New Deals Before the New Year

Tempe, AZ  December 19, 2001  Following is an update on the latest deals rolling out of solution providers Commerce One, Elcom International, Manhattan Associates, Manugistics Group, PeopleSoft and SeeBeyond.

Customized Procurement Services: MSX International & Commerce One

Auto-industry service provider MSX International is set to use a Commerce One solution as the platform for its outsourced procurement service for small and midsize customers. MSX licensed the Commerce One platform and procurement solution to provide e-procurement and business services to its customers and to take advantage of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Commerce One's network of Web-enabled suppliers. MSX, based in Auburn Hills, Mich., will provide customized purchasing solutions to its customers, focusing on commodity management, transaction processing and catalog and bid offering for the procurement of indirect goods. In addition to the licensing agreement, MSX and Commerce One have a joint sales and marketing partnership for certain shared accounts.

IT e-Procurement: Canam Steel Corporation & Elcom International

Canam Steel Corp. has signed up to use Elcom's PECOS Internet Procurement Manager ("PECOS.ipm") to automate the purchasing of its information technology (IT) products. Canam, which is a top manufacturer of steel joists and structural steel components, will use the solution for its intranet applications development department. The company is looking to streamline its IT purchasing processes and to manage its IT purchases more closely, including by using the solution's approval routing capabilities. Elcom, based in Norwood, Mass., said that Canam should be able to speed up its IT purchases while also reducing supply chain process costs.

Supply Chain Execution: Mary Kay & Manhattan Associates

Mary Kay will implement a supply chain execution system from Atlanta's Manhattan Associates, aiming to decrease the company's order cycle times and increase productivity through improved reporting. The cosmetics giant will use the PkMS system across its eight U.S. distribution and manufacturing facilities in Dallas, Atlanta, New Jersey and California. Mary Kay also intends to implement the solution provider's Optimize Suite, which includes aspects of business intelligence, facility optimization, labor optimization and event processing, as well as Collaborate Suite for supply chain visibility and integration. The move by Mary Kay marks a strategic shift for the cosmetics company, which is migrating from its homegrown warehouse management system to a suite of extended supply chain execution solutions for its worldwide operations.

 Component Management: Axcelis Technologies & Manugistics Group

Axcelis Technologies, a manufacturer in the semiconductor industry, has enlisted Rockville, Md.-based software company Manugistics Group to provide a supplier relationship management solution that Axcelis will use to create a component-management system. Axcelis will use Manugistics NetWORKS Component Management solution to help the company standardize its component database, rationalize data across several existing databases and create a common, comprehensive automated part-entry system that can help engineers and procurement personnel more rapidly select and acquire component direct materials. Manugistics says that the solution can enable Axcelis to decrease cycle times, minimize duplicate part numbers, reduce inventories, improve supplier management and increase design iterations, thereby enabling Axcelis product teams to better satisfy their customers.

 Materials Management: Healthcare Organizations & PeopleSoft

A pair of healthcare organizations have implemented enterprise solutions from Pleasanton, Calif.-based software company PeopleSoft. Children's Hospital Boston is using the provider's enterprise applications to replace its legacy financial and materials management systems. Tucson Medical Center has licensed PeopleSoft's materials management, financial management, human resource management and enterprise portal solutions in a bid to streamline the purchasing of medical and business supplies, and to reduce costs by tightening inventory controls. The PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal will provide for the exchange of such critical business information as inventory levels and shipment status, enabling purchasing managers to make decisions on various aspect of the procurement process.

 Business Process Management: Ericsson & SeeBeyond

Electronics company Ericsson will use software company SeeBeyond's eBusiness Integration (eBI) Suite as a key part of its strategic infrastructure platform to support real-time business process management of key supply chain activities. The eBI suite will supplant existing middleware solutions and enable Ericsson to leverage existing IT investments as well as to facilitate the implementation of new initiatives to reduce time to development, enhance response times and accelerate time to market for new products and services. The software will allow Ericsson to manage and gain visibility into processes across ERP, manufacturing resource planning (MRP), e-commerce, fulfillment, catalog management, supply chain management, sourcing and collaborative design systems, including SAP R/3. SeeBeyond is based in Redwood Shores, Calif.