Anglo American has embarked on its second e-procurement pilot, using its Anglo Platinum division to spearhead the project in an effort to drop procurement costs and reduce inventory management expenses.
Anglo American selected international mining, metals and minerals e-marketplace, Quadrem, as the preferred marketplace to facilitate its transaction with suppliers. Quadrem is already used by 26 other global mining houses.
"E-procurement has received a lot of press lately," said Barry Davison, chairman of Anglo Platinum. "It holds enormous promise, but it has also disappointed many people. We need to be sure we exploit the potential and avoid the pitfalls. This project has enabled Anglo Platinum to gain strategic e-procurement experience," he concludes.
EDS, SAP and PricewaterhouseCoopers are the consulting partners on the project, which is being driven from Anglo Platinum`s head office in Johannesburg.
"The first part of the project was to run a first pilot implementation for Anglo Platinum," says Magda Honey, EDS account manager for Anglo Platinum. "Various other partners participated in the project, including representatives from other Anglo American companies, PricewaterhouseCoopers and SAP SA. International Anglo American Corporation companies were also represented."
Phase one was completed in October 2000 when Anglo American plc became the first mining house to successfully transact with Quadrem through its Amandelbult platinum mine in Northam.
The second phase will be the implementation of a second pilot, using SAP`s Enterprise Buyer Professional module at Anglo Platinum. This will again involve linking Anglo Platinum to Quadrem. The first mine is to commence use of the new e-procurement functionality by the end of this month, while other business units will be added during the course of 2001 and 2002.
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