16 Mile Solutions re-invents the way supply chain management uses electronic data interchange (EDI). By developing EDI tools and web 3.0 technologies, 16 Mile Solutions optimizes service across global supply chains.

We specialize in lowering the cost and complexity of delivering information for buyers, suppliers and 3rd party services. What this means is we have developed management software that could be compared to what happened in the cell phone industry. Technological advancements turned cell phones into mobile information systems. (In addition to voice communication, cell phones now offer a wide variety of information services and tools.) Like the revolution in the cell phone industry, 16 Mile Solutions has bundled a variety of value added services and order visibility into information exchange.

The company was founded by Mark Pattison, following years of buyer- and supplier-side experience through his two companies, The Pattison Group and Front Porch Classics (sold in 2006). Both companies continually encountered the outdated, random, and error-prone communication methods typical of modern supply chains. The Pattison Group, a 10-year "preferred manufacturer" of market umbrellas for the world’s leading coffee retailer, struggled with manual processes for moving order information from purchase order to final invoice. Like most suppliers and their trading partners, the company could rarely access relevant order data at critical points—much less communicate potential problems with any degree of efficiency.

In 2006, Pattison decided to tackle the problem himself. The result is 16 Mile Solutions—a hosted solution dedicated to changing the way EDI brings order visibility to everyone in the supply chain.

Delivering multidimensional, multidirectional order data
16 Mile Solutions' groundbreaking product, 16 Mile OV™ (OV = order visibility), is a web-based, hosted solution that unites EDI with built-in tools for reporting and analysis, performance management, replenishment support, and EDI compliance. By delivering integrated order information across supply and demand networks, 16 Mile OV improves decision-making, encourages collaboration, pre-empts problems, and helps supply chain entities meet their service levels—all at a fraction of the cost of today's EDI solutions. That’s EDI 3.0.

Introducing a completely new pricing model
Although 16 Mile OV is the only all-in-one solution on the market—a hosted EDI platform with a multitude of built-in capabilities for connecting global supply chains —the system is only as good as the available data. Currently, hosted EDI providers charge for each transaction based on the number of kilobytes, discouraging communication among suppliers and trading partners. In contrast, 16 Mile charges by the number of seats, rather than by transactions and kilobytes, making supply chain collaboration actually affordable. In fact, given the 16 OV ease, efficiency, and benefit to customers, suppliers and their trading partners can no longer afford not to collaborate.

16 Mile Solutions is a privately held company, based in Seattle, Washington. In addition to 16 Mile OV, the company is at work on a module for small businesses and on extending the OV platform to incorporate warranty claims and resolution.