TradeBeam and Global eXchange Services Partner to Provide Collaborative Inventory Management and Interoperability for Automotive Industry
DETROIT--Sept. 1, 2004--| Market-Leading Companies Deliver Demand-Driven Supply Chain |
Accelerating its automotive industry momentum, Global eXchange Services (GXS) today announced it has partnered with TradeBeam, Inc., the leading provider of global trade management software and services. As part of the agreement, GXS will offer automotive customers and suppliers TradeBeam's Inventory Management solution (i-Supply) via GXS' business process network. i-Supply will now be available to all major OEM's and over 14,000 suppliers, via GXS' established network of global automotive customers.
This partnership will provide the automotive industry with the ability to drive significant costs out of their operations by reducing inventory levels throughout the Demand Driven Supply Network (DDSN). TradeBeam's i-Supply solution is the automotive industry's most widely used collaborative inventory management application, operating at thousands of automotive suppliers worldwide.
"Vehicle Brand Owners (VBOs) must drive DDSN-based transformation into the supply chain in order to create better demand visibility to survive in today's hyper-competitive marketplace. Otherwise, incentives and inventory costs will devour already slim profit margins," according to AMR Research report "Applying DDSN Correctly Can Shift Companies From Laggard to Braggart," July 22, 2004. AMR further expands, "Carmakers that drive the DDSN model into their supply chain, thereby improving their demand forecasting, will minimize finished auto inventories, improving profits and freeing capital for other uses, such as R&D."
The ability to react to immediate requirement changes can increase inventory ROI up to 30 percent, improve asset and capacity utilization, and reduce the cost of premium freight and administration. TradeBeam's inventory management solution will provide OEM's and suppliers with real-time visibility into consumption and replenishment patterns across the supply chain, lessening reliance on forecasts. Suppliers can monitor current inventory levels and decide when, and how much, to ship. OEM's can then monitor supplier performance to service level requirements.
"As today's global automotive marketplace expands, companies are looking for new ways to integrate with their trading partners and drive significant cost out of operations," said Bobby Patrick, GXS senior vice president of marketing. "Our partnership with TradeBeam, will enable our customers to collectively reduce inventory levels, smooth production and lower premium freight charges."
This is a significant alliance between a leading provider of business process networking services and a leading provider of collaborative inventory management capabilities. The alliance represents an important opportunity to expand the reach of i-Supply service that already is operational at thousands of automotive suppliers worldwide.
"We are excited about our partnership with GXS, since it enables interoperability within the global automotive industry adding significant value to TradeBeam's Inventory Management solution," said Duncan Jackson, TradeBeam vice president business development and marketing. "Providing a real-time electronic window into inventory and logistics data, i-Supply requires very little investment, is quickly implemented and can produce financial results in fewer than eight weeks."
The TradeBeam relationship is part of the GXS Partnership Program, an industry-focused initiative that is designed to bring the world's leading technology solutions to a global customer base, improving the solution experience and helping them accelerate the achievement of their business goals.
About TradeBeam
TradeBeam is a Global Trade Management software and services company providing solutions that streamline global trading processes for enterprises and their partners. TradeBeam's solutions provide import and export compliance, inventory management, shipment tracking, supply chain event management and global trade finance solutions such as open account and letter of credit management. TradeBeam has over 3000 customers with users in over 100 countries worldwide.
About Global eXchange Services
Global eXchange Services (GXS), a leading worldwide provider of B2B integration, synchronization and collaboration solutions to more than half the Fortune 500, operates a highly-reliable, secure global network services platform. GXS offers an extensive range of solutions to help more than 30,000 businesses, both large and small, connect with their partners, synchronize product information, optimize inventory levels and demand forecasts, and accelerate the execution of their supply chains. GXS is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., with sales and development offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information visit our Web site at www.gxs.com.
All products and services mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. These factors include technological developments, customer demand, trading partner participation and network availability.