Client: McAllen Foreign Trade Zone
Industry: Logistics and Warehousing

ABOUT THE CLIENT: The McAllen Foreign Trade Zone was created in 1973, making it the first inland non-seaport Foreign Trade Zone in the United States. This began a chain of free enterprise that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Over 410 companies ranging from manufacturing, industrial, supplier, warehouse distribution, logistics, etc. have located in the most vibrant area on the border - McAllen, Texas. Today, the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone consists of over 775 acres and offers full-service logistics solutions to over 100 clients representing over 42 countries worldwide.

THE PROBLEM: MFTZ technology infrastructure was consist of distributed legacy and out of the box application causing issues to integrate with external clients and not keeping up with the MFTZ business growth rate.
All orders to Warehouse and Fleet were submitted in paper forms causing accuracy and timing issues

THE SOLUTION: Cominfo was engaged to developed unified solution for MFTZ to ensure single version of the truth is provided through near real-time analytical reports and warehouse management system, Inventory control system, 3rd party logistical ,and fleet management system runs on single unified platform accessible by any device anytime by internal and external users through secure mechanism.
Application Interfaces: Our developed system had client servers, mobile app, and web interfaces including bar code and RFID reading and tracking capability. Analytical Reporting: We developed Microsoft Power BI for real-time reporting by integrating Microsoft Flow to provide data refreshed every 5 minutes.
Development Platform: Cominfo used security and flexibility of Microsoft Azure, SQL Server and Dot.Net platform to develop Warehouse, Fleet, 3PL, and Inventory management systems.

RESULTS: Currently MFTZ can bring new clients onboard without any customization to existing code and system can talk to other external system via APIs. MFTZ management and warehouse employees have visibility of operation in real time. When shipping and receiving orders are placed by the customer, warehouse employees are notified immediately thus cutting fulfillment time by 60% and improving order accuracy by 35%. Executive can make business critical decision based on accurate information provided in timely manner. U.S. custom forms (NFTA) are filed and filled to U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CPB) agency ahead of time reducing wait time in line at the boarders reducing transportation cost.
Today MFTZ is ahead of curve compare to rest of the Foreign Trade Zones in the United States.