Orlando, FL May 30, 2001 Supply chain expert i2, which last week announced a partnership with IBM, continues to strengthen its market position by forming a co-marketing alliance with SDRC. The announcement was made today at SDRC's Collaborative Product Management Symposium. The agreement positions the two companies' software offerings as a complementary collaborative product management solution: SDRC's new TeamCenter products, in concert with the i2 Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) suite.
The complementary solutions are focused at delivering business value to all participants in a program's value chain. The cost reductions for product development, sourcing, manufacturing and support services, along with faster time to market, are business benefits achieved by enabling real-time collaboration to occur between supply chain and design chain partners.
The relationship provides joint customers with the ability to strategically source, collaboratively design, perform Web-based negotiation, and automate the request for quotation (RFQ) management process. The solutions are targeted to link all value chain members by providing Web-browser access to a single source product view that includes preferred parts and supplier information, as well as product-centric information, such as product structure and standards for process, production and service. The SDRC alliance is an addition to i2's existing strategic sourcing relationship with 2Source (A.T. Kearney) and its technology relationship with UGS.
First-generation e-Business platforms focused on a general-ledger-centric set of technology, and provided some cost benefits, said Bill Carrelli, vice president, market and business development, SDRC. Second-generation solutions focus on a product-centric suite of technologies, addressing issues of sourcing initiatives and enabling supply chains to become a company's strategic weapon in the competitive marketplace.
Teaming with SDRC will provide our joint customers solutions that link product development with strategic sourcing, said Dave Horne, executive vice president and general manager, Supplier Relationship Management business, i2. We are pleased to offer manufacturers comprehensive collaboration solutions that will bridge product communications between design and manufacturing.
