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Ford Motor Acquires Equity Stake in Bios Group

27 September 2000

Ford Motor Acquires Equity Stake in Bios Group

    DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 27 Ford Motor Company
today announced that it has purchased an equity stake in Bios Group,
Inc., a Santa Fe-based software development and complexity science consulting
company.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
    Ford will strategically utilize Bios software and technology to refine and
simplify its product offerings through scientific data models.  Consumer
preference and market research data that has been gathered by Ford is
quantitatively analyzed and modeled by Bios.  The data is then used to target
vehicle combinations that consumers demand most.
    "Satisfying our consumers is our number one priority.  In order to do
that, we need to understand the customers' desires, and have the ability to
deliver the vehicles they want, when they want them," said Jim Yost, Ford
Motor Company Chief Information Officer and vice president.  "Deploying Bios
solutions will help us get a better understanding of the options and features
the consumers truly want."
    Bios products and services help organizations optimize various decision
processes by modeling their existing environments and then scientifically
determining the linkages and relationships between various decision criteria.
It has developed applications for e-commerce automated markets, supply chain
management, dynamic scheduling, risk analysis, project portfolio management
and marketing diffusion.
    "Originally, Ford asked us to solve a single hard business problem.  Our
solution, combined with what Ford saw of other Bios technology, convinced them
that additional areas at Ford and other companies could benefit from our
offerings too," said Robert MacDonald, president, Bios Group.  "Ford's
investment not only reaffirms the practical business value of our solutions,
but also offers us continuing revenue opportunities as we collaborate on
current and future projects."