Mountain View, CA Sept. 14, 2001 The plastics division of tier-one auto supplier The Budd Company will use a collaborative commerce solution from Ventro to optimize its program management across the supply chain, according to an announcement this week from the e-business application provider.
The announcement was a bit of good news for beleaguered Ventro, which yesterday was reported to be facing delisting from the NASDAQ stock exchange because its share value had fallen below $1.
Trading on the NASDAQ has been halted since Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., but Ventro last traded on Monday at $0.31.
The Budd Company Plastics Division, a part of Germany's ThyssenKrupp Automotive, signed a three-year deal to use Ventro's c-commerce solution, which Ventro acquired when it bought NexPrise in July.
In fact, commenting Thursday on the delisting threat, Ventro CFO David Zechnich said in a statement that the NexPrise acquisition, along with "recent improvements in our financial condition," positioned the company for success down the road.
With annual revenues of $2.5 billion, Budd, headquartered in Troy, Mich., is a leading supplier of fiberglass-reinforced composite compounds and molded products to major automobile, truck and engine manufacturers. The plastics division provides sheet molding composite (SMC) technology and manufacturing, and it produces a variety of SMC "Class A" surface panels, structural members and engine components.
The Ventro contract expands on an initial installation that currently enables Budd Plastics to collaborate with 50 suppliers throughout North America. Using the Ventro solution, Budd has a secure information management and communications online site that enables teams of suppliers, partners, customers and manufacturers, located across multiple organizations and geographic regions, to electronically interact and exchange data throughout the design process.
"We had very high expectations for the Ventro collaborative commerce solution, and Ventro has exceeded those expectations," said Tracy Carzoli, program manager for Budd Plastics. "We were seeking an innovative collaborative solution that would help us streamline our program management process across our supply chain and [that] would give us the security and control over the programs that we needed. The Ventro solution fits the bill."
