B2B Platform Now Processes Over 1 Million WebEDI and VMI Transactions Monthly

 

DETROIT (AutoTech 2005, Aug. 29, 2005) --- SEEBURGER Inc. announced today that

its B2B Gateway is now processing more than 1 million WebEDI and vendor-managed

inventory messages every month for SupplyOn, the largest Internetmarketplace in the automotive industry. The volume of transactions has doubled over the last two quarters as both buyers and suppliers have expanded their use of the SupplyOn platform to replace expensive and inefficient paper and fax communications.

 

Part of the increase stems from rising activity in North America as the five European-based Tier 1 buying organizations that partnered to build the platform have begun

extending use of the system to their U.S. and Canadian operations. SupplyOn is

continuing to expand in North America and recently added a new sales director to

assist in bringing more North American buyers and suppliers online.

 

“We are expanding rapidly, and the SEEBURGER B2B Gateway is handling the

increased throughput and associated message translation without any slowdown or

interruption in service,” said John Kay, President, SupplyOn North America. “This is

vital to fulfilling our mission of providing smooth and trouble-free data exchange to

facilitate procurement and other supply chain management functions for automotive

organizations of all sizes.”

SupplyOn was formed by Bosch, Siemens VDO Automotive, INA, Continental, and ZF

in cooperation with SAP AG to provide integrated electronic solutions for supply chain

management as well as sourcing, cross-company product engineering, and quality

management between customers and suppliers. The platform is designed to speed

internal processes and reduce costs by eliminating manual document handling as

well as errors caused by transferring data between incoming paper documents and

internal business systems.

 

SEEBURGER’s business integration technology powers the platform’s two supply

chain management applications: SupplyOn WebEDI, which currently supports the

electronic exchange of delivery instructions, delivery and transport data, credit

notes, stock movements, invoices and remittance advices; and SupplyOn Vendor-

Managed Inventory, which provides comprehensive functionality enabling suppliers

to monitor customers’ inventory levels by plant and part number to provide flexible

parts delivery based on actual usage patterns.

 

SEEBURGER’s B2B Gateway handles data transport, message translation and

monitoring services to ensure smooth data flow and provide message tracking

capabilities. Data exchange is handled in a securely encrypted form between the

ERP systems employed by purchasers and suppliers via a standardized platform.

 

“We are ramping up to use SupplyOn’s VMI application with an initial group of 75

suppliers in North America, and eventually we will roll it out to all 800 suppliers that

we do business with here," said Todd Pronger, Manager of Corporate Logistics, Bosch

North America. “This will not only give us all of the benefits of VMI but also give our

suppliers a single Web portal for accessing other functions such as online bidding

tools and the data on which we base our performance reviews. SupplyOn offers a

one-stop shop that simplifies information exchange for the entire supply chain.”

SEEBURGER’s B2B Gateway is a comprehensive and cost-effective business

integration platform designed to automate trading relationships throughout the

supply chain. It accommodates all industry and regional-specific data standards and

communications protocols, and it can be deployed two to three times faster than

other solutions through a broad range of processes and components preconfigured

for different industries and B2B/EDI standards.

The solution is also the only middleware capable of integrating 100% of an

organization’s applications and trading partners, including smaller customers and

suppliers that still do business on paper. SEEBURGER offers special solutions that

automate document exchange via e-mail, Web portal, and fax in order to extend

connectivity to smaller trading partners that are not electronically enabled.

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 6,500 customers in 35 countries and more than 15 industries through its flagship B2B Gateway 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.

About SupplyOn

SupplyOn AG, headquartered near Munich, is the world’s leading provider of Internet

services for the automotive industry. SupplyOn offers a portfolio of solutions that

enable significant efficiency improvements in inter-company business processes,

including purchasing, sales, logistics, product development and quality management.

Thousands of companies from more than 30 countries are already making use of the

automotive network’s services. SupplyOn was founded in mid-2000 by several of the

largest globally operating automotive suppliers. SupplyOn currently employs

approximately 65 people. For more information, visit www.SupplyOn.com

 

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