GT Nexus has announced that LyondellBasell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, has signed a contract to extend the capabilities of their existing cloud-based logistics visibility platform. The new services will automate the closed loop process for tendering and rate management across the company's network of logistics providers. LyondellBasell has used the GT Nexus Cloud Supply Chain Platform for logistics visibility since 2009.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical, and refining companies. The company manufactures products at 58 sites in 18 countries and sells products to customers in more than 100 countries.

'Like many companies with complex global supply chains, we saw an opportunity to automate the way we buy and manage logistics services with our providers,' said Theo Zwygers, director supply chain EAI at LyondellBasell. 'With the addition of the new sourcing capabilities to our existing visibility platform, we are enhancing a key operating platform for our supply chain.'

'LyondellBasell was tracking their inventory flows on GT Nexus; now they will add their rates to the mix,' said Andy Stinnes, EVP and managing director for GT Nexus Europe, GmbH. 'They join a community of large shippers on the platform that manage their closed loop transportation spend process in the cloud, on GT Nexus. We look forward to helping them take full advantage of their enhanced platform.'

This technology expansion supports LyondellBasell's initiative to take on deeper control of international logistics operations. The GT Nexus Transportation Sourcing capabilities inject standardization and partner collaboration into the logistics procurement process. The cloud technology platform also will allow LyondellBasell to cast a wider net and bring a wider mix of partners into the tender process.

The GT Nexus Cloud Supply Chain Platform was designed for multi-enterprise commerce, supporting advanced roles and permission'based data segmentation. This allows LyondellBasell to work across multiple logistics partners on a single network while simultaneously keeping important rate and contract information segmented and visible as it relates to specific providers. LyondellBasell will leverage the logistics rate information hub to make better allocation decisions across their provider network.

'We strongly believe that technology innovation is key when it comes to effective spend management,' added Mr. Zwygers. 'We want our procurement team to focus on making smart decisions rather than spending their time manipulating thousands of rows of data in large spreadsheets.'

All of the GT Nexus capabilities are being provided to LyondellBasell as a cloud technology service. All customers and their partners share a single common technology platform, which is a combination of Web-based applications and a network of integrated partners. Customers can use just the capabilities they need and have the option to expand as their business requirements change. LyondellBasell started with logistics visibility and has now expanded the scope of their use of GT Nexus to also include transportation sourcing capabilities.