‘Spoke’ System to Connect Non-EDI-Enabled Vendors, Reducing Manual Data Entry

 

ATLANTA (August 21, 2008) - SEEBURGER Inc. today announced the deployment of its business-to-business integration platform by Bruce Power, Canada’s first private nuclear generating company and the source of more than 20% of Ontario’s electricity.  The company is using the SEEBURGER Business Integration Server (BIS) and add-on Hub & Spoke system to automate the exchange of purchase orders and related documents with nearly 3,000 vendors, including as many as 500 suppliers who still do business on paper.

 

SEEBURGER’s platform has replaced an outsourced electronic data interchange (EDI) service with an in-house B2B gateway that is being used to streamline the business processes associated with procuring tens of thousands of parts required to maintain Bruce Power’s eight nuclear reactors.  SEEBURGER’s software has been integrated with PassPort by Ventyx, Bruce Power’s enterprise asset management system, enabling orders generated by PassPort to be automatically translated and transmitted to suppliers as well as allowing supplier messages such as purchase order acknowledgements to be automatically populated into the PassPort database.

 

The transition to SEEBURGER has equipped Bruce Power with an advanced, scalable and high-performance B2B integration solution that will eliminate thousands of dollars in monthly service fees, provide easy drag-and-drop message mapping critical for an IT staff without previous EDI experience, and enable end-to-end visibility of transactions with SEEBURGER’s advanced message tracking tools. 

 

In addition, the use of SEEBURGER’s Hub & Spoke system will allow automated information exchange with smaller non-EDI-enabled suppliers. The Hub component will be installed at Bruce Power, integrated with SEEBURGER software, and configured with Bruce Power’s trading documents.  The small downloadable Java-based ‘Spoke’ units will allow vendor access to those documents over an Internet connection, perform message translation and transmission, and automatically integrate the exchanged transaction data with suppliers’ own back-end business applications. 

 

Bruce Power is using SEEBURGER’s fully integrated AS/2 extension to allow all EDI messages to be routed securely over the Internet using the AS/2 communication protocol without the need for a Value Added Network (VAN) and associated fees.  The Hub & Spoke system is also AS/2-based, providing a complete AS/2 solution.

 

“Every aspect of ordering parts to keep our equipment in working order is mission-critical, and that includes the EDI system we use to automate the transaction flow,” said Keith Wettlaufer, CFO & EVP, Finance & Commercial Services, for Bruce Power.  “We selected SEEBURGER as our first in-house EDI provider because they offer a proven platform, small-supplier connectivity solutions that will virtually eliminate the need for paper-based transaction processing, and the shortest learning curve and strongest customer references of any vendor we evaluated.”

 

SEEBURGER offers a comprehensive and cost-effective platform designed to automate trading relationships throughout the global supply chain.  It is the only B2B middleware solution capable of integrating 100% of an organization’s trading partners - including smaller customers and suppliers without EDI capabilities - on a single platform that has been developed in-house by SEEBURGER to ensure compatibility, provide a common work environment, and simplify the internal IT infrastructure as well as maintenance across the extended supply chain.

 

SEEBURGER’s EDI/B2B technology supports all global trading requirements with a single B2B gateway, aiding global enterprises that wish to simplify their technology infrastructure by standardizing on one B2B solution for all enterprise locations. It also offers automated workflow, advanced message tracking, and is backed by consulting services to ensure optimal business process management.

 

SEEBURGER is a leading provider of global business integration solutions designed to optimize transactions throughout the extended enterprise by automating trading relationships with all partners regardless of their size and technical resources.  Launched in 1986 to provide integration solutions to the automotive industry in Germany, the company today is ranked among the top business-to-business gateway providers by top industry analysts, and serves more than 7,500 customers in more than 50 countries and more than 15 industries through its flagship Business Integration Server and related products and services.  SEEBURGER has global offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, including a U.S. office that opened in 1998.

 

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