In the late 1990s, the glass division of Osram-Sylvania (a key company within Siemens) began to search for a single logistics provider. According to the Osram-Sylvania Traffic Manager at the company's headquarters in Exeter, New Hampshire, the Traffic Department had one important objective: To establish an efficient global supply chain for the organization.

At one point, Osram-Sylvania's U.S. operations dealt with more than 125 freight forwarders and customs brokers, many of which were targeted toward niche local or regional markets. The situation created a major organizational challenge for Rooney and other areas of the company which has 28,000 employees worldwide, 35 subsidiaries, and a presence in 80 countries, including 51 manufacturing locations in 18 countries.

Osram-Sylvania turned to BDP International as its exclusive transportation resource for the company's glass division of Osram-Sylvania.

"BDP's information system was a big selling point. They had instant access to everything we needed to get the job done," the company's Traffic Manager stated. "BDP's systems are unique. I don't think another company would take the time to help us as BDP has done."

BDP and BDP Transport, Inc., the company's NVOCC subsidiary, now act as the logistics and communications epicenter for all ocean and airfreight forwarding and Customs brokerage activities for the Glass division's imports and exports. This includes clearance through 15 ports of entry facilitated via BDP's use of Remote Location Filing (RLF) technology, an electronic filing process that lets importers file entries for multiple ports of entry from one location, in this case BDP's Boston office.

Osram-Sylvania has revamped its global distribution network hub with the U.S. as the hub. The next step was to link the various "spokes" by implementing traffic lanes that can bypass the U.S. altogether. Through this creative, aggressive program, Osram-Sylvania was building a truly global partnership, a true relationship.