OverviewChemConnect and GE Operation Services Announce Inventory Management Solution Agreement
Integrated service enhances opportunities for collaboration among many partners
San Francisco, CA and Pittsfield, MA (February 11, 2002) - ChemConnect®, the leading online marketplace for chemicals and plastics, and GE Operation Services, a division of General Electric, today announced that together they will provide enhanced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) inventory tracking and management tools and services for ChemConnect Members. The agreement reflects both companies" commitment to working with best-of-breed solution providers to produce maximum efficiencies and benefits for the chemicals and plastics industry.
"At OxyChem, our use of GE Ops to remotely manage inventories and to execute order fulfillment electronically is an easy and seamless process," said Stacy Palmatary, Occidental Chemical Company Vice President of E-Business. "Now, by driving all this activity through ChemConnect, we will be able to reduce the number of connections we need. The result: a cost-effective and efficient process becomes even better."
Together, ChemConnect and GE Operation Services will implement a full suite of Chem eStandards, the inventory, forecasting, and collaboration electronic messages developed by the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX), for the transfer of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents between ERP systems. Buyers and suppliers will be able to view inventory positions and automatically generate replenishment orders, according to predefined inventory management rules.
"This is a hands-off inventory and management solution that will save chemical and plastics companies time and money," said Kenneth Sherman, GE Operations Services General Manager. "We're automating what was a manual and error-prone system and integrating this solution with other business processes ChemConnect has already instituted to increase efficiency and data accuracy," added Michael Kenny, GE Operations Services Regional Manager.
"ChemConnect is committed to providing our Members with comprehensive solutions to help them reap the cost benefits of moving traditional business processes online," said John Robinson, ChemConnect CEO. "GE's inventory monitoring and supply chain management services integrate with our other offerings to further extend the value and efficiencies we offer."
Combining ChemConnect's supply chain connectivity services with GE Operation Services' Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR™) services, the integrated service solution will provide companies linked through ChemConnect's connectivity hub with a complete view of inventory status, including in-transit, planned shipments, and receipts data.
ChemConnect will collect in-transit data from logistics providers and planned shipment and receipts data from trading partner ERP systems. Global VMI algorithms and replenishment tools will determine optimal shipment requirements as well as allow customers and their suppliers to view, share, and manipulate demand data.
About GE Operation Services
GE Operation Services provides the Global VMI suite of collaborative supply chain management solutions, including the basic Global VMI web-based telemetry offering as well as the Collaborative Supply Chain Management Solution that incorporate inventory, transit, and forecast information to provide a forward-looking replenishment plan and statistical supply chain analysis tools. GE Operation Services leverage Six Sigma process and GE manufacturing and management best practices to provide best-in-class turnkey inventory management solutions to the plastics and chemicals industry. GE Operation Services, a division of General Electric Company, is headquartered in Pittsfield, MA.
For more information, please contact:
Bob Osmond
UpStart Communications
(510) 457-3111
bosmond@upstart.com
Liz Youngs
UpStart Communications
(843) 881-5751
lyoungs@upstart.com
Note to Editors: ChemConnect is a registered trademark of ChemConnect, Inc. All other product, trademark, company or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.