Dana Announces Global E-Procurement Initiative
13 January 2000
Dana Announces Global E-Procurement Initiative
Company anticipates reduced expenses, supplier consolidation
and improved customer service
TOLEDO, Ohio, Jan. 13 -- As part of its e-Business strategy,
Dana Corporation has selected Ariba, Inc. and
Aspect Development, Inc. as strategic technology partners to
develop a global e-Procurement system. Expected to be rolled out this year,
the new web-enabled system will allow Dana to manage its $8 billion in annual
worldwide purchases more efficiently. Anticipated benefits will include
increased value with preferred suppliers, significantly reduced transaction
expenses, consolidated information on supplier performance, and reduced
inventory requirements.
"Dana has targeted significant improvements in supply chain management as
a key business objective in 2000," said Joe Magliochetti, Dana's president and
chief executive officer. "We have formed a global strategic sourcing
organization and identified aggressive goals over the next four years,
including a 50% reduction in the number of suppliers and $1 billion in
cumulative savings in procurement cost and transaction expenses. The new
global e-procurement system will enable Dana to utilize the Internet to gain a
competitive advantage in the automotive supplier industry."
The Ariba solution, including the Ariba ORMS(TM) e-commerce application
and Ariba Network commerce services, will help Dana drive economies of scale
across its facilities worldwide by creating an internal e-commerce purchasing
infrastructure. This infrastructure will electronically aggregate divisional
and corporate purchasing from each employee desktop and direct it through
Ariba Network(TM) to preferred suppliers at higher-volume prices. The
implementation will initially focus on operating resources such as capital
equipment, travel services and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO)
purchases.
Aspect Development will provide content management and decision support
technology. This web-enabled system will allow Dana to build custom
electronic catalogs of specific MRO and production requirements for use in the
global e-Procurement system. Significant savings are also anticipated from
the planned integration of these catalogs with Dana's product engineering
systems. Aspect's eSource(TM) technology has already been rolled-out at nine
Dana North American manufacturing sites. Phase I of the combined Ariba and
Aspect solutions will be deployed to five sites globally in the first quarter
with a significant ramp-up thereafter.
"Using this technology as a base, Dana will also explore the possibility
of partnering with other automotive, heavy-truck, off-highway or aftermarket
suppliers to create an independent 'services' exchange for B2B transactions,"
Magliochetti said.
"The creation of an electronic business exchange could provide significant
value to our common customers and suppliers through reduced transaction costs,
aggregated purchasing and value added services, such as supplier design
collaboration, logistics, and vendor managed inventories. This will better
position us to easily integrate with other industry specific exchanges, many
of which have been announced recently."
"We look forward to working with Dana to drive cost-savings and
competitive advantages internally, and then in helping Dana extend the value
of its Ariba platform," said Keith Krach, chairman and chief executive officer
of Ariba.
"Our proven technology is already successfully in place at several Dana
manufacturing facilities," said Romesh Wadhwani, chairman and chief executive
officer of Aspect Development. "We welcome the opportunity to work with Dana
globally to achieve the company's aggressive business objectives in the area
of supply chain management and e-Markets."
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of business-to-business eCommerce
services and solutions to leading companies around the world, including 15 of
the Fortune 100. The company delivers an open, end-to-end, best-of-breed
platform of interoperable solutions to manage corporate purchasing on the
Internet, build net markets, and provide suppliers with buyer access and
integration. Ariba's Internet address is http://www.ariba.com .
Aspect Development is the global leader in e-Market solutions for supply
network management and business-to-business e-Commerce. Aspect's Internet
address is http://www.aspectdv.com .
Dana Corporation is one of the world's largest independent suppliers to
vehicle manufacturers and the aftermarket. Founded in 1904 and based in
Toledo, Ohio, the company operates some 330 major facilities in 32 countries
and employs more than 86,000 people. The company reported sales of $12.5
billion in 1998. Dana's Internet address is http://www.dana.com .