Platon Consulting Limited, Burnaby, BC and Crane & Associates of Portland, OR have entered a joint venture to market a newly developed rating and routing system.

Transmanage, a division of Crane, which provides consulting and management services in transportation, logistics and hazardous materials handling, will initially roll out the new system.
It will initially target North American companies incurring more than $1,000,000 per year in
transportation costs. The new software will be offered though the Application Service Provider (ASP) model, and is expected to be in full use within the next 90 days. "It will benefit many industries where rail or truck freight is a significant cost component of distribution," according to Stephen Loyd, coo for Group West Systems, parent of Platon Consulting.
Founded in 1976, Group West provides mid-range outsourcing and computer technology products and services to commercial organizations and government agencies located primarily in North America.