Dallas August 9, 2002 Northwest Airlines has integrated its purchasing system with an electronic procurement solution offered by Aeroxchange, an e-marketplace for the aviation industry.
This is the first integration of an airline with the Aeroxchange marketplace through Aeroxchange's e-procurement product, AeroBuy. Northwest Airlines is an Aeroxchange trading partner and founder.
For Northwest, integration with AeroBuy has resulted in improved access to inventories, administrative efficiencies, a contracted purchasing lifecycle and increased data accuracy, according to Andy Roberts, senior vice president of technical operations for Northwest.
"Northwest Airlines uses Aeroxchange to identify, more rapidly than ever before, all of the sources for material requirements," Roberts said. "Aeroxchange provides a global, unbiased trading floor for buyers and sellers to transact business in a more cost effective way."
Aeroxchange worked with Northwest Airlines to integrate its Oracle-based exchange platform with Northwest's materials, repair and operation (MRO) system, called SCEPTRE. Northwest's purchasing team uses AeroBuy to search for aircraft parts and other priced items listed in the Aeroxchange catalog.
For non-priced items, buyers utilize the electronic ExpressRFQ (request for quote) feature of AeroBuy. eRFQ allows buyers to send out ATA (Air Transport Association) SPEC2000 EDI (electronic data interchange) electronic messages to SPEC2000-enabled suppliers. Non-SPEC2000 suppliers can log on to Aeroxchange to respond. To the buyer, the system appears as if the entire universe of suppliers is EDI-enabled.
"Northwest is committed to e-procurement as part of its strategy to better manage its supply chain and optimize the efficiency of airline operations," said Christopher Collette, director of commodity management for aircraft parts at Northwest Airlines, who led the integration effort at Northwest. "Aeroxchange's e-procurement product, AeroBuy, allows us to realize efficiencies by reducing manual and paper-based processes and increasing data accuracy. AeroBuy provides us with single point of electronic connectivity to our suppliers, which improves the transaction process and creates value for all parties."
In addition to Northwest, three other Aeroxchange founders are currently in the process of integrating their procurement systems with AeroBuy to transact purchasing through the Aeroxchange marketplace in the next few months, according to the e-marketplace.
