That one part could come from one country or one warehouse and the other product comes from another manufacturer or a distribution system. Our system can basically determine where it can best be sourced from. It might be that that a single order becomes a multiple-shipment order.

MPO also takes into account how that order can be executed best from that source and what the flow to market will be. Should we go with UPS? Should we go with 10 steps like doing the packing in the warehouse, trucking it to an airport in Chicago, handing it over to a customer agent who does the exports, then handing it over to the airline, then having an agent do the import, and having that final mile delivery provider bring it to the doorstep.

These are realistic examples so that that single order has now become 10 detailed orders for 10 different parties. Each party has to run a perfect race to satisfy the customer requirements and create that Amazon effect at a low cost. How can that be done? Our ultimate value that we bring is we please the end customers with great customer experience. They can choose any time and any place. It is still provided to them in an ultimately fast and low-cost fashion.

In order to get to that Amazon effect, you need to make sure that your orchestration of your supply chain is ready. You need to orchestrate supply chain on an order-per-order basis. That requires best-of-breed performance of every partner in your network. Time and time again, you evaluate who can best act now and who should act now against what service levels and against what cost levels. That is so complex. You need a computer system for that.

It can also not be done by current systems within those companies because those systems have an internal focus. Those systems are like ERP system or warehouse management system. They typically focus on one element of the equation.

Sramana Mitra: That’s right. Let me get a little bit of clarification so I make sure that I understand that you’re talking about. What is the workflow and the usage model of your system? Is it something that you’re white-labeling for specific customers or are you a consumer website where customers are coming in and placing orders across different vendors?

Martin Verwijmeren: We provide our cloud platform to companies. They use the platform to orchestrate their supply chains.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Bootstrap First in Europe, Raise Money Later and Go Global in the US: Martin Verwijmeren, CEO of MP Objects
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