SAN DIEGO, CALIF. -- February 15, 2001 -- Facility managers and operators using e-marketplace FacilityPro to procure MRO materials and services will now have access to more than 2 million items in catalogs from 1,300 suppliers supplied by online content provider ec-Content.
Under an outsourcing deal announced Thursday, ec-Content will provide online catalog content to FacilityPro's e-marketplace, where organizations that manage, operate and service commercial facilities are able to procure maintenance, repair and operations products and services. FacilityPro currently claims more than 2,500 users at 1,150 commercial locations nationwide.
"Working with ec-Content is an efficient way for FacilityPro to fast track product content for our marketplaces," said Tom D'Alessandro, director of procurement for FacilityPro. The e-marketplace should therefore be able to bring suppliers on board more quickly, D'Alessandro added.
"By supplying FacilityPro with reliable manufacturer and supplier data, we are enabling them to lead the field of MRO procurement without the financial burden of sourcing, aggregating and updating their own data," said Trey Simonton, executive vice president of business development for ec-Content.
ec-Content collects content from suppliers and then puts it in a format that allows buyers to search for products, evaluate their options and ultimately purchase the products. To keep its catalogs current, ec-Content assigns every item a product description and a unique identifier that remains associated to that particular product, even if the supplier, UPC or manufacturer code changes.
